Financial Times 16,595 by GOZO
Another enjoyable puzzle from Gozo, no specialist knowledge required here. Thank you Gozo. This is an unusual puzzle for Gozo in that it is a plain puzzle: it has no special gird, theme, … Read more >>
Month: September 2020
Independent 10598 / Eccles
Eccles and Wednesday make a great combination for crossword solvers. Eccles doesn’t do themes and messages, but I detected a few political references in today’s clues and entries. Examples include … Read more >>
Guardian 28,252 Philistine
A very nice puzzle from Philistine: quite tricky in parts, but in a chewy kind of way that yielded to patient thought. A couple of references to fictional characters may have puzzled some. … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1665: Seize Them All by eXternal
eXternal is the setter this week. In fact, eXternal was one of the setting team of eXtent whose puzzle I blogged just 4 weeks ago. Looking through previous blogs of eXternal’s Inquisitors I … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,594 by PETO
Tricksy and enjoybale stuff from Peto today A slow start this morning. Some very cute definitions ('bank' at 1A a favourite) and not much was being given away in the parsing, either. But … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 28,251 by Pasquale
A tribute to a late cruciverbalist author in today’s Guardian. COLIN DEXTER, the creator of Inspector MORSE and his sidekick LEWIS, would have been 90 today, so Pasquale has taken the opportunity to … Read more >>
Independent 10,597 by Bluth
When Bluth’s first crossword appeared there was great excitement because Bluth is Dave Gorman, and the blog had what is I think a record number of posts (57). I don’t expect we’ll get … Read more >>
Quiptic 1,089 by Anto
Anto provides a slightly tricky Quiptic today. There are a couple of loose definitions, and some references that may be unfamiliar to non-Brits – I’ve tried to cover these in the notes. I’m … Read more >>
Independent 10,596 by Vigo
An enjoyable and conventional puzzle from Vigo which was generally at the easier end of the spectrum. I quite liked the misdirection in 1 across where most solvers would instantly assume two pints … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,593 by ZAMORCA
ZAMORCA kicks off the week… A lovely puzzle this, and a pangram too, which helped me out with the X in my LOI, 20 and 23. Plenty of good clues, with 27 being … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 28,250 by Pan
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28250. A fine puzzle, I would say a notch more difficult than many Monday offerings, but none the worse for that. ACROSS 1 EPITOME Brief extract from … Read more >>
Everyman 3,858/20 September
Another pleasing Sunday puzzle from Everyman, with the usual features: the ‘primarily’ clue, the paired long rhyming couplet, and the Grauniad misprint to confuse newer solvers. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1596 Hoskins
Thanks Hoskins for an enjoyable one. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 7. Rubbish people working away at Oxford? (8) COBBLERS : Double defn: 1st: … in slang; and 2nd: Cryptically, those … Read more >>
Azed 2519
I was close to giving this up as unfinished, thanks to a mistaken entry at 29a, but managed to recover. The time I spent on that has rather obscured my memory of the … Read more >>
Independent 10,595 by Dutch
I always seem to get on well with the Dutch – with the exception of their driving habits. What sort of crossword will be served up? Fries and mayonnaise, or should it be … Read more >>