Andrew

Most of the clueing here was fairly straightforward, without any outrageous liberties, but the theme (and another mini-theme) made it more of a challenge. It was quite a test of my botanical knowledge … Read more >>

I found this a bit harder to get going on than usual for Rufus, but after getting a few answers in it all fell into place quite quickly. I have to say I … Read more >>

This is Philistine’s eighth appearance since his Guardian debut almost exactly a year ago (26th May 2011). As seems to be the norm for his puzzles, this one was fairly straightforward, but with … Read more >>

A second outing for new setter Picaroon (first seen on 16th March), and another entertaining puzzle. He/she seems to have a rather distinctive style, but I can’t quite put my finger on exactly … Read more >>

It took me quite a while to make any headway at all on this one, but once I’d got in the swing it eventually yielded with just the right amount of struggle. There’s … Read more >>

Perhaps not as many cryptic definitions as usual from Rufus today, but lots of double definitions, and quite a few easy anagrams that helped me to get the grid started. 22ac is perhaps … Read more >>

Another rather horrible grid, with four semi-isolated quadrants. There were a couple of these last week, where the setters had helpfully split some answers around the quadrants. No such luck here, but instead … Read more >>

I learned a couple of new (botanical) words from today’s puzzle. Fortunately, the clues were reasonably easy and, as one would expect from Pasquale, admirably sound. The grid is not one of the … Read more >>

Most of the clueing in this was fairly straightforward (though there are a couple I can’t fully explain), but there were a few references that I needed to look up to confirm the … Read more >>

Maybe I just wasn’t on the right wavelength today, but I found this a lot harder than usual for Rufus. Most of the clues I had trouble with are double or cryptic definitions, … Read more >>

Yes, it’s me again – I’m standing in for Eileen, who is away. After Brendan yesterday I was delighted again to get Paul today, with a lot of his trademark humour and cheeky … Read more >>

I don’t think I’ve blogged a Brendan puzzle for a while, so it was a delight to get this one, with lots of references to … Macbeth, which is one of the Shakespeare … Read more >>

Sorry for the later-than-usual posting of this blog – I’ve just got back from a short holiday (thanks to Eileen for covering for me last Friday) and am trying to cope with the … Read more >>