Plenty of double and cryptic defs as usual from Rufus. My favourites were 10ac, 2dn, 17dn and 20dn.
Month: August 2014
Azed 2202 – ‘A Summer Serenade’ (DLM)
I’ve never been a great fan of DLM (definition and letter-mixture) puzzles: I tend to find them very hard to get started on, but once even a couple of answers are in it … Read more >>
Everyman 3,541
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3541.
Independent on Sunday 1278/Raich
Always a pleasure to get a Raich puzzle to solve and blog. Only a couple that held me up here, and those were down to my muppetry rather than the quality of the … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 1134 Darkness by Oxymoron
A treat for me this week Oxymoron – a favourite compiler of mine for many a year. Always a challenge but always fair. 28 clues need 2 or 3 letters to be removed … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 26,340 / Picaroon
Now this, from one of my favourite setters, is what I call a Prize puzzle – and I’m not talking about the much-disputed difficulty level. For me, there’s a ‘special’ feel about this: … Read more >>
Independent 8686 (Sat 16-Aug 2014) Nimrod
I made some notes when I solved this: First pass of the clues – 10 minutes – 1 answered (18D – 2nd to last clue read) One. That’s all. It’s Nimrod. Oh dear. … Read more >>
Independent 8,691 by Phi
Phi’s usual excellent offering. Most of these clues can be simply parsed, although they were not all that simple to get in the first place.
The radio this morning said that it was Debussy’s birthday, and knowing Phi’s musical leanings I half expected some reference to this, but I can see none. The checkers at the top and bottom might suggest something, but apparently no. My impression is that Phi started off with intentions for them but gave up and produced a ‘normal’ crossword instead. Probably there is something there, although Phi told us recently that his crosswords often contained no Nina.
Financial Times 14,707 by BRADMAN
An excellent challenge from Bradman this Friday with just the right mix of mind-benders and quick wins. I did have to re-calibrate my estimate on the finishing time during the course of the solve. This was largely due to the fact that the 5 anagrams in the crossword got me going quickly and after that progress became a lot slower=. I still needed help with parsing 24ac and 3d. My pick of the lot was 10ac.
Overall, a delectable treat from a trusted setter.
FF: 8, DD: 7
Guardian 26,345 by Orlando
Found this trickier towards the end, with the NW holding me up for quite a while – 11ac and 5dn both new to me, and 4ac only remembered vaguely. No complaints with the cluing, which was excellent throughout. My favourites were 10ac, 14dn and 19dn.
Financial Times 14,706 / Orense
The first appearance by Orense for three months gives us a straightforward puzzle with nothing contentious or particularly difficult. My first pass through the clues left only a handful of empty lights to … Read more >>
Guardian 26,344 – Nutmeg
I found this a lot easier than some of Nutmeg’s recent offerings in the Cryptic spot; in fact some of the clues seem more in the style of the Quiptic. There seem to … Read more >>
Independent 8690 / Anax
Well…. another Thursday toughie from Anax. As is often the way with Anax, there were several unusual meanings of words that were otherwise familiar, along with several words we’d not come … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,697 – Crux
Monday Prize Crossword/Aug 11 The usual not too spicy quality fare from Crux but, imho, once more let down by some weak cryptic definitions. So both ‘thanks’ and ‘sorry’ to the setter. Definitions are underlined … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,696 by Magwitch
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 9, 2014 I got through this puzzle fairly quickly even though I found some clues challenging. For example, I had a hard time understanding the … Read more >>