Month: September 2024

Independent 11,848/Twin

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I enjoyed solving and blogging this offering from Twin. Easier to solve than parse in a number of places, I would say. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic 1,297/Picaroon

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Picaroon on fine form with this week’s Quiptic. A pleasing and tractable puzzle with some delightful surface readings. Bravo. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind … Read more >>

Azed No. 2,727 – Plain

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A medium-difficulty Azed plain. I was a bit surprised to see two homophone clues: these always excite comment from people whose regional accents don’t make them obvious and Azed has in the past expressed misgivings about using such clues, for just this reason. In my case although I don’t have a regional accent one of them I pronounce differently from what is intended. But never mind; I won’t (like some) make an issue of it: it’s quite obvious what is intended.

Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.

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6 months of the Quick Cryptic Crosswords

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This is an experiment – but it seemed a useful point to summarise the new tricks developed by the Quick Cryptic Crosswords in the Guardian after the first 6 months. The 26th crossword in this series of 11 x 11 crosswords to support new solvers has been published and so far…

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Quick Cryptic 26 by Maskarade

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This is the twenty-sixth Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords.  The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here.  The puzzle can be found here.

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