Inquisitor 1147: Conundrum by Nimrod
“Each clue yields a superfluous letter …” (alert: it might not be from the wordplay, but in the definition, or elsewhere?). These give a conundrum, three possible answers, and the initials of the … Read more >>
Month: October 2010
Guardian 25,146 – Auster
A pretty easy puzzle from Auster (who I don’t think we’ve seen for a while), with a lot of rather obvious charades and anagrams. Pleasant enough, but nothing stands out as particularly notable. … Read more >>
Independent 7,491/Punk
Time was a Tuesday blogger could rest assured that he’d be in for a relatively gentle Virgilius every other week, but with the master of the themed puzzle on a break, the overall … Read more >>
Guardian 25145 Boatman – Fluid Floral Fandango
Boatman has woven an intricate set of clues around the word flower, which can take on more than one meaning. I found the clues very challenging, taking me nearly an hour to unravel. … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,520 / Armonie
A quick solve today. I download the FT crossword just after 7 pm New York time, and solve it on the train ride out of Manhattan. This one fell before we crossed the … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,077 (10/10/10)
Interesting week for me, this one. I made a good start, but found it very difficult to finish off. Still, here it is, finally. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 570 / Pan
Another relatively straightforward solve. I did need the checking letters to get 11 across, an author that I had heard of but was not one that readily came to mind. Apart from that … Read more >>
Guardian 24,144 / Rufus
Another gentle start to the week from Rufus, with the customary combination of double and cryptic definitions and ingenious anagrams. [If anyone was, like me, shilly-shallying before booking for the ‘Meet the setters … Read more >>
Independent 7490 by Hypnos
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism An enjoyable puzzled themed on American TV series. How you got on probably depended on how many of the series you’d heard of. I … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1078 by Quixote – 10th October 2010
A couple of unfamiliar words meant we couldn’t quite finish this unaided. Still, good to learn some new bits of vocab, and to remember ‘eclogue’, which was long forgotten from A-Level classical civ … Read more >>
Everyman No. 3341 (10th October)
Lorraine: Nice easy Sunday morning solve this week, a very enjoyable puzzle. Thank you Everyman. Legend to solution comments: * = anagram. < = word reversed. Across 1. Prince in favour of metal … Read more >>
Azed 2002
A fairly easy offering this week, I thought, although there were a couple of four letter words that required some care. As I have done before, here’s a link to the pdf of … Read more >>
Independent 7,483 by Radian (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 09/10/10)
After drawing two Saturday Anax puzzles in a row, including one of which I barely managed half, I’ll admit to being a little relieved to see Radian appear this week. Radian has consistently … Read more >>
Guardian 25,137 (Sat 9 Oct)/Araucaria – Tier straits
Solving time: 12 minutes If you didn’t solve this puzzle and are confused by the title of this blog, you have probably fallen into the same trap as me. I spent three minutes … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 935 Naughty boy by MynoT
Straightforward clues this week – no twist of any sort. Then, find a quotation, its source and the real name of the writer – Sounds easy but may be “Un peu difficile”, if … Read more >>