Monday Prize Crossword/Feb 16, 2015
While still in the aftermath of moving house, I did find the time to solve (and blog) this Dante puzzle. I think it was a typical one, wasn’t it?
Year: 2015
Financial Times 14,855 by Goliath
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 14, 2015 I found this puzzle much easier than the last Goliath. And I enjoyed it more too. My clue of the week is 6d … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,864 by MONK
A middle-difficulty puzzle from Monk, clues are absolutely watertight as usual. Thanks Monk for another top-quality puzzle.
Guardian 26,504 / Brummie
I enjoyed solving this one. As one who delights in witty, story-telling surfaces, I’ve sometimes despaired of some of Brummie’s but there are some really interesting pictures conjured up by some of these! … Read more >>
Independent 8850 / Quixote
Quixote has given us a puzzle today with some good anagrams. I don’t think is the best puzzle that Quixote has ever produced, but it proved a entertaining challenge with … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1373: Rules of Engagement by Ifor
There was a fairly lengthy preamble to this weeks puzzle by Ifor. It stated "six clues whose answers share a general definition consist only of wordplay. These answers must be thematically changed to … Read more >>
Independent 8,849 by Knut
Knut made his debut only the other day. Now he appears again, and much of this continues the good start he made. There is a lot I don’t understand; my temptation is to say that some of the clues are a bit weak or unsound, but I don’t dare to because it’s far more likely that I’m missing things.
It’s a very strange grid — perfectly OK and no solecisms with the checking. Was this, together with the large number of clues, done in order to fit in some theme? If it was then I can’t see it.
Definitions underlined.
Financial Times 14,863 / Jason
Whilst solving this one I felt that some of the definitions and/or parts of wordplay were a bit of a stretch but this didn’t prevent a speedy completion. However, there is still one clue … Read more >>
Guardian 26,503 by Nutmeg
Lots of fun today from Nutmeg, with plenty of misdirection – favourites were 24ac, 26ac, and 3/25dn.
Guardian 26,502 – Rufus
Eleven cryptic definitions out of 26 clues? I think that must be a record, even for a Rufus puzzle; and some of them are rather weak, or otherwise satisfactory, as noted below. So, … Read more >>
Quiptic 797 by Pan
A nicely judged offering from Quiptic regular Pan.
A good variety of clue types, and some nice surface readings and touches of humour. All in all, a very enjoyable start to the cryptic week.
Independent 8848/Scorpion
Chuffing Nora. I keep telling the editor and setters that I only decided to put my name down to blog the Monday Indy because it was ‘the easy one’. … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,302
Quite a challenging week, I thought, though I did make life difficult for myself by absent-mindedly writing in SKIP at 23 across like a chump. It helped to know your Samoan currencies, as … Read more >>
Everyman 3567/15 February
The usual Everyman mix of sound cluing and well-constructed surfaces. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed definitions are underlined … Read more >>
AZED 2,228/hi-tech
I found this hard at first and didn’t make much headway until I’d cracked a couple of the long downs. Azed’s tech-knowledge surprised me a bit — so much so that I resisted both tech-centric answers until I could do so no longer.