Guardian 24,792 – Rufus
A well constructed puzzle but sadly not enough meat to keep one occupied for the whole bank holiday – good job I’d not yet tackled the Observer. Not much to say really, some … Read more >>
Month: August 2009
Independent 7137 by Anax
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def A tricky bank holiday puzzle with some very good clues, 13 down being my favourite, but also a few that I was a bit uncertain … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 398 – Blown away
Trouble with overconfidently putting in a couple of answers this time caused hold-ups but nothing that couldn’t be sorted out in the same solving session. Across 8 PRITHEE (HI PETER)* AInd: outed 9 … Read more >>
Everyman 3282
It felt like a lot of anagrams and first or last letters this week, but maybe that was just the order in which I approached the clues. The few place name answers were … Read more >>
Azed 1943
I am always full of admiration for Azed’s grids. Here he has what seems to me to be a great achievement, four twelve-letter words, two next to each other going down the centre … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,018 (23/08/09)
Excellent crossword as always. I never time these, but I did notice that I managed more of this without Chambers than I usually would. That probably has more to do with the tight … Read more >>
Guardian 24,785 – Paul
A very entertaining theme for this prize crossword, and nicely hidden in the relevant surface(s). My only real problem was an explanation for 28ac Across 1. VASECTOMY. V(ery) + A SEC + TOM … Read more >>
EV 876 What You’ve Got To Do by Syd Lexis
With the preamble stating that there were 5 normal clues and 5 lines breaking up two misspelt words in the quotation there was clearly a connection. I found the clues easy enough (except … Read more >>
Guardian 24,790 – Logodaedalus
Solving and blogging in a rush today – thankfully, I found it fairly easy with the exception of 24ac which I’m unsure on. Liked 4dn. Across 1 MASTERLY (steam)* + RLY 5 PAMPAS … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,167 / Cincinnus
On the easy side today, though I did have to look up UZI and BERG. All the long clues were specially good. Favourites: 10A, 12A, 3D and the little one at 25D. Across … Read more >>
Independent 7135/Phi
I wasn’t sure how easy this was since I chose to solve it online after midnight, being busy late on Friday morning and not wanting to get up safely early, but there are … Read more >>
Inquisitor 138 – LANDED by Loda
Back from walking in the Pyrenees – let’s hope this puzzle isn’t as controversial as #133! Three (unspecified) answers are to be modified before entry, and answers to the eight italicised clues each … Read more >>
Independent 7,134/Tees
Nice stuff from Tees. Some excellent clues here, though there are one ot two I can’t quite piece together, so any pointers appreciated. This looks like the kind of grid which screams Nina, … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,166 / Sleuth
A pangrammatic puzzle today with a good mixture of clue types. A minor quibble with 31a in that both ‘beaten’ and ‘beeton’ could be entered into the grid and, depending upon how one … Read more >>
Guardian 24,789 / Paul
After yesterday’s struggles with Enigmatist, I found this one mostly quite easy, except that 7dn stumped me for ages, and caused some problems with its crossing words too. Some tricky wordplay here, and … Read more >>