Guardian 25,086 – Arachne
I’m not a huge fan of grids such as this where the long clues can somewhat spoil the fun if you get them early or lock you out of a corner if you … Read more >>
Month: August 2010
Independent 7431 by Tyrus
Tyrus today a relatively gentle introduction for me. Nina today from Father Ted with quite a few references in the answers too, including their Eurovision song. 7 Anastasia – Hidden backawards in Australi(a … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,460 / Armonie
This was a very quick solve, but the usual smooth concise clues from Armonie. I thought 11 down and 20 down were particularly good. Across 1 LONG SHOT dd 5 SCARCE SCAR (deface) … Read more >>
Guardian 25085 – Gordius
Today’s offering from Gordius is not too complicated if you know a lot of not-so-well-known names as Gordius name-dropped left, right and centre. Without access to Google, I do not think I would … Read more >>
Independent 7430 by Phi
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism I started looking at this when it appeared on the web site last night and did a double take when I saw it was … Read more >>
Guardian 25084 / Rufus
A fun puzzle from Rufus, with lots of anagrams and cryptic definitions. Across 1. CACKLE Cryptic definition: to “cut the cackle” is to stop talking 4. MASTHEAD AM reversed + SAD = “unhappy” … Read more >>
Everyman No. 3331 (1st August)
Lorraine: Nice easy puzzle this week, thank you Mr. Everyman. I have a small query in 17dn. Please note the spelling mistake in 1dn. as published in the electronic versions; sorry to be … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1068 by Quixote – 1st August 2010
A somewhat unusual puzzle this week with one very long answer filling many of the across spaces. We didn’t know the saying, so had to work it out from the anagram, which was … Read more >>
Azed 1992
What you always get from Azed: apparently tortuous clues, but everything’s do-able so long as you persevere with all the wading through Chambers, because all the clueing is completely sound. Across 1 WIT-CRACKER … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,067 (01/08/10)
This was one of those that went in very quickly indeed, but that I couldn’t quite finish unaided. In fact, if anyone got 15ac purely from the anagram then I’d be very impressed! … Read more >>
Guardian 25,077 (Sat 31 Jul)/Pasquale – Past masters
Solving time: 12 mins Pasquale is one of the most Ximenean of The Guardian’s setters (i.e. his clues generally make good cryptic sense) which usually means a fast solve. This wasn’t the case … Read more >>
Independent 7423 (Sat 31-Jul) Nestor
Nother non-numerical Nestor novelty to nonplus us. In fact this was again not as hard as many a midweek puzzle, with firm wordplay once seen. Why do compilers end up picking words and … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 925 – Gwent’s Tall Yew by Kruger
The full 225 letters this week (unusual for an EV recently?), so value for money from Kruger, and more to blog for your’s truly…but, to paraphrase from John Cleese’s ‘great actor’ in the … Read more >>
Independent 7,428/Phi
A nice puzzle from Phi to finish off the week. There was nothing too tricky here, but equally absolutely nothing to complain about, just a batch of very neat, very elegantly written clues. … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,457 / Styx
A mix of simple and tricky clues, with uniformly clean surfaces. Specially enjoyed the devious definition in 19A. Across 1 GARLIC L (leaf) in (CIGAR)*. I’ve not seen leaf = L before but … Read more >>