Never knowingly undersolved
Andrew Tuesday fun from Qaos, including one of his trademark numerical clues (and a couple of other mathematical references). Thanks to Qaos. .. and of course a theme: I was tipped off by seeing … Read more >>
A welcome return by Brendan, with an unusual grid in which all the answers the two long central ones have eight letters. Thanks to Brendan. The long answers are nicely self-descriptive, and (as … Read more >>
Several Azed bloggers, myself included, have commented that the appearance of a Playfair puzzle is a scary prospect, as it involved both cold-solving the italicised clues, and deducing the codeword from the answers and the crossing letters.
A few American terms and references in this one, as befits the setter’s pseudonym, but nothing too outrageous. I enjoyed this, though there’s one parsing I’m not sure of. Thanks to Yank. … Read more >>
The Azed Christmas puzzle has a stated closing date of 29th December. This is unusual in two ways: first by being a Sunday, and secondly by not giving an extra week, as is … Read more >>
A Boxing Day treat to see a puzzle from Arachne – a fairly gentle one, to suit anyone who may have overindulged yesterday, but beautifully constructed as ever. Thanks to Arachne, and Merry … Read more >>
I found this quite slow going: in retrospect most of the clueing is reasonably straightforward, though with quite a few double definitions. Thanks to Imogen. Across 1 STIGMATISATION Getting denounced, recollecting satanism? … Read more >>
Regular readers will know I’m not generally a big Anto fan, but I enjoyed this one. A bit of a science-y feel to it, though perhaps not enough to constitute a full theme. … Read more >>
In contrast to Friday’s puzzle from his alter ago Imogen, Vulcan gives us the traditional “gentle start to the week”, with a generous helping of cryptic definitions. Thanks to Vulcan. Across 1 … Read more >>
A good solid puzzle from Imogen today. I started off quickly in the NW corner; things got a little stickier after that, but it all worked out in the end. Thanks to Imogen. … Read more >>
Chandler is a regular setter of the Quiptic who has also popped up occasionally in the Cryptic slot, and once in the Genius. A couple of answers here were unfamiliar to me, but … Read more >>
Thanks to Azed for another quality puzzle. Across 1 GRAITH Scottish dress (old-fashioned) one kept in sanctuary once (6)A (one) in GRITH (sanctuary) 7 YACCA Evergreen causing hard grind for Aussie by … Read more >>
I found this rather harder than usual for a Qaos puzzle. It all worked out in the end, but there are some quite involved parsings. Thanks to Qaos. Today’s theme is types of … Read more >>
Quite easy by this setter’s standard, I thought, but ingenious and enjoyable as ever. Thanks to Jack. Jack’s puzzles (and those of his alter egos Serpent and Basilisk) usually include a Nina of … Read more >>
We haven’t had a Brendan puzzle since early June, so it was a pleasant surprise to see his name on this one. I started off thinking it was going to be a write-in, … Read more >>