Independent 6654/Dac
As usual from Dac, very efficient pleasant clues with good surfaces. Across 1 dropPED LARge. A well-concealed hidden, which was one of the last I did. 9 A(S)LOPE I think. I only have … Read more >>
Month: February 2008
Guardian, 24310/Araucaria
A toughie for my first blog – I’ll be busy most of the day so I’m posting this early. I’ve filled in the grid and everything looks more or less right, but I’m … Read more >>
Independent 6653 by Virgilius
Another superb themed puzzle from Virgilius, with the usual crop of outstanding clues, wonderful surface readings and many a smile raised. Solving time: 21 mins. The theme is phrases with the abbreviation PC. … Read more >>
Guardian 24,309 – Brendan : “Don’t bring me down”
I don’t have a lot of time this morning, so it was convenient that I got most of this quite quickly. Lots of long solutions, with lots of falling, dropping and coming to … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,689 (Highlander)
Across 1 POTATO: PO + TAT + O 4 TAKES OFF: double definition 9 ELATED: ALE (reversed) + TED 10 COMPOSED: double definition 12 CRUSADER: CRU + anagram of READS 14 NEATER: N … Read more >>
Guardian 24308/Rufus – must be Monday
Too many cryptic definitions (albeit one or two are rather good) and anagrams. Which means this was a fairly typical Rufus of a Monday morning. Across 9 MO,HAWK – nice clue. Brit docs … Read more >>
Independent 6652 by Hypnos
* = anag, < = reversed A solid puzzle by Hypnos – reasonably challenging without being too difficult. I finished it fairly quickly, but there were a couple of clues I didn’t entirely … Read more >>
Azed 1862: ‘Spoonerisms’ competition puzzle
I have mixed feelings about Spoonerisms puzzles — they can be fun, but they can also score pretty highly on the cringe-inducing scale. They can also depend on one’s accent (see 27d, which … Read more >>
Guardian 24,301 (Sat 2 Feb)/Puck – Hog wash
Solving time: 18 mins Appropriately for the date, this puzzle (and especially its perimeter) was themed around Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog from the borough of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania which supposedly predicts the next … Read more >>
Guardian 24305/Paul – Stub
I’m putting this short post in place to carry the chat requested by others elsewhere. I, too, would like explanations for a few answers here. I’ll remove this post on request. [Additions made … Read more >>
Independent 6645/Morph
Across 8 FAST FOOD – I think this could be considered an oxymoron because fasting means not eating at all. 9 NET,(LET)* – “stingy” is made all the more deceiving because of the … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,686 (Sleuth)
Across 1 GAINSBOROUGH: the town profits; the borough gains 8 IBERIAN:(l)IBERIAN, African country without left (l) 9 BEARS UP: E in BAR + SUP 11 DONNISH: IN NOD (reversed) + SH 13 NADAL: … Read more >>
Guardian 24306/Logodaedalus – when’s Shrove Tuesday?
A pretty easy and pedestrian puzzle. I had to look up the Tuesday ref in 2D and there were a couple of weak clues in my opinion — unless I missed some subtlety. … Read more >>
Independent 6650 by Phi
I found this easier than usual, solving time 10 mins < = reversed * = anagram ACROSS 1 SP (A R) RING PARTNE R entrap< r =right 9 SP (L) IT … Read more >>
Inquisitor 57 26 ACROSS by Phi
After three pretty difficult ones, this was a bit of relief. Most of the “normal” clues were pretty strightforward. One piece of wordplay eluded me for a long time – “Fourteenth place on … Read more >>