Never knowingly undersolved
Solving time: 35 mins It would be fair to say that I wasn’t firing on all cylinders when solving this puzzle. The clearest evidence was the five minutes I wasted trying to find … Read more >>
Solving time: 65 mins A very nice Christmas jumbo from Araucaria, with the phrases “We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year” and “God rest you merry gentlemen” hidden in … Read more >>
I’d not come across Flashy-hat before in any of the usual outlets so I wasn’t sure whether to expect heavy meal to keep me eating over the holiday or a light starter before … Read more >>
I solved this with the help of a Google friend (Howard Trickey — thanks!). Unlike a typical Listener, we cracked the theme well before solving all the clues (with the help of … Read more >>
A fairly gentle pipe-opener to start the year off here. Despite an easy solve, I haven’t fathomed the wordplay behind 5D yet and am clutching at straws somewhat on 13A. Across 1RE,FORM 4 … Read more >>
There’s a partial “12 Days of Christmas” theme, here with 7, 26,27, 3, and 6 appearing in the grid. It seems a bit odd to have an incomplete theme like this, which makes … Read more >>
A typically nice Phi. I have one or two quibbles with, or at any rate misgivings about, some of the punctuation, but no doubt all will be explained. I’m off for the weekend … Read more >>
Boatman’s third outing in the Guardian, and, completely by coincidence, my third chance to blog him. Another enjoyable puzzle, with some excellent clues – I particularly liked 25ac, 1dn and 19dn. Best wishes … Read more >>
The preamble stated that five words (one in a shortened form) of a song title would be spelled out in clue order, by single extra letters generated by wordplay in each of 25 … Read more >>
Thankfully not that complicated today after a late night, but a reasonable challenge. There are lots of straightforward formulations, but with nice surfaces and some tricky meanings. Either that or my brain’s still … Read more >>
Solving time, just under 15 mins * = anagram ACROSS 9 CH (A PAT) I 10 RECLAIM (I’m clear)* 11 (t)ISSUE 12 RETURN KEY On a typewriter 13 TWO-SEATER w in (estate or)* … Read more >>
New Year Greetings to everyone. I can find no upload of the puzzle today, so if anyone has access to the newspaper and would like to blog for me, please go ahead. Otherwise … Read more >>
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. The New Year presents us with an enjoyable puzzle from a less regular setter. There’s some really good clueing in there, and while there were … Read more >>
Puzzles 106 – 157
Wishing Everybody A Happy & Rewarding New Year Monday Prize Crossword on 22 December 2008 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = … Read more >>