January 2015 – Page 4 – Fifteensquared

Independent 8818 by Alchemi

Mon January 19, 2015 at 9:00 am by NealH

This was a puzzle of about the right level of difficulty for a weekday. It was a good one for those who aren’t keen on CDs and DDs, since there were none here. … Read more >>

Guardian 26,472 – Rufus

Mon January 19, 2015 at 8:53 am by Andrew

I’m short of time this morning, so please excuse the rather brief explanations below. A very Rufus-y Rufus today, with six double and eight (!) cryptic definitions: some of the latter rather obvious, … Read more >>

Cyclops 538

Tue January 20, 2015 at 7:02 amSun January 18, 2015 at 11:59 pm by jetdoc

Apologies for the lateness — I had intended to work on this during our visit to London (well, on the train), but my laptop is behaving badly. It was lovely to see various … Read more >>

Independent on Sunday 1,299 by Poins

Mon January 19, 2015 at 10:44 amSun January 18, 2015 at 12:26 pm by Simon Harding

Apologies for the slightly tardy posting. I started this early this morning but was interrupted. I seemed to sail through the puzzle without any particular difficulty. No less enjoyable for that, and a … Read more >>

Everyman 3,562

Sun January 18, 2015 at 10:54 amSun January 18, 2015 at 7:45 am by flashling

Seemed to be the easiest Everyman I’ve done for a while but took a while to be convinced by one piece of parsing. Thanks Everyman. Across 1 Is numb, I suspect, in exploration vessel (7) … Read more >>

Beelzebub 1297

Sun January 18, 2015 at 1:00 am by Gaufrid

I seemed to finish this one a little more quickly than usual, perhaps because 1ac and 1dn were my first entries, and then spent more time than is the norm justifying/verifying some of … Read more >>

Azed 2223

Sun January 18, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

Azed has given us another masterclass in precise clueing Solving an Azed crossword is always a good source of general knowledge, although whether I will use much of it outside … Read more >>

Independent 8,811 by Hob (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 10/01/15)

Sat January 17, 2015 at 8:00 am by Simon Harding

I’ve very little experience with Hob’s puzzles, and may not ever have blogged one, though I can’t swear it. So this should be interesting. In the event I enjoyed the puzzle, and got … Read more >>

Guardian Prize 26,465 by Paul

Sat January 17, 2015 at 10:01 amSat January 17, 2015 at 12:00 am by PeeDee

Good fun yet again from Paul.

Enigmatic Variations No.1155 – Reductions by Oxymoron

Sat January 17, 2015 at 1:59 amSat January 17, 2015 at 12:00 am by Mister Sting

Oxymoron gives some hints about the possible construction of the puzzle here, by calling it REDUCTIONS, and telling us in the preamble of “a shortage of space” and “clashes”, and warning us that the number of cells given in grid entries may not be the number of letters in answers to clues.

All well and good. That still leaves a lot of questions.

Guardian 26,470 – Crucible

Fri January 16, 2015 at 8:59 pmFri January 16, 2015 at 10:02 am by Andrew

For some reason I found this a bit of a slog while I was solving it, but looking back I see that there’s a nice variety of clues and lots to admire. There … Read more >>

Independent 8816 / Phi

Fri May 3, 2019 at 10:12 amFri January 16, 2015 at 7:15 am by Bertandjoyce

A very special thank you to Phi for this puzzle! We have been blogging now for almost 2 years and this is our 178th post. It will however be one that we will never forget. … Read more >>

Financial Times 14,830 by MAGWITCH

Sat January 17, 2015 at 5:07 amFri January 16, 2015 at 5:45 am by Turbolegs

Magwitch, this Friday at long last ! She brings this work week to a close with a gentle and relatively straightforward challenge, which in keeping with her inimitable style, has several smooth and clean surfaces with a whiff of inventive constructions.

Independent 8,815 by Nimrod

Thu January 15, 2015 at 10:19 pmThu January 15, 2015 at 11:05 am by John

What you always get with Nimrod, although I must admit that I tend not to do his crosswords nowadays since they are so difficult and I also usually end up being a bit irritated by something, but this time I had to see it through: quite extraordinarily difficult, for some reason, but some imaginative and brilliant clues.

This puzzle had a rather strange grid, which suggests that it was like this for a reason, but that reason is beyond me. Perhaps it was just because Nimrod didn’t want to go down the evil path of having less than 50% checking.

Definitions underlined.

Financial Times no.14,829 by Flimsy

Thu January 15, 2015 at 10:28 am by Ringo

No complaints, but not much to shout about, either: a bit of a ho-hum solve for me, all in all, redeemed in part by fuss-free clueing and some nice surfaces.