Never knowingly undersolved
A gem of a puzzle from Nutmeg, sparkling with her customary wit and elegance. I found the level of challenge just right, with some of the definitions deftly hidden under flawless … Read more >>
Serpent has set today’s puzzle. It’s Tuesday, so I wonder if there’ll be a Nina or theme … I found this to be towards the tougher end of the Indy spectrum and it … Read more >>
A gentle start to the week from Armonie.
A gentler start to this week, with favourites 15ac and 18dn. Thanks to Chifonie
A well-crafted and relatively straightforward puzzle from Vigo to get the Indy week started. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = … Read more >>
Thanks Carpathian for an enjoyable start to the week. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Pocket found in short jeans, perhaps (7) TROUSER : “trousers”(an example of which are;perhaps “jeans”) minus … Read more >>
A relatively quick solve – for your correspondent at least – with this fortnight’s Cyclops…but plenty to enjoy along the way… 8A was a bit of a write-in first up – clever surface … Read more >>
An unfamiliar name for me, and a trawl of the 152 archives suggests this to be a debut from Loglady, in which case welcome! We can never rule out an established setter in … Read more >>
Another plain Azed this week, all good as usual. Thank you Azed.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3740.
I was delighted to find one of my top favourites’ name on this Prize puzzle. As regular readers know, my solving method is, boringly, to go through the clues strictly in order but, when … Read more >>
‘The grid presents two works of CREATIVITY (unclued) which solvers must complete. The authors of both must be highlighted in the completed grid (a total of 22 letters). Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
It looks like I’ve previously covered just one Wiglaf puzzle, and apparently found it tough going. Perhaps feeling a little daunted, then, I made a slow start this time, but patiently picked off … Read more >>
Just returned from work related travel so had to do the blog hurriedly. Thanks Redshank for a good workout. And to Geoff, for helping with getting this across the finish line.
One of Phi’s more intractable puzzles, it seemed to me. The difficulty with his clueing, even though it is almost universally sound, excellent and imaginative, is that — as Carol Vorderman used to say on Countdown with respect to the numbers games when a contestant chose four large numbers — there are so many ways to go. The clues, although simple enough after the event, often have many possiblities. No doubt this is deliberate. It certainly is more fun than those clues where you say ‘well it must be that, but …’
Definitions underlined, in maroon [I must have done something wrong since they’re not in maroon. Never mind]. Anagram indicators in italics.