Everyman 3284
No big surprises here and nothing very difficult. There do seem to be a lot of word or part word reversals in this one. The main point of note is a rare but … Read more >>
Month: September 2009
Beelzebub 1,020 (06/09/09)
Satisfying puzzle as always. Seemed to be a relatively quick solve for me, but I don't time these things so it could be an illusion. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. … Read more >>
Guardian 24,797 (Sat 5 Sep)/Taupi – Clean sheet
Solving time: 9 mins A very good puzzle from Taupi with a couple of superb anagrams at 1ac and 8dn. 14ac (CLEAN) caused me the most trouble, but overall I thought this wasn’t … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 878 – Spot the Connection by Lato
A rather tough offering from Lato this week with several steps needed before the grid could be completed. At the end of the initial session I had all the normal answers entered, along … Read more >>
Independent 7,147 by Phi
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. I knew that GCSE in Music would come in handy some day. A nicely-themed Friday puzzle that had me sorely tempted to litter this intro … Read more >>
Guardian 24,802 / Puck
Well, I’m not complaining about lack of humour today – nor that the puzzle was too easy! I found this quite a challenge, not least in the parsing, but very rewarding, thanks to … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,179 / Bradman
A delightful puzzle, the two long anagrams at 1D, 10D being the highlights. Quite tough too, had to pick up my dictionary several times. The top-right corner was especially tricky taking me double … Read more >>
Inquisitor 140 – Alevin by Viking
Viking is a new Inquisitor setter for me, but a bit of research indicates that there is a Viking who plays a major part in crosswords in another place, so the pedigree looked … Read more >>
Independent 7142 (Sat 5 Sep) Bannsider
I’m looking very hard but I can’t see a Nina in this one (I completely failed to see the Nina in last Saturday’s). Nevertheless, a pretty tough puzzle which is what we expect … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,178 / Phssthpok
Apologies for the tardiness of this post. It would seem that Smiffy’s holiday has gone on longer than he originally intended, or something else has prevented him from posting a blog, so here … Read more >>
Independent 7146 by Scorpion
I found this extremely tough, to say the least, setter made tremendous effort to use meanings of words that gave consistent surface readings. Solving time, 73 mins. * = anagram < = reversed … Read more >>
Guardian 24,801 / Rover – a pair of Queens
I’ve been a bit unkind about Rover in the past, and I was hoping to be proved wrong in this one, but unfortunately there are a few rather weak definitions and a bad … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1021 by Quixote (6 Sep 2009)
A bit harder than some by Quixote, solving time 35 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 BAR (MA)N 4 FU (SIN)G 8 ANTICOAGULANTS (a nostalgic aunt)* 10 G E (HE)NNA … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,169 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword on 31 August 2009 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,168 by Cinephile
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 29 I have been a big fan of Cinephile for many, many years — although all these years amount to only a minority of those … Read more >>