Andrew – Page 59 – Fifteensquared

Guardian 25,499 – Chifonie

December 7, 2011 at 12:39 am by Andrew

In contrast to yesterday’s fairly tricky puzzle from Bonxie, this is a typical Chifonie, with entirely straightforward constructions, so one that would be suitable for beginners. I have a familiar quibble about 2dn, … Read more >>

Guardian 25,495 – Gordius

December 2, 2011 at 9:09 am by Andrew

Regular readers may have noticed that Gordius is not one of my favourite setters, but I found this one quite enjoyable, though perhaps rather easy for a Friday. It also suffers from coming … Read more >>

Guardian 25,489 – Bonxie

November 25, 2011 at 12:54 am by Andrew

I’ve sometimes found Bonxie’s puzzles quite hard, but this one wasn’t too bad, despite a few rather obscure words. A nice theme involving the two “parts” of ROCK and ROLL, using at least … Read more >>

Azed 2059

November 20, 2011 at 12:35 am by Andrew

This was a fairly typical Azed for me, in that I solved about three-quarters of it fairly quickly and without aids (though with plenty of educated guesswork) but took a bit longer on … Read more >>

Guardian 25,479 – Rufus

November 14, 2011 at 9:29 amNovember 14, 2011 at 8:51 am by Andrew

In contrast to the tricky Enigmatist puzzle I blogged last week, this was all plain sailing. The usual straightforward clueing (with 22ac being perhaps a slightly more involved construction than usual) and smooth … Read more >>

Interview with Roger Squires

November 9, 2011 at 1:03 pm by Andrew

There’s a nice interview with Roger Squires, aka Rufus and Dante, on Shuchi’s Crossword Unclued blog.

Guardian 25,475 – Enigmatist

November 9, 2011 at 10:57 amNovember 9, 2011 at 1:24 am by Andrew

Some typically tricky stuff here from Enigmatist, who we haven’t seen for a while, but as always very clever, and satisfying to solve. There were quite a few clues where I guessed the … Read more >>

Guardian 25,465 – Crucible

October 28, 2011 at 1:05 am by Andrew

A very enjoyable puzzle from Crucible with a number of answers (asterisked below – let me know if I’ve missed any) related to the phrase at 4,6. Not too difficult, but there are … Read more >>

Guardian 25,455 – Orlando

October 17, 2011 at 2:20 pmOctober 17, 2011 at 8:38 am by Andrew

Who better than Orlando to step in on one of the occasional non-Rufus Mondays? I found this a bit tricky in places, but it all came out nicely in the end thanks to … Read more >>

Guardian 25,451 – Brendan

October 12, 2011 at 9:21 am by Andrew

I’m always pleased to see Brendan’s name on a puzzle, but somehow I found this one both harder and (perhaps as a result) a bit more of a slog than usual, though there … Read more >>

Azed 2053 – ‘Wrong Number’

October 9, 2011 at 2:35 pmOctober 9, 2011 at 12:00 am by Andrew

“Wrong Number” is one of the older types of “special”, dating back at least to Ximenes. These puzzles can be hard to get started on, because you have to solve a lot of … Read more >>

Guardian 25,446 – Arachne

October 6, 2011 at 8:54 amOctober 6, 2011 at 12:53 am by Andrew

I rattled through this pretty quickly, but there were some excellent clues that made it very enjoyable, with 9ac being my favourite. Thanks to Arachne for the entertainment. The reference at 11dn (and … Read more >>

Guardian 25,441 – Gordius

September 30, 2011 at 8:47 am by Andrew

A typical Gordius, with some nice ideas but sometimes flawed by inaccurate or clumsy execution, though my opinion may be coloured by having had to solve it (and write this) in rather a … Read more >>

Guardian 25,431 – Rufus

September 19, 2011 at 12:36 am by Andrew

A very quick and easy one from Rufus today, with plenty of cryptic definitions (of varying degrees of crypticity) for those that like them, and the usual smooth surface readings. Only 3dn had … Read more >>

Guardian 25,427 – Paul

September 14, 2011 at 10:16 amSeptember 14, 2011 at 9:23 am by Andrew

I found it quite hard to get started on this one, and things didn’t get much easier even after getting a few answers in. There are two themes, based on 9+16ac and on … Read more >>