Never knowingly undersolved
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def This was themed around Philip Marlowe and the actors who have played him in films. Marlowe himself appears as a homophone in 10 and 11. … Read more >>
“Wrong Number” is a long-standing type of special – I can’t remember whether it was Azed or Ximenes who invented it. Here’s the standard preamble for these puzzles: Each clue contains a one-word … Read more >>
Lorraine says: This week was fairly straight forward and enjoyable. 🙂 Nick says: Lorraine would not let me do it this week – good job too, it took me 7 hours to do … Read more >>
Solving time: 12:05 The seven answers clued without definition were all types of film: biopic, blaxploitation, horror, blue, western, feature and noir. Once this was cracked I thought this puzzle was probably on … Read more >>
A bit of a hurried post from me this week, squeezed into a brief break from a mind-numbing overdue calculus assignment. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across 1 UNPRINCIPLED – … Read more >>
Excellent puzzle, solving time 27 mins. A mini-theme perhaps with symmetrically placed 4 down and 13 down similar. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 COWL (th)ICK thick hiding half of that … Read more >>
Pressure of work has meant that this blog has been written in rather a rush, so apologies for any errors or typos. This seemed quite tough, but with Pasquale’s usual combination of fairness, … Read more >>
A fun challenge from Mudd with some creative indicators. Many clues had me entertained, and I picked up some new slang along the way. Across 9 SCARLATTI CARL (Nielsen) in SAT (day) + … Read more >>
The preamble stated that the the puzzle commemorated significant anniversaries of two related events which occurred exactly 50 years apart. Single letters or words had to be removed from all of the 40 … Read more >>
The preamble made this sound more complicated that it turned out to be. Once a few answers were in the puzzle fell in to place quickly and the straight definitions were mostly guessable … Read more >>
Trees. That’s a new compiler I thought. Then forgot that as I stared at the clues for an immensely long time looking for inspiration. I wasn’t sure of any answers on the first … Read more >>
Another solid outing from The Unpronounceable One, but he’s certainly produced better in the past. There were a few points along the way where I had an uncanny sense of deja vu, although … Read more >>
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. It must be Thursday, then! I found this very tough going indeed, and had to cheat relentlessly. Getting 15ac was something of a help though. … Read more >>
My heart sank somewhat, initially, when I saw a preamble to an Orlando, who can usually be relied on to be straightforward, but soon all became clear as the names of the 60’s … Read more >>
Solving time, 23 mins * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 6 PEP TIC 8 PINNA (leaflet) C LE 9 BOS (PO RU)S 10 P ASS I’M 11 QU A N GO 12 … Read more >>