Never knowingly undersolved
All very smooth this week, though not unchallenging. There are some particularly nice surface readings, while if someone could confirm 23 down, I’d be grateful. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. … Read more >>
Another quality puzzle from Poins, with lots of nice anagrams to work through. I managed this in one sitting in the pub, making for a very pleasant Sunday afternoon. I don’t seem to … Read more >>
A quick solve for me this week with the SE holding me up the longest.
Although the structure of most of these clues is fairly straightforward, as witness the number of them that can be parsed in one bit, I found this one of Azed’s harder crosswords, with many difficult words and shades of meaning. Coomassie blue and makunouchi aren’t things I talk about every day. Indeed there are red squiggly lines under two of these words and they won’t go away.
As usual I’m not going to explain all these difficult words. I don’t want to be up all night.
Definitions underlined.
A Genius puzzle by Enigmatist – words to strike fear in a blogger’s heart. Fortunately this turned out to be one of his slightly more merciful offerings, though in traditional style it started … Read more >>
Classic Klingsor really, and very enjoyable. I seemed to get through this fairly swiftly, though the crossing pair of 10 across and 7 down beat me completely, and I had to go online … Read more >>
Many EVs have marked moments of one kind or another. Will this be an historical occasion, a moment in a process, or something else entirely. (Excellent! I’ve written an introduction that doesn’t mention semen.)
An truly epic puzzle – epic to set, epic to solve and an epic to blog. Thanks Maskarade!
I didn’t enjoy this as much as some other Qaos puzzles, as I think there are some dodgy constructions, and a couple of rather weak CDs. However, there are are some great clues … Read more >>
What an interesting challenge from a setter I havent had the pleasure of blogging before! Thanks Peto for a terrific and refreshing challenge. Some of the parsings took longer than the time it took to solve the clue based on cross-refs. I was left, at my wit’s end on 26 ac which I couldnt quite figure out.
A standard Friday crossword from Phi today If there is an overt theme or message in today’s crossword it has eluded me. It looks just like a good commuter crossword … Read more >>
For a long time — in fact until I actually did the blog — I thought that this was themed around 14ac 21dn and was prepared to apologise for my ignorance of his works. but it became clear that in fact the theme was more general. Hob has fitted in many answers with a link to the theme and I have probably missed some of them.
All very cleverly done and apart from my very occasional doubts, which are probably unjustified anyway, a pleasant crossword.
I ran through this a bit hastily, but I don’t feel too bad about that as it didn’t feel like the setter had gone to any great trouble either. Sound but workaday.
(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) A devilishly difficult one, thanks to … Read more >>
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A devilishly difficult one, thanks to Pasquale. Had to use electronic aids, including the … Read more >>