Independent 7226 by Mass (Sat 12 Dec 2009)
Solving time: about 45 late night minutes Mass has usually been a very difficult setter for me – never quite sure why. I was going to say that this has a lot of … Read more >>
Month: December 2009
Independent 7,230/Nimrod
Apologies for the brevity/lateness here. Work Xmas party last night, so I solved this one with a belting hangover on the bus 2 hours late for work and am still playing catch-up. Good … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,262/Orense
A bit of a doddle today, but with some fun elements – and a few items that piqued my quibblesome side this morning. Across 9 ORIGINATE – I + GIN (“mother’s ruin”) in … Read more >>
Guardian 24885 / Chifonie
Quite a tough puzzle today, I thought, with a few words I wasn’t familiar with – these were all quite guessable from the clues though. Across 1. PESTERED P = “Penny” + (STEERED)* … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1035 by Quixote – 13 Dec 2009
Solving time, 18 mins * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 7 A L (L ERG) IST 9 ASS ET silly (noun) 11 DEVONSHIRE CREAM (over merchandise)* 12 PURL(O)IN 13 ILL EG AL(Capone) … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,253 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword on 7 December 2009 Another painless start to the FT week with Dante’s slick surfaces. ACROSS 1 HUDSON *(hounds) 4 SCRAMBLE dd 10 DELIRIOUS Ins of RIO (Brazilian city) in … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,032 (29/11/09)
A quickish blog, as various factors have led to my falling a little way behind with solving Beelzebub. I’ll use this week to play catchup and then hopefully normal service can be resumed. … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,261 / Satori
A few weeks ago we had the last Taupi in the Guardian. Now we are told that this is Satori’s final puzzle. It is a fitting tribute to the talents of the late … Read more >>
Guardian 24,884 / Paul
A fun puzzle from Paul – not one of his more difficult ones [more than the usual quota of straight charades, I think] – with an entertaining theme. Some nice clues, as usual … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,252 by Cincinnus
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 5 I was warned that submission dates might vary from the norm over the holidays but I still managed to be late with this blog. … Read more >>
Independent 7229/Dac
As always Dac’s clues are simple and elegant and have lovely surfaces. Time after time the immediate reaction is to say how lucky he’s been that everything has fallen out so neatly. But … Read more >>
Independent 7,228 by Virgilius
If I were to choose a title for this puzzle it would be “Bottoms Up” – partly for thematic reasons, but also because that’s how the answers fell in today. The bottom half … Read more >>
Financial Times 13260 / Neo
I am standing in for Agentzero. I had great time solving this puzzle. But for this opportunity, I might not have solved this. I must admit that I had a slow start. Not … Read more >>
Guardian 24883 – Puck The Magic Dragon
What a fantastic puzzle this turned out to be. A dash of risque, some fun with numbers and a potpourri of some creative and clever devices and the whole thing, extremely entertaining. One … Read more >>
Guardian 24,882 – Rufus
I’m short of time today, so apologies for a brief blog. Either this was harder than a typical Rufus, or I just wasn’t on his wavelength. Some of the cryptic definitions seemed a … Read more >>