January 2012 – Page 6 – Fifteensquared

Financial Times 13,890 by Cincinnus

Thu January 12, 2012 at 12:01 am by Pete Maclean

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 31, 2011 I sailed through this puzzle although I had to look up the two battles (11 and 12A) and 25A (KERRY BLUE). And I … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,898 by Cinephile

Wed January 11, 2012 at 1:53 pmWed January 11, 2012 at 11:40 am by PeeDee

A super crossword from Cinephile, reasonably easy but with a wide range of interesting devices so I would not describe this one as straightforward. This is how the midweek crosswords should be I think, accessible … Read more >>

Guardian 25,529 / Paul

Wed January 11, 2012 at 9:46 amWed January 11, 2012 at 9:13 am by Eileen

A fun puzzle and fairly steady solve from Paul, with some ingenious and amusing clues, and one or two easy ones to get / keep things going and to help with less familiar … Read more >>

Independent 7,875 / Dac

Wed January 11, 2012 at 9:00 am by RatkojaRiku

Another crop of concisely worded, sound clues with silky smooth surface readings – one would expect nothing else of Dac, of course. As Ali mentioned in his Dac blog last week, let’s hope … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1210 – INCOMPARABLE! by Glow-worm

Wed January 11, 2012 at 7:17 amWed January 11, 2012 at 6:00 am by Hihoba

A nice seasonal puzzle with some tricky cluing. I started at the top left (unusually) which turned out to be very helpful, as the most important theme word was at 1A. DA?E? led readily … Read more >>

Independent/7,874 – Punk

Wed January 11, 2012 at 3:31 pmTue January 10, 2012 at 1:39 pm by Ali

Apologies for the delay with the blog. This was quite something, with 2 very long thematic answers relating to 16/12. I haven’t actually read any of his work, but am familiar with the … Read more >>

Financial Times N° 13, 897 by Armonie

Tue January 10, 2012 at 3:03 am by PeterO

Wandering from my usual Guardian beat, I find a puzzle by John Dawson, whom I know better as his alter ego Chifonie; the results are much the same, with straightforward clue construction, smooth surfaces and some ingenious misdirection. John Dawson gives his main interests as crosswords, music, and walking in the Lake District. Could one ask for anything more?

Guardian 25,528 – Gordius

Tue January 10, 2012 at 2:05 am by Uncle Yap

Today’s puzzle is very entertaining with many lovely and clever devices. When I say I found a puzzle easy (like I did last week) it probably meant that I took less than 10 … Read more >>

Independent 7873 by Quixote

Mon January 9, 2012 at 12:30 pm by nmsindy

Quixote’s first Indy appearance of 2012 and the usual excellent puzzle. A little on the easy side even by Quixote’s accessible standards, I found. Solving time, 15 mins. * = anagram ACROSS 1 … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic 634 / Moley

Mon January 9, 2012 at 5:15 pmMon January 9, 2012 at 11:02 am by Big Dave

It’s been over a year since I reviewed one of Moley’s Quiptics, and little has changed. This is yet another very ordinary crossword, notable only for the inclusion of 15 anagrams in 29 … Read more >>

Guardian 25,527 – Brendan

Mon January 9, 2012 at 10:24 amMon January 9, 2012 at 8:49 am by Andrew

Brendan is becoming quite a regular as stand-in for Rufus on his occasional Mondays off, and this was a typically enjoyable puzzle, and mostly not too hard, though with a theme that might … Read more >>

Cyclops 454: Did you have a luvvie-ly time?

Tue January 10, 2012 at 3:15 pmSun January 8, 2012 at 12:00 pm by jetdoc

Here’s hoping you all had a splendid time over the holidays, and wishing you a very happy and (cruciverbally, at the very least) successful 2012. This blog is due to appear for tomorrow … Read more >>

Everyman No. 3404 (1st January)

Sun January 8, 2012 at 6:30 am by The Trafites

Lorraine: Good morning to you all and a very happy new year. Very straight forward this week, can’t say anything had me stumped. Plenty of my old favourites being the anagram. Big thanks to … Read more >>

Azed 2065

Sun January 8, 2012 at 10:40 pmSun January 8, 2012 at 12:02 am by John

After the hours I spent on the Christmas crossword two weeks ago, this one came as welcome relief. Not that it was easy: Azed never is, for me at any rate, but this … Read more >>

Independent on Sunday 1,141 by Poins

Sun January 8, 2012 at 12:01 am by Uncle Yap

This puzzle did not leave me very happy as I couldn’t see the word-play in 23Across and took ages to stumble on the conjointed INTO in 29Across. Not a very satisfactory state of … Read more >>