Never knowingly undersolved
Usually I enjoy a Bluebird puzzle, although they are often sneakily hard.
This one left me slightly empty.
I was fully expecting there to be a nice juicy hidden message in the perimeter unches – why else choose this grid design. Instead it is just gobble-de-gook.
Similarly, there have been interesting themes, especially on a Saturday. Again, I cannot see a theme here at all. (I do hope I’m proved wrong.)
All the while battling clues that are definitely on the hard side for me.
This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
Cyclops has a swipe at all corners of the political spectrum this fortnight, and also finds time for a little self-reflection…
There have been some stunning Listener crosswords this year and the competition for the Ascot Gold Cup will be fierce.
Omnibus rounds off the weekday puzzles.
A normal Friday, so we have an Independent puzzle by Phi.
A typical XELA offering this Friday.
A tough solve, and a lot of parsing slowly worked out while blogging. Favourites were 9ac, 10ac, and 18dn. Thanks to Vlad for the challenge
Skinny provides our Thursday challenge this week.
Jason is this morning's setter.
The closing date for this Spectator was earlier than usual, so we are publishing the blog earlier as well
“Eleven single-letter clashes mark points where a camouflaged OBSERVER infiltrates the grid, passing over wild forest glens. In the initially filled grid, her usual equipment (10) must be used to expose ten symmetrically positioned thematic characters, no longer safe in cave, sadly. All entries in the initially filled and final grids are real terms. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Thanks to Bruumie for today’s puzzle…
It’s a while since we had a Gila puzzle to solve – the last one was in January 22.