Independent 8324 / Dac
With a Dac puzzle, bloggers tend to be repetitive in their praise for the smoothness of the surfaces of the clues. It’s very difficult not to be and this week the puzzle illustrate … Read more >>
Month: June 2013
Inquisitor 1285: The B*stard by Chalicea
This is Chalicea’s fourth puzzle to appear in the Inquisitor series. The preamble was fairly short and stated that "Appropriately entered, 1 down and 9, according to one of them, dealt with the … Read more >>
Financial Times 14342 Phssthpok
(Apologies for the late post.) This turned out okay in the end for me despite a slow start. Thanks Phssthpok for the enjoyment. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the … Read more >>
Independent 8323/Radian
A good, slightly tough but not very, workout from Radian today. Some of the clues (especially 18ac) are excellent. There are one or two which I’ve not yet parsed. Let’s hope the penny drops … Read more >>
Guardian 25977 by Shed
This is a mixed bag of goodies; some delightfully outrageous and some not so. Across 1 Fit to grasp point of gap (7)INTERIM Ins of E (east, point on compass) in IN TRIM … Read more >>
Independent 8322 by Quixote
I was slightly surprised to see Quixote when I got the paper this morning, I thought he did alternate weeks and he did last Monday, something special planned for next week perhaps? Back to … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic N° 709, by Pan
The puzzle may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/quiptic/709. I found this plain sailing, as befits a Quiptic. Across 1. Peer said to be infertile (6) BARREN A homophone of BARON (‘peer’). As often, the … Read more >>
Guardian 25,976 – Rufus
Got through most of this quickly, but came unstuck for a long while on the last two – 21ac then 7dn. Favourite clues were 2dn and 8ac. Across 1 PAPER CLIP cryptic def … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday, 1,216/Raich
I haven’t blogged a Raich puzzle for a while, but always good to see him popping up on a Sunday. I liked this one a lot. Some tougher words took a while to … Read more >>
Azed No 2140
A reasonably straightforward Azed this week, if perhaps a little harder than average. I have a couple of queries which will no doubt be resolved swiftly by the usual suspects. Across 1 FIG … Read more >>
Everyman 3479/9 June
A delightful, well-constructed entry-level puzzle from Everyman, with a variety of devices and everything clearly clued. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] … Read more >>
Guardian Prize No 25,969 by Araucaria
I found this to be a distinctly challenging puzzle, although I didn’t help myself by a stupid error which delayed my solving of 26 across, the key to the theme. There seemed to … Read more >>
Independent 8315 by Monk (Saturday Prize Puzzle 8 June 2013)
An enjoyable prize puzzle from Monk – with an interesting twist, or two… Apologies but a manic week and two blogs to complete tonight mean this will have to be quick. I started … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1072: Companions by Wiglaf
I found this puzzle quite challenging, partly due to a gap in my cultural references, which will be revealed – although I suspect many people who don’t have this gap may have got … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,339 by Alberich
Pretty tricky today Across 1 INFRINGE break IN RING (item of jewellery) in F[armhous]E 5 HARLOT tramp R (right) in (A HOT [mea]L)* 9 CLERICAL white-collar C[rime] L[inked] ERICA … Read more >>