A really tricky one from Gaff that had me go from making steady progress to grinding to a halt five clues away from a complete solve. I tried to search for a Nina somewhere as is common with Gaff’s puzzles but without much success. All in all , a good work out – and a well-deserved thanks to Gaff for stretching me out today.
Month: July 2015
Guardian 26,638 / Brummie
For some reason, I found this puzzle in some parts more challenging than any this week but it was hard to see why at the end. Brummie is not known for the smoothness … Read more >>
Independent 8984 / Phi
Phi has provided us with a good Friday workout. I wondered if there was a bit of a food and drink theme in here, but I’m not really sure. I … Read more >>
Independent 8,983 by Donk
This was extraordinarily hard. In several places I’m not really sure what is happening and it seems to me that Donk has been less than accurate, but he has in the past produced quite excellent crosswords; perhaps he has done so this time: it may just be going over my head.
Guardian 26,637 by Tramp
Took me a while to get into this…
Financial Times 14,996 by REDSHANK
A straightforward, but clever and elegant crossword. Thanks, Redshank.
Financial Times 14,987 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword / Jul 20, 2015
Dante as Dante can be. Meaning: mostly easy but then he’ll have you to start thinking about how to fully complete the puzzle.
Financial Times 14,986 by Dogberry
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 18, 2015
Financial Times 14,995 by MONK
I started off quite easily in the top-left, which made me double check that it was actually by Monk. Things soon got back to normal and there followed a satisfying struggle to finish. My apologies for the late posting, the morning has been an endless sequence of interruptions. There is certainly a Nina in here somewhere, I will start hunting for it now and update the post when I find it. Thank you Monk, excellent as always.
Guardian 26,636 – Nutmeg
After yesterday’s expert duffing-up by Vlad I was expecting (or hoping for?) something a little gentler today, but I found this one pretty hard too. However, it was soundly and accurately clued (apart … Read more >>
Independent 8982 / Quixote
Our first thoughts when we saw the puzzle was the rather odd looking grid – the same thoughts we had yesterday. This time however, there was no apparent reason for the fact that … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1395: Dominance by Kruger
Preamble: Most clues contain either wordplay yielding an extra or missing letter or a single-letter misprint in the definition (approximately equal numbers of each). In order, the extra/missing/ correct letters give a quotation … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,994 by ARMONIE
Many thanks Turbolegs for stepping into the breach – Gaufrid
Financial Times 14,994 / Armonie
It would appear that the scheduled blogger has been unable to be with us today. I will try to get a quick analysis of the clues posted early this evening (when I’ve solve … Read more >>
Guardian 26,635 by Vlad
Sorry I’m not able to give full justice to this great crossword