A relatively mild Everyman for me today
Year: 2015
Independent on Sunday 1,335 by Kairos
Another good Sunday workout from Kairos, if perhaps a shade gentler than last time. No Ninas (ninae?) that I can spot this time around, just a good variety of clues. Last one in … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1333
No double or cryptic definitions today but that is not unusual for a Beelzebub puzzle. There was the customary hidden, and a handful or so of anagrams, but I do seem to have … Read more >>
Azed 2259
A plain Azed this week I found this to be a fairly standard Azed where 99% of the time you know whether you have got it right. There is one … Read more >>
Independent Saturday Prize Puzzle 9027 / Donk (19th Sept 2015)
When we saw that it was a Donk Prize Puzzle this week, we knew we were in for a treat – and we weren’t disappointed. There were some very straightforward clues to get … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No.1191 – Briefing Received by Gaston
Prior to this puzzle, there have been a couple of weeks where the EVs had misspellings in the clues’ definitions, which I tend to find rather hard. I’m therefore heartened to see in the preamble that this one has extra letters in the wordplay. There’s some highlighting too, which can sometimes give the puzzled puzzler an extra hint.
Guardian Prize 26,681 by Paul
A most entertaining crossword that I found very difficult. Usually I solve Paul’s puzzles much more quickly than I did this one. Was it just me having a bad day or did other people think this was hard too?
Independent 9032 / Tyrus
Tyrus has given us an interesting and quite challenging puzzle. It looks like the puzzle is celebrating the WEDDING (19 across) of ANTONIO [unchecked letters in top row] and ELEANOR [unchecked … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26686 Paul
(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 slow start, but it worked … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26686 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A slow start, but it worked out okay in the end. Thanks to Paul. … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,045 by FALCON
An easy pleasant challenge from Falcon. Recommended for beginners on the FT grids. Straightforward with a dash of inventive cluing. Thanks Falcon.
Independent 9,031 by Monk
As usual an expectedly difficult but good crossword from Monk. Most of the answers seemed fairly obvious after the event; it was just that they were so hard to see in the first place. Perhaps this is because of the high proportion of the definitions that are single words, making it hard to isolate them.
One can criticise the grid for a number of reasons, although it is a standard one that is often used by setters: it doesn’t allow for much of a range of answer-lengths (they are all 5, 6, 7 or 8 letters); four of the answers have less than 50% checking, something that I know doesn’t bother everyone but I don’t like it; and very quickly you end up doing a number of separate little puzzles.
Financial Times 15,044 by SLEUTH
Very pleasant and gentle. Thanks, Sleuth.
Guardian 26,685 by Enigmatist
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26685.
Financial Times 15,035 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword / Sep 14, 2015
I’m afraid that I cannot remember much of what I felt when solving this Dante crossword. When writing the blog, I wasn’t particularly bewitched by many of the inevitable cryptic definitions.