Independent 6711/Monk
Great pangrammatic puzzle from the Bulletprooof one. Not sure about 2 and 3 though. I think they’re both right but I can’t say why. Across 1 H in WORKSOP – I think the … Read more >>
Month: April 2008
Guardian 24,372, Quantum: Quality Control
Hmm, well as today’s fifteensquared quality controller I have a few negative items to feedback here (OK, that’s enough of that – internal ed). Too many rather straightforward cryptic defs for my liking. Sorry if I seem … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 949 by Quixote (20 Apr 2008)
I found this exceptionally easy – Solving time, 10 mins * = anagram ACROSS 7 CHARGE Double definition 8 G U I DANCE 9 HOUSEMAID’S KNEE Good cryptic definition 10 M1 D O … Read more >>
Independent 6715/Eimi – Earning my Spurs
– Blog Number 1 from me, so first things first, hello! A puzzle of two halves for me. The bottom half went in fairly easily, but I came a bit unstuck on the … Read more >>
Guardian 24,371 (Araucaria)
Across 1 COPPER: double definition 4 CLEMATIS: M in CLEAT IS. Clematis Vitalba is a wild flower, also known as Old Man’s Beard 9 NORMA: hidden in londoN OR MAnchester. It’s a 19th … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,740 by Mudd
This puzzle has no fewer than three clues that I lack a complete understanding of: 26A, 5D and 21D. My copy of the paper did not include the clue for 23D and I … Read more >>
Guardian 24370/Brendan – placeholder
Talk amongst yourselves…
Independent 6714/Dac
Across 1 PET,RA – an archeological site in Jordan and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Would “old city” been a fairer definition? 4 (GERMAN IS T)* – great clue, … Read more >>
Independent 6713/Punk – Rubbish
Well not really; rather good, as I have come to expect from Punk. At first he seemed rather difficult and unsatisfactory, but increasingly nowadays I enjoy his well-constructed crosswords. Across 1 RHUBARB. There … Read more >>
Guardian 24,369 : Pasquale – “Bad Tahr Day”
Between a SNAFU with my contract and a chest cold, I actually had some leisure to look at this properly this morning. Just as well – Pasquale is one of the compilers who … Read more >>
Financial Times 12748 / The Crux of the Matter
Across 1 JERRY BUILDER – jerry, ? – Gerald gives ‘jerry’ but I don’t know how Bob yields ‘builder’. The phrase itself is new to me but the second word can be easily … Read more >>
Guardian 24368/Rufus
Rufus at his finest: an excellent set of misleading and satisfying cryptic definitions and some devious wordplay as well. As per usual Rufus’s surfaces are coherent, sensible and, as a result, often hard … Read more >>
Independent No 6712 by Radian
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed The Independent continued its trend of trying out less well-known compilers for the Monday puzzle. Radian was another new compiler for me, although I don’t know if it’s actually a … Read more >>
Azed 1872: Treading the boards
Quite a pedestrian Azed this week, I thought. Definitely one for those with TEA (or a similar anagram buster) to hand — some obvious anagrams for obscure words, which could be hard work … Read more >>
Guardian 24,337 (Sat 5 Apr)/Taupi – Double trouble
Solving time: 11:40 This puzzle had a theme of 12 double word phrases, where the second word in one phrase was the first in the next. Starting with 9ac, these were BLANK, CARTRIDGE, … Read more >>