My brain isn’t working. Even the Guardian Quick – my customary waker-upper, while the coffee brews – was a struggle this morning. Still, I made it through this sound offering from Cinephile with only one or two stumbles. Not a bad puzzle, not an overwhelmingly exciting puzzle, and too many anagrams for an anagramophobe like me, but still, an enjoyable start to the day – so thank-you, [Chile Pine]*.     

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I’m a great fan of Picaroon’s puzzles and there was no disappointment here: lots of witty and ingenious cluing, resulting in quite a bit of head-scratching, not least in the parsing department, followed by the usual smiles and ‘ahas’. Many thanks, Picaroon, for a highly entertaining and enjoyable puzzle.

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Klingsor is a fairly regular contributor to the Independent series of daily crosswords.  He is known to have a strong interest in Wagner.  Today’s reference to Wagner occurred in the clue at 8 down when the opera Rienzi was mentioned.

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Monday Prize Crossword/Nov 19

Good to see, once more, another setter than Rufus or Crux on a Monday. Armonie’s puzzles for the FT usually appear on a Tuesday (as do the crosswords by his alter ego Chifonie in the Guardian).  Armonie mainly sticks to familiar devices and never crosses the line [meaning, doing something that might be seen as devious]. Meanwhile, the clueing is immaculate (although, this time I had some doubts about 9d (and its successor) – my PinC hadn’t) and full of smooth surfaces. It’s a skill, setting crosswords, isn’t it? The crossword can be found here .

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Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 17, 2012

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