Posted by Stella on 23rd October 2011
A slightly more difficult offering than usual this week from Everyman, at least in a couple of clues.
Even so, great fun, and the welcome chance to look up one of my favourite musical films.
Posted in Everyman | 1 Comment »
Posted by Pierre on 23rd October 2011
I found this quite a tough puzzle from Poins, but I didn’t help myself by initially entering a couple of wrong answers. That could be because I decided to tackle it with a full tummy and glass of red after Sunday lunch rather than with a cup of coffee after Sunday breakfast. Any road up, I’m interested to see what other solvers made of it.
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 23rd October 2011
Posted in Azed | 10 Comments »
Posted by duncanshiell on 22nd October 2011
In one of the crossword blog sites I was reading last week I came across a comment from someone who said they enjoyed a specific crossword because the clues had ’no triple lutz reversed beheaded wordplay contributing two letters to an eleven letter answer’. I doubt therefore that the writer would have enjoyed this puzzle from Nestor. However, I did, immensely. It is the intricate and complex cluing that Nestor has used in many clues that appeals to my analytical mind.
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by Mister Sting on 22nd October 2011
I found this an enjoyable little number.
A certain amount of cold solving required for the thematic clues, but it was helpful that they were listed in alphabetical order. No word lengths given, which might have resulted in a few incongruous pairings, but they were easy enough to sort out once the penny dropped.
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | 7 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on 21st October 2011
As always, I was pleased to see Araucaria’s name on the Saturday Prize puzzle but was rather disappointed at how quickly I finished it – I like to savour these weekend ones. There are usually a couple of clues at the end where the parsing, if not the solution, presents more of a challenge. 12 and 26ac were new to me but easily verifiable in Chambers and the wordplay was straightforward enough.
Posted in Guardian | 21 Comments »
Posted by PeterO on 21st October 2011
I found this tough going; either I am not on Boatman’s wavelength today, or he is committing some remarkably loose constructions. Still, there is much to like in the puzzle. Any shortcomings in the blog are the result of spending most of my time unravelling the wordplay in 1A!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | 32 Comments »
Posted by shuchi on 21st October 2011
I enjoyed the light, elegant touch of Falcon in this offering. Straightforward except the bottom-right for me due to a couple of unfamiliar words, which I’m happy to have learnt.
Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Posted by John on 21st October 2011
Phi has as usual produced a very pleasing crossword, perhaps on the easier side — at any rate I found it to be so, although whether or not a crossword is easy seems to be something that varies for different people at different times. Which is not to say that the Goodliffes and Biddlecombes of this world don’t whizz through, simply that it tends to be difficult to predict their precise time. As Carol Vorderman used to say of the numbers game on Countdown with four from the top, it depends which way you go.
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by scchua on 20th October 2011
Having done so many Araucarian puzzles (I’ve mentioned before that I cut my crytic crossword teeth on his Monkey Puzzles), this is the first time, I’m blogging one. And it’s typically Araucarian, a couple of liberties, mix of long and short wordplays, some lovely descriptions and definitions, and he makes you work (hard) for your money, though I must confess that a couple of answers for the more intricate wordplays were obtained from the enumeration or definition. Thanks Araucaria for the challenge and the enjoyment. Definitions are underlined in the clues. For a change, the hidden connections are in the last 2 pictures at the bottom.
Posted in Guardian | 39 Comments »
Posted by Ringo on 20th October 2011
Is the FT getting harder, or am I getting stupider? That’s a rhetorical question. Took me a while to work through this lovely puzzle from the Don, which touches on ornithology, pharmacology, philosophy and one or two things one would sooner not be made to consider over breakfast. Thanks, Bradman.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by flashling on 20th October 2011
Anarche has stopped running dressed as a bottle for charity for long enough to weave more trickery for the unwary, indeed there’s at least one I just can’t see the wordplay to.
Posted in Independent | 19 Comments »
Posted by Sil van den Hoek on 20th October 2011
Posted in FT | 1 Comment »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 20th October 2011
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 19th October 2011
I was not expecting to see Dogberry today as it is only a month since his last appearance and normally he only turns up about once every three months. However, I’m not complaining. For the most part I found this quite straightforward, making steady progress and thinking that it would be all over rather quickly. That was until I came to my last unsolved clue, 9ac, which took me as much time to parse as the rest of the puzzle put together (and I’m still not sure that I have it right).
Posted in FT | 9 Comments »
