Guardian 25,071 / Araucaria (24th July)
I know that rightback has been having Internet access problems recently so presumably this accounts for his absence. My apologies for not noticing the lack of a post earlier but I have been … Read more >>
Month: July 2010
Enigmatic Variations No.924 – Repeated by Lato
I wonder if I was alone in finding this tough. In retrospect, the preamble wasn’t unnecessarily misleading. Nor at any time did I think the clueing unfair. Still, for me this EV was one heck … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,451 / Bradman
A very entertaining puzzle, my picks for favourites today are 12a, 28a, 20d. I started from the bottom of the grid and worked my way up, with a pause to check the answer … Read more >>
Independent 7422/Raich
A very nice offering from Raich, who has been an excellent addition to the Independent stable this year. I even saw the Nina. Something that many people get very excited about happened on … Read more >>
Guardian 25,076 – Araucaria
Probably my quickest Araucaria solve to date, with several straightforward anagrams and the Keynes reference giving me the bottom half in next to no time. Across 1 BEHOLD EH=”What was that” in BOLD … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1135 – Six further on, by Quixote
This was pretty much the opposite experience of the Raich puzzle with the World Cup theme. The thematic content was a ‘anagram and one letter change’ 7-letter word chain, the first and last … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,450 – Falconry
Another bout of Falconry for the Thursday slot. Progress seemed a little too easy in parts, with the gradient never getting beyond a gentle slope, but I did particularly enjoy 9A and 19D … Read more >>
Independent 7421 by Phi
I found this a quite easy puzzle from Phi, solving time 16 mins, with 4 answers in the NW corner taking the final 6 mins after I managed the rest in a very … Read more >>
Guardian 25075 / Orlando
I’ve mentioned a couple of grumbles below, but overall I thought this was an enjoyable (and mostly quite easy) solve Across 9. IMPEL I = “one” + M = “mile” + PEL[t] = … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1067 by Quixote – 25 July 2010
We are proud to say that we raced through this one, and although we didn’t time ourselves, we had only drunk half of our pints before finishing it! We really enjoyed this one, … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,441 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword on 19 July 2010 Mr Smoothie is back again with his unique brand of slick surface and economy of words for his clues. Very few wasted words and yet so … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,440 by Cincinnus
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 10 Here’s another puzzle with a slew of great Cincinnusian clues. How about 27A (ELDER) and 10A (PRISONERS)? Just brilliant. And I marvel at the … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,065 (18/07/2010)
A rather interrupted solve for me, this one: initially tackled in two sessions separated by a week in Scotland, with the last two entries remaining unsolved several additional days later. I’ve reproduced the … Read more >>
Independent 7,420 by Dac
This was quite an interesting one, with the left side feeling far tougher than the right, which fell into place pretty quickly. Many of the surface readings here seem remarkably smooth, though maybe … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,449 / Cinephile
There seemed to be more double/cryptic definitions than we are used to in a Cinephile puzzle, and there wasn’t much evidence of his trademark liberties, so I didn’t find this as enjoyable as … Read more >>