Posted by Eileen on 30th June 2012
Well, I’m certainly not complaining about this Prize puzzle not being challenging enough / being over too quickly! I had all the answers in on Saturday but it took a day or two longer to parse some of them. I found it pretty hard going but very rewarding in the end.
Posted in Guardian | 27 Comments »
Posted by mc_rapper67 on 30th June 2012
It’s Saturday, it’s my turn to blog…and it is yet another Bannsider! Not that I’m complaining – excellent clueing, as usual, although I would say this was possibly at the ‘easier’ end of the Bannsider scale…and maybe a bit of a football theme-ette to boot?…
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by Mister Sting on 30th June 2012
I’ll get my grumble out of the way first: the crossword editor should be hanged. There were FIVE length errors (46 across and 2, 16, 32, 42 down). These didn’t make solving harder, but such mistakes can do so, and are in any case unacceptably sloppy. Also, 38dn should have been hyphenated, and this did affect the difficulty. Furthermore, speaking of affects, 31ac read ‘AFTER AFFECTS’, rather than ‘AFTEREFFECTS’.
No one who solves the Enigmatic Variations with any regularity will be inclined to the opinion that perhaps the editor had an off day, as errors are far too common. In summary, next time I suggest that the editor uses the time-honoured technique of actually looking at the puzzle. With their eyes. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | 3 Comments »
Posted by John on 29th June 2012
One of those themed crosswords that takes a long time to start if you don’t immediately see the gateway clue (as I have discovered it’s called; in this case 5dn). Then much of the filling can be done with a list of 5dns handy, although I didn’t use such a list. This type of themed crossword always seems inferior to those where the solution is done without any ‘blind’ clues and then you only see the Nina at the end as a sort of add-on.
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by PeterO on 29th June 2012
Here we have the wide range of references and creative clueing typical of Araucaria.
Posted in Guardian | 30 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on 28th June 2012
I’m really sticking my neck out here but there seems to be some problem about today’s blog. The normal practice would be for Gaufrid to ask for a replacement, or to await offers, when a blog fails to appear, but he’s not able to be contacted at the moment. I thought this puzzle was far too good not to have a blog – and the musical theme is right up my street! – so I’ve taken the liberty, very late in the day, of hastily producing a rather minimalistic blog, in order to facilitate discussion. Many thanks, Crucible – I really loved it and I’m only sorry not to have had time to expand on it and do it full justice
Posted in Guardian | 37 Comments »
Posted by Bertandjoyce on 28th June 2012
A suitably tricky Thursday puzzle from Klingsor, which took quite a bit of sorting out!
Posted in Independent | 11 Comments »
Posted by flashling on 28th June 2012
Sil is still out of the country and back in the Netherlands having his plumbing sorted out, so I’m again standing in for him. The puzzle is from Monday 18th June.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 28th June 2012
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by PeeDee on 27th June 2012
For some reason there was no blog for the FT yesterday, so here is my effort…
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by PeeDee on 27th June 2012
Quite an easy one today. Enjoyable, but I would have liked something more to get my teeth into. Thanks Gozo ;)
Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on 27th June 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining puzzle from Brendan, with its mini-theme which leads us off in several directions, with a variety of witty cluing, as ever
Posted in Guardian | 54 Comments »
Posted by RatkojaRiku on 27th June 2012
As it is the last Wednesday of the month, it is Dac’s day off, so I have crossed swords with Crosophile today.
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
