Posted by Ali on 24th February 2013
My first Donk puzzle and I have to say this was both excellent and very tough! There are some brilliant clues here – far too many for such a new setter! – but also some that have completely defeated me. Enjoyable from the get-go to the let-go though nevertheless. If we were still doing the Clue Of The Month thing, ‘Leaves range when shot in balls’ for OREGANO would be my 2013-to-date front-runner by a comfortable distance.
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Posted in Independent | 16 Comments »
Posted by Pierre on 24th February 2013
Another well-constructed and entertaining crossword from Everyman. Geography, Literature, Mythology, Cinema, Natural History, Botany, Opera … it’s all here this morning.
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Posted in Everyman | 6 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on 24th February 2013
Having scarcely finished the previous week’s difficult Misprints puzzle before starting on this one I was expecting (hoping for?) a bit of a respite,. and so it proved, with a puzzle that was back to the easier end of the spectrum, starting off with an easy clue for the 12-letter 1 across, which gave a lot of help for the first few downs.
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Posted in Azed | 7 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 23rd February 2013
As some of you will know from her recent comments, Sarah (Arachne/Anarche) is getting married today. John Henderson (Enigmatist et al) has produced a puzzle in honour of the occasion which will be handed out to all the guests. If you would like to have a go at solving this puzzle it can be found here.
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Posted in Announcements | 9 Comments »
Posted by Bertandjoyce on 23rd February 2013
We’ve not come across Hob before – is this another guise of one of the regulars, or is it a new face? If so, we wouldn’t have expected a Saturday debut, but with a first puzzle as good as this, we can only offer a warm welcome! We look forward to more!
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Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by bridgesong on 23rd February 2013
Another wide-ranging puzzle from Araucaria, with a mini-theme of early British kings, and references to Armstrong-Siddeley and Michael Winner, to name but two. As always, the surfaces are immaculate, but I have noted one or two particular liberties. On the easy side for a prize puzzle, I thought. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | 25 Comments »
Posted by mc_rapper67 on 23rd February 2013
My first thoughts on seeing this puzzle were a) not another ‘split clue and decide where to put the answers’, like my last blog, EV1052, and b) that the split grid device was similar to the recent Inquisitor 1264…so a couple of hints of ‘déja vu’?… The preamble says that ‘most’ clues are double clues run together – with the answers to go in either the left or the right half of the grid, and that ‘some’ clues are not double, in which case one entry is unclued and has to be thematically deduced.
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Posted in Enigmatic Variations | No Comments »
Posted by Jed on 22nd February 2013
Pretty straightforward – not sure about a couple of double definitions
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Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on 22nd February 2013
A pleasant puzzle from Brummie to end a rather remarkable week – not so taxing as the last day or three but a nice, unobtrusive little theme, which I’ll leave you to spot, and some witty and enjoyable cluing. Many thanks, Brummie.
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Posted in Guardian | 58 Comments »
Posted by Jed on 22nd February 2013
Posted in Beelzebub | 1 Comment »
Posted by RatkojaRiku on 22nd February 2013
It is Friday already – how quickly a week can pass! – and Phi is occupying his familiar slot.
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Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by Ringo on 21st February 2013
Thanks, first off, to Jed for covering my FT shift last week. This was a nice puzzle to come back to: fairly straightforward, but enjoyable and inventive. Thank-you, Falcon.
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Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on 21st February 2013
A belated and hurried posting, partly due to the Guardian’s failure to publish the puzzle properly on its website (the online version is still not there as I write this), so apologies in advance for any errors or omissions. The key answer at 16d,4d was perhaps a little too easy to guess, but getting it didn’t make the rest of the puzzle a walkover, and there was plenty to tease out – I just wish I’d had a bit more time to savour it. For anyone who’s still looking for the puzzle, the PDF version is here.
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Posted in Guardian | 43 Comments »
Posted by duncanshiell on 21st February 2013
This puzzle from Scorpion made me think quite a bit before I solved it all.
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Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by Sil van den Hoek on 21st February 2013
Monday Prize Crossword/Feb 11
A friendly starter of the week (a week ago, that is), one that can be found here. Not much to groan or moan about, although I realise that at another place, nowadays, this crossword might perhaps be dismissed as one not worth paying the price of the newspaper. Well, I guess Dante’s criticasters do not buy the FT anyway. But then, do I? Um …. 
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Posted in FT | No Comments »