Financial Times 12,480 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 9, 2007 Across 1. PAWNSHOP – PA*(SHOWN)P. I had to look up “uncle” in a dictionary to learn that it has a slang meaning of … Read more >>
Month: June 2007
Independent 6451/Dac
A fair and satisfying crossword but I’m still missing an explanation (25) which always niggles! No theme as far as I can see. Across 1 RANSOM – RANSOM(E) refers to Arthur Ransome, famous … Read more >>
Financial Times 12489/Gozo
Good fun, and reasonably easy although 15A and 4D held me up a bit for reasons explained below. I didn’t realise the FT had so many setters on their team; as well as … Read more >>
FT 12,488 by Neo
This turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticpated at first; plain sailing initially, but then got becalmed on the last few clues. At the time of solving, I wasn’t … Read more >>
Guardian 24,107/Paul – whatchamacallits and thingummyjigs
A typical Paul effort with clues ranging from easy to difficult, and a collection of words some will know, and others won’t. I quite enjoy the mental challenge of a Paul puzzle, but … Read more >>
Independent 6450/Virgilius – Pole to Pole
An entertaining puzzle with a not-too-difficult-to-spot theme. Across the middle of the grid is the phrase POLES APART, which separates 6 across answers, all of which are poles of some description: NORTH/SOUTH, POSITIVE/NEGATIVE … Read more >>
Guardian 24,099 (Sat 9 June)/Paul – Cross purposes
Solving time: 19:10 This should have been a fast time, as I spotted half the theme straight away from 17ac (TIGON). Unfortunately I then displayed immense slowness in various places, especially 2dn and … Read more >>
Guardian 24106/Rufus
A slightly harder than usual Rufus puzzle. I’m mystified by a couple of wordplays (8A and 12A) still. One weakfish cryptic def (1D) but a couple of hard clever clues as well. Across … Read more >>
Independent 6449/Glow-worm
Fairly easy start to the week although I’d never heard of 18A before. Across 9 (WE TRAIN)* 11 BOO,T(otall)Y – nice surface reading here. 12 SPEED<,PACE 13 (TESS IN PR)* – I’ve always … Read more >>
Guardian – Saturday June 9th
The blog for this puzzle will be appearing soon…
Everyman 3167/where’s Sean?
The grid is almost 90 degree symmetrical: would be if 3D and 15D were both 15 letter lights. And we encounter Orlando Di LASSO again. I searched high and low for a Scots, … Read more >>
Independent 6442/Virgilius – Cornered.
One of the last names you expect to see above a puzzle on a Saturday is Mr Tuesday himself, Virgilius. Not that I’m complaining. This was definitely easier than usual for a Saturday … Read more >>
Independent 6447/Phi
Good fare from Phi with some excellent clues but with a couple of gaps in the word play and one clue not solved until I check in TEA just before submitting this! Across … Read more >>
FT 12485 by Adamant
Adamant seems to be a faithful adherent of the FT’s general style and tone, and this was solid enough fare . A couple of answers (2d, 28a) were new (for me at least) … Read more >>
Inquisitor 23 by Lato – NONSENSE – A super fun puzzle
This was a real fun puzzle, I thought. Solving time: 3 hrs 45 mins The preamble said (with words in capitals the unclued answers that appeared in the grid). 36 (SEXIST) 18 (LANGUAGE) … Read more >>