March 2011 – Fifteensquared

Guardian 25,284 / Gordius

March 31, 2011 at 10:01 amMarch 31, 2011 at 9:09 am by Eileen

Well, no one can say we don’t get variety in Guardian puzzles! I find that I can simply repeat the preamble I wrote on the last Gordius crossword that I blogged. ‘A fairly … Read more >>

Independent 7,630 / Anax

March 31, 2011 at 9:00 am by RatkojaRiku

This was my first attempt at blogging an Anax puzzle, and given how challenging I always find his puzzles, panic immediately set in: while under normal circumstances I would expect to get at … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,656 / Redshank

March 31, 2011 at 3:03 pmMarch 31, 2011 at 3:50 am by smiffy

The pipeline of puzzles for the FT must be operating on a relatively short lead-time at present, as Redshank segues several topical clue surfaces on us today (e.g. 11A, 2D, 4D). Enough nifty … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,646 by Cinephile

March 31, 2011 at 4:28 amMarch 31, 2011 at 12:01 am by Pete Maclean

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 19 As I have probably mentioned many times, I am a long-time fan of Cinephile but all the same am very ready to criticize him. … Read more >>

Independent 7,629/Dac

March 30, 2011 at 1:28 pm by Ali

More staggeringly good stuff from Dac. You could take pretty much every single clue here and read it as a perfectly sound, elegant, standalone sentence. Some brilliant anagrams too, 7D being may pick … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,655 / Monk

March 30, 2011 at 11:13 am by Gaufrid

A welcome return to the FT for Monk after an absence of nearly 18 months. I didn’t think this was as difficult as some of his previous puzzles have been, perhaps due to … Read more >>

Guardian 25,283 – Enigmatist

March 30, 2011 at 1:10 pmMarch 30, 2011 at 9:15 am by Andrew

It’s been a while since we had an Enigmatist puzzle, but he’s back with a vengeance with this one. I found it very hard to get started, with the large number of cross-references, … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1169: Tribute by Kruger

March 30, 2011 at 12:10 am by duncanshiell

The preamble told us that just over half of the clues contain a superfluous word. The first letters of these, in clue order, spell out a tribute. The subject of this, its creators … Read more >>

Independent 7628/Math

March 29, 2011 at 11:28 am by John

A good crossword today from Math, themed about something that is mentioned after a polite gap. This is to do with the book Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie. I am not that familiar … Read more >>

Financial Times 13654/PHSSTHPOK

September 17, 2011 at 7:16 pmMarch 29, 2011 at 5:17 am by scchua

This is my debut FT blog. Thought I was going to be in trouble after getting only 1 in the initial run-through. And the clue for 5D seemed to tell me something! But … Read more >>

Guardian 25282 Araucaria – Unofficial like Chang & Eng

March 30, 2011 at 5:30 amMarch 29, 2011 at 3:26 am by Uncle Yap

What a lovely duty I have today, blogging the Master with his unpredictable devices that stretch Ximenean limits and torture his clients delightfully … don’t we all have this masochistic streak? A most … Read more >>

Independent 7627 / Phi

March 28, 2011 at 11:11 amMarch 28, 2011 at 10:05 am by Gaufrid

It was something of a surprise to see Phi on a Monday, Eimi must have something interesting lined up for April 1st. A relatively easy, but pleasant, start to the week with, so … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic N° 593 by Arachne

March 28, 2011 at 12:08 pmMarch 28, 2011 at 3:50 am by PeterO

An amusing offering from the Spider Woman, notable for some fine surfaces. Across 1. Exclusive property, often used in films (7,7) SPECIAL EFFECTS Charade of SPECIAL (‘exclusive’) + EFFECTS (‘property’). 8. A month … Read more >>

Guardian 25,281 – Rufus

March 28, 2011 at 1:53 am by manehi

Very gentle Monday puzzle from Rufus with plenty of anagrams, double and cryptic definitions. I liked 5d and 13d. Across 1 BENEFIT double def 5 EXCERPT EXCEPT=”but” around R[ight] 9 NORSE (reason)* minus … Read more >>

Private Eye/Cyclops 439 – Bad Eye

March 28, 2011 at 12:15 am by beermagnet

I found this Eye much harder than usual. It took till 20A Niggle to find a clue I could cold solve, and only had a handful in place after the first pass. The … Read more >>