I would describe this as traditional in style without feeling old-fashioned. Not that easy either, plenty to get your teeth into if you like to parse everything fully. Thank you Aardvark.
Month: September 2021
Independent 10,903 by Bluth
Slightly tricky from Bluth today, but fun as usual.
Guardian Cryptic 28,557 by Nutmeg
Nutmeg gets the grey matter going this morning.
Inquisitor 1716: Excess Baggage by Vagans
Vagans – a newbie. Preamble: A serious ascent is being made, in three stages, which requires excess baggage to be shed. Wordplay in 25 clues generates an extra letter not to be … Read more >>
Independent 10,902 by Hoskins
To our delight, Hoskins pops up this Tuesday.
Financial Times 16896 Mudd
Thank you to Mudd. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1. After party, artist drawing dog (11) LABRADOODLE : LAB(short for the UK Labour Party) plus(After …) RA(member of the Royal Academy … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 28,556 by Matilda
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28556.
Guardian 28,555 / Brendan
A bit of a surprise – by no means an unpleasant one – to see Brendan on a Monday and especially so soon after last week’s ‘Prize’ puzzle. I thought this was a … Read more >>
Independent 10,901 by Atrica
An excellent Monday puzzle with a good mixture of clues.
Guardian Quiptic 1,140/Pan
This one took a bit of teasing out. Could just be my slightly sleepy brain this morning, so let’s see what others made of it. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,895 by SLEUTH
A thoroughly enjoyable challenge from Sleuth.
Everyman 3,909
The problem with the current Everyman crosswords is that their difficulty varies so. There are some easy enough clues, of which many are quite good I think, but one or two really difficult ones. The aim, surely, is to have some sort of a gateway crossword which encourages new setters (yes I mean solvers, silly mistake, thanks Michelle@3) , and in its present form the Everyman crossword fails to do so, I should have thought. I’m not a fast solver at all, but the old Everyman used to take me about 20 minutes. This one so far (and I seem to have solved it and spent much time on the blog, but there is still quite a bit of tidying up remaining) has taken me about 2½ hours. If I weren’t doing the blog I’d probably have taken approaching an hour if I wanted, as I do (unlike most speed solvers), to be sure of the parsing at all stages.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagrams, hidden, reversal etc.) in italics.
Independent on Sunday 1,647 by Tees
A good solid puzzle in a traditional style, no funny business here. Thank you Tees.
Azed 2570
It is a plain Azed puzzle that forms the basis of the blog this week I got quite a long way through the puzzle without looking in Chambers, but as … Read more >>
Independent No. 10,900 by Wiglaf (Sat 18-Sep 2021)
Highly enjoyable puzzle from Wiglaf today. I sailed into this clobbering more than half the puzzle in less than a half-hour, thoroughly enjoying some relative accessible clues. For some of these it feels … Read more >>