Never knowingly undersolved
The first Independent Crosophile of 2016 is published today. This was a good example of a broadsheet cryptic crossword puzzle. There were no obscure words in the grid (except perhaps … Read more >>
Took a while to get started, sped up in the middle, and hesitantly entered in the last few. Favourites were 21ac and 16dn.
The closing date for this puzzle was also postponed from the usual following Saturday until today, for obvious reasons. I was surprised not to spot anything thematic this week, despite the puzzle being … Read more >>
Unfortunately, and due to the usual ‘circumstances beyond our control’, our visit to Belfast has been postponed. So neither Dave Tilley nor I will be there this weekend. We don’t yet have a … Read more >>
If Rufus has made any New Year’s resolutions, then “use fewer cryptic definitions” clearly isn’t one of them. Seven here (and four doubles), several of which I find pretty weak. Still, I know … Read more >>
A sound Quiptic from Pan. Perhaps a bit tricky in places, but I’ll put that down to having been roughed up by Radian in the Independent earlier on this morning. … Read more >>
Firstly, best wishes for 2016 from me to everyone in the Fifteensquared community. Secondly, Chuffing Nora. If the concept of the Monday Indy puzzle being ‘the easy one’ started disappearing last year, … Read more >>
It’s Christmas and like the strange man at the back of the night bus Cyclops shows us a worryingly large monster. As expected, there is a theme and this is spelt out in the preamble: … Read more >>
Another solid puzzle from Anax. This was not as hard as some I have seen from him which is just as well given how busy we all are at the moment. Only 6 answered … Read more >>
The preamble states that: In one way or another 20,9 is missing from each clue. Our first one in was 21d – INNARDS which actually turned out to be incorrect but it took … Read more >>
I think this is the first Everyman that I have had the opportunity to blog. I don’t solve many in this series, perhaps one a month, and so cannot really comment as to how … Read more >>
This Christmas puzzle employs a device that I don’t remember Azed using before. The special instructions state: “In the completed diagram, eight words in jumbled form may be seen radiating from and including the central square, which must be deduced”.
(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.) In the main, about the right … Read more >>
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) In the main, about the right level of difficulty of an IoS. Thanks to … Read more >>
I enjoyed this one very much. The dictionary got off lightly this time as I seemed to know (or at least vaguely remember) most of the words here, unusual for me. Thank you Azed.