Financial Times 13,081 / Aardvark
It seems quite a while since I’ve had any significant quibbles about a puzzle but today has changed that. One faulty clue (29a) and some questionable wordplay (5a, 9a, 2d, 4d, 11d, 22d). … Read more >>
Month: May 2009
Independent 7048/Virgilius
My delight in finding that I have to blog a Virgilius crossword is never total, for although there are bound to be some lovely clues I know that there will be some clever … Read more >>
Guardian 24,703 / Araucaria
There were several laugh out loud moments in this entertaining puzzle from Araucaria, with a number of cleverly inter-connected clues. Across 7 PRESS ON: PRESS ON[e]: a witty reference to the irritating options offered … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,080 / Jason
A few of these clues are underwhelming, unless they possess some cleverness that I have missed. Many of the surfaces are also awkward or don’t make a lot of sense. Or maybe I’m … Read more >>
Guardian 24702 / Rufus
As often happens with Rufus’s puzzles for me, I got about half of these clues very fast and the rest took rather more puzzling. I thought there was lots to enjoy here, with … Read more >>
Independent 7047 by Hypnos
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def Although I’m not a user of it, all the recent fuss over Twitter helped me get going with this puzzle. Once I’d got that, I … Read more >>
Sloggers and Betters 5 – last call …
… for a London pub and dinner gathering on Thursday. Please let me know promptly if you would like to come – especially for the dinner part – anyone can turn up at … Read more >>
Azed 1928 – Raising the blood!
Halfway through moving to a new flat, and a welcome break from shredding paper and packing boxes. After the stresses of the Spoonerism puzzle the previous week, this was a nice … Read more >>
Guardian 24,695 / Araucaria (9/5/2009)
I don’t know what has happened to Rightback this weekend but something seems to have prevented him from posting a blog so here is a somewhat belated substitute. This ‘alphabetical’ was made a … Read more >>
Everyman Crossword No. 3267 (May 10)
A couple of clues with parochial references (see 23 ac, 7 dn) put me off, but otherwise an enjoyable puzzle. I liked 1 ac especially. Across 1 OTHELLO – THE (the), LL (lines) in O … Read more >>
Inquisitor 123 – Whereabouts by Lato
Solving time: about two hours This was an interesting geographical challenge, with just about the right amount of work for me remaining to be done after the grid was nearly completed from plain … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,003 (10/05/09)
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. I found this unusually tough this week, but no less enjoyable for it. There’s at least of couple of lovely long anagrams which I particularly … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,077 / Flimsy
Good puzzle, tough in places with some word meanings new to me. Found 27A, 16D particularly interesting. Across 9 INHERITOR IN (RHETORIC – C)* 10 AGUES A(-r)GUES 11 UNTRUTH (-p)UNT (bet) RUTH (girl) … Read more >>
Guardian 24,700 / Arachne
I found this mostly quite easy (especially in comparison to Arachne’s recent Monday puzzle), though with a few slight obscurities that I needed to check. Several very nice clues where the cryptic structure … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 861 — Hellish Rate by Samuel
Quite a tough EV from Samuel, certainly somewhat tougher, for me, than his Listener puzzles I have solved. Although I had plenty of extra letters and I could make out FRIEDRICH I still … Read more >>