Independent 6597 – Phi – O God …
Solving time: 10 minutes when I gave up … … trying to work out 6D. I don’t know quite enough gods and ?A?A?A?A doesn’t help much. I guess the story is a SAGA, … Read more >>
Month: December 2007
Beelzebub 928/Phi (25-11-07)
Across 11 PROO[-f] – PROOfing something is a form of protection and PROO (or “pruh”) is a Scottish word used to direct or summon cattle. 13 E,MEN in EAST 14 (POTTER A GENIE)* … Read more >>
Inquisitor 48 – But how is it done? by Phi
Solving time: about 90 mins, mostly without books. A fairly easy puzzle this, without anything too fiendish as a last step. My biggest problem was leaving my copy on a train after writing … Read more >>
Guardian 24253/Paul – squeaky
As always an intellectual treat to solve a Paul puzzle — and as usual he pushes the Ximenean envelope — typically from the outside, but always gratifyingly — e.g. 17D. A couple of … Read more >>
Independent 6596/Nimrod
Across 4 (SHE COSTS O)* – COHOSTESS. Quite a strange clue as it’s not really an &lit (“She costs nothing when partying”) but it reads like one. 9 ATE in NS – NATES … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,624 by Cinephile
A more difficult than usual Cinephile this time around. I started my puzzle with 30A which gave me a good entree to 5D. The mention of “rose” in the clue and a three-letter … Read more >>
Independent 6595/Math
Unfortunately I’m not the best person to be blogging this, since I have never read anything by Philip Pullman, but Google always helps. Probably I’ve missed something. It seems that this is timed … Read more >>
Guardian 24,252 Araucaria – “A piece of cake”
…. hardly ! It’s an Araucaria after all. Interim version of the solutions – feel free to help me out with the left side of the puzzle – managed to crack the RHS … Read more >>
Independent 6594 by Virgilius
This site was ringing with praise for Virgilius last week. This puzzle was another excellent example of why. A theme (as usual) reasonably obvious and which helped speed up solving at the end. … Read more >>
Guardian 24,251, Puck: Horse sense
I got about half-way through before I spotted this puzzle’s usp – every clue refers to horses, except for 18 down whose answer contains the word. This means some ingenious and intricate wordplay, … Read more >>
Guardian 24250 / Rufus
Greetings and apologies for the delay. While in hospital recently I managed to have a serious problem with my laptop which meant that my PC Doctor had to reformat the hard disk and … Read more >>
Independent 6593 by Dac
After a really tough puzzle by Tees last week, I was relieved to find this one was a little easier. I even had some time to read the paper (although most of the … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 353 – 3 Cities
When I solved this I particularly enjoyed it. That could be because I found a bit of piece a quiet and finished it uninterrupted for a change, but it is a solid product … Read more >>
Read this BEFORE turning to Quixote 929 IoS 2 12 2007!
The solution appears next to the puzzle! Ask someone to cut it out or mask it. I will not be solving it so no blog this week – anyone who wishes can step … Read more >>
Azed 1852 – Plain
Solving time 30:50 without books, one mistake – or c. 38 mins with confirming look-ups and one correction. Mostly fairly straightforward, but there are one or two unresolved points where you may be … Read more >>