Never knowingly undersolved
A Quiptic from our favourite Spice Girl this morning. And a fine one it was too. Beginners would have enjoyed this, I think. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found athttps://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26963.
Sorry to say, this will be my final regular Cyclops — what with sporadic and unpredictable demands on my time, I’ve decided that I can’t commit to delivering every blog on time, so … Read more >>
Solid puzzle.
Azed gives us these every five years or so. The last (clue-setting competition one, anyway) was in October 2011. So far as I know it is his own idea and must be absolute hell to set. In case you didn’t see the preamble in the paper here it is: ‘Each clue contains a one-word definition of the word required at the number where it stands, but belongs as a whole to a word of the same length elsewhere….’ and he goes on to give some very helpful advice on how to go about solving such a puzzle.
Raich and I bump into one another again, which is no burden for me – I enjoy his puzzles. A few unusual words (to me at least) in this one, but all clearly … Read more >>
Oxymoron puzzles vary in difficulty from ‘not too tricky’ to ‘fiendish’, and I wondered what degree of difficulty the gods had given me this week. But before I go any further, apologies for … Read more >>
The French alps and Tyrus – what a pleasant combination. Certainly one of my favourite setters and also one of my favourite settings in the valley beneath Mont Blanc. Loved 10ac – a … Read more >>
It’s incredible to me how Paul keeps up such an endless stream of excellent, witty crosswords; here’s another one… Across 1. Idiot not entirely without feeling, shame one has quit (6) NUMPTY NUM[b] … Read more >>
A good solid challenge from the Don. Progress was slow but steady and I learnt a couple of new words along the way. Thanks Don, for a workout that was more than satisfying.
Well, this really has us puzzled! As it’s a Phi, we’re sure there is something going on here, but we have no idea what it is. There is a very well-known composer … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26961.
A cobweb-clearer for me
A rather tough challenge from Paul today, especially in the parsings, one of which I’m still not sure of. Thanks to Paul for the workout. Across 8 Italian broadcast in stereo (8) TORINESE … Read more >>
It has been a while since it last fell to me to blog a puzzle by Monk. Monk is one of those compilers whose puzzles I have been solving regularly for many years … Read more >>