Who would have thought in 1986 that the pudgy little chap with the fearsome wit could take on the responsibilities of the sarcastic classes and make it his own.  In a way it is sad that there is still a need for Private Eye’s brand of investigative journalism, but there is always going to be a need for its humour, and  the crossword is a big part of that.

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Oh dear, two whole weeks late! Circumstances (like having to go abroad for an emergency business meeting, being ill when I got back, etc.) conspired, but that’s not a good enough excuse. Just a brief blog, then, in case anyone is still puzzled about the wordplay. I promise to do better with 450. Read the rest of this entry »

Nothing here to stop an Eye solver polishing this off with several chuckles and no doubtful edges, i.e. no need to reach for Chambers this time.

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Back from watching England decisively beaten by Sri Lanka in the ODI at Lord’s, to finish and complete this blog. What held me up as a blogger was working out the wordplay of 3d — if not blogging, I would probably just have written in the answer without worrying too much about whether it was correct or not. Read the rest of this entry »

I found I had only 8 to go after the first pass so I suppose this was easier than usual.  That’s enough blather – let’s have a look at the detail:

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Many apologies for the late posting — I wrote this last week, when away from home, but didn’t quite have it ready to post. And the last few days have been absolutely chaotic, so this didn’t get done in time.

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Some excellent surface readings in this issue’s crossword.  I marked no fewer than 8 as worthy of consideration for top clue, but that honour has to go to Home Sweet Home for the insinuation of the influence of our now remarkably invisible ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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A topical offering from Cyclops, and a nice antidote to the otherwise sycophantic press coverage which has been so difficult to avoid. 7/26, a tour de force, has to get the vote for clue of the fortnight; I also rather like 23d
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There’s always a bit of fun to be found in the Eye, and the crossword is the icing on the cake in the back pages. This puzzle was in the usual style and while I hesitate to say it was on the easy side, as I didn’t finish it in one session, I noted that I had 19 answers in place after the first pass which is possibly a record. Unfortunately one proved to be wrong (11/12). Nevertheless, that was most of the grid, and the last few weren’t, in retrospect, too hard, but I had a real blind spot with 28A Shares which I had to leave to reconsider another day.

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I thought this was a pretty straightforward Cyclops — solved in one easy session (not meaning to sound smug, of course). Clues that made me smile included 13a and 23a. Read the rest of this entry »

I found this Eye much harder than usual.  It took till 20A Niggle to find a clue I could cold solve, and only had a handful in place after the first pass. The clue surfaces this time were outstanding and misled me in several places.

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… well, most of them. I think my vote for top clue goes jointly to 23a and 4d this week. Read the rest of this entry »

I  had trouble getting going with this puzzle. I read loads of clues before finally cold solving one with a definite answer at 6D, and then only had about a dozen answers in after the first session. When I got back to it the next day I finished it off without too much trouble, and now blogging it I wonder why I had such a tussle that first day. Of course answers always seems clear when the wordplay is known. I suppose these were a particularly misleading bunch of clues if you’re ready to be misled.

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… and all the better for it! The usual fun from Cyclops — a relatively quick solve, with nothing too tricky. Read the rest of this entry »

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