Financial Times 12,959 by Bradman
A late blog today because this one caused me some problems, particularly in the NE corner. All the across answers are Biblical Characters and most lived BC. A number of them are obscure … Read more >>
Month: December 2008
Guardian 24,580 – Paul
Am solving and blogging now after a night out knowing that I won’t get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow/this morning.. surprisingly easy for a Paul, I felt, with a lot of easyish … Read more >>
Independent 6924/Nimrod
Nimrod is undoubtedly very imaginative and some of the clues here are lovely, but there are, as I always find with this setter, one or two places where he seems to teeter on … Read more >>
Guardian 24579 / Pasquale
This is the first Pasquale that I’ve done as a blogger, and sadly I have very little time to devote to it – so apologies for not including more commentary, links, etc. Anyway, … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,958 by Gozo
Rishi is away at a family gathering so I am covering for him today. A ‘liquid’ theme from Gozo, apt for the time of year. Having at one time run my own public … Read more >>
Independent 6923 by Virgilius
A most unusual and innovative crossword, that I found quite hard before finally getting there in 49 mins. The idea was that in line with 15 across A COMEDY OF ERRORS, there were … Read more >>
Guardian 24,578 – Rufus
As sometimes happens, I filled in the grid very quickly but took a while to come up with the reasoning behind some of the clues. A vague Christmas theme, a lot of anagrams … Read more >>
Independent 6922 by Dac
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone A gentle start to Christmas week from Dac with some well-written and enjoyable clues. Across 1 Aer Lingus: (singlur + E[ire])*. 6 Scrub: First letters of spring cleaning + … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 380 – Taking ones Moet
A few reasonably tricky clues this time, and a bit of a panic when stuck on 4D, so quite satisfying to finish this one in the end. This week’s Eye dropped on my … Read more >>
Azed 1907 — Plain
A fairly standard Azed, I think. Lots of words of which I’d never heard, fairly predictable and verified in Chambers, and as usual a very well-constructed grid, with words of many lengths (except that … Read more >>
Guardian 24,571 (Sat 13 Dec)/Araucaria – Jingle Bells
Solving time: 16 mins, one missing (6dn) If I’d been well schooled in Brontë, this would have been one of my fastest solves of an Araucaria crossword – surprising, considering the grid, which … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 841 – Open Chambers by Kea
On my initial run through the clues I had a feeling that this might be the first EV that I’d failed to solve, particularly as I was still struggling with the final stage … Read more >>
FT 12,955/MUDD (Master of Ubiquitous Double Definitions?)
Apologies for the lateish and skeletal blog today; didn’t manage to get near a PC earlier, and there’s an impending blizzard in this neck of the woods, so I have to dash before … Read more >>
Independent 6920 by Phi
A puzzle with a seasonal theme. I’d not heard the quote before so it took me quite a while to tease it all out esp as, understandably, fitting the quote in meant more … Read more >>
Guardian 24,576 – Gordius
Not too hard today but a few unsatisfactory clues. “” = homophone * = anagram < = reversed Across 1. SCARCE. SCARFACE – ‘FA’. Fa is the subdominant note of the scale. 5. … Read more >>