Beelzebub 1,324

I know that Gaufrid has been finding Beelzebub to be leaning towards the easier end of the spectrum recently. I can’t say I’ve always found the same, but certainly this one all came … Read more >>

Azed 2250 – “27 Across”

After the lunch in Wolfson College, Oxford, last Saturday to celebrate number 2250, we were lucky enough to be invited back to Azed’s house (and wonderful garden) for tea and cake. I asked him … Read more >>

Independent 8,978 by Phi

Phi’s usual nice crossword. He is good at making a clue not all that easy to solve; yet once one has done it and is looking back, it is often quite obvious. I found nothing controversial here, although I nearly elicited a whole lot of responses explaining how 16dn worked.

Definitions in italics.

Read more >>

Financial Times 14,991 by BRADMAN

A familiar face this Friday with the return of the Don. Genial puzzle, with only a couple of clues that bothered me due to the fact that I didnt know these words existed. Typical smooth straightforward cluing for most part. Thanks Bradman, for stress-free passage today.

Read more >>

Guardian 26,631 / Paul

It was something of a surprise to see a Paul puzzle with a theme that was so overtly stated and that at first sight seemed rather daunting. Paul had a wealth of outlandish … Read more >>

Financial Times 14,990 by IO

We were awaiting an Io puzzle with some trepidation, as we’d been told that they could be very challenging. As there is no facility to cheat or check one’s guesses and reverse-engineer the solutions on the FT, there’s no safety net for the blogger. We found this a challenge in parts, but mainly because of what we see as vagueness of some of the clues and obscureness of some of the answers. On the other hand, there were some really clever clues to compensate.

Read more >>