Guardian 24,801 / Rover – a pair of Queens
I’ve been a bit unkind about Rover in the past, and I was hoping to be proved wrong in this one, but unfortunately there are a few rather weak definitions and a bad … Read more >>
Never knowingly undersolved
I’ve been a bit unkind about Rover in the past, and I was hoping to be proved wrong in this one, but unfortunately there are a few rather weak definitions and a bad … Read more >>
A tough challenge from Paul that took me several sessions to complete, though looking back at it now there’s not much that seems particularly obscure or difficult. The crucial 8dn was actually one … Read more >>
A devilish theme from Araucaria today, and a puzzle of mixed difficulty, I found, with some rather obscure references. Key: * = anagram dd = double definition < = reverse Across 1. IRREMEDIABLE … Read more >>
After yesterday’s struggles with Enigmatist, I found this one mostly quite easy, except that 7dn stumped me for ages, and caused some problems with its crossing words too. Some tricky wordplay here, and … Read more >>
I’m standing in on this puzzle for Rightback, who is away. The 40th anniversary that was celebrated was the Woostock festival, which opened on 15 August 1969. There were also some links to … Read more >>
A delightful tribute to the late Albie Fiore by the double-act of Enigmatist and Paul. Naturally I was able to fill in 18ac immediately, but some of the other clues held me up … Read more >>
Apologies for the late posting: I’d got my dates confused and only realised I was supposed to be blogging this puzzle just before I had to go out for a few hours. I … Read more >>
Tough going with Araucaria today. I got 22/21 quickly, which led immediately to 15/14 and a couple of others, but still struggled to finish it. There were a few references that I had … Read more >>
Pressure of work has meant that this blog has been written in rather a rush, so apologies for any errors or typos. This seemed quite tough, but with Pasquale’s usual combination of fairness, … Read more >>
It’s Monday, it’s Rufus, you know what to expect. Perhaps even more of his characteristic cryptic definitions than usual, but most of them are good fun. In any case, if I did have … Read more >>
A very enjoyable romp round theatre-land from Brendan, but also quite an easy one, for me anyway: it must have been one of my quickest solves for a while. The strange grid, with … Read more >>
Nothing too difficult in this one. As always with Araucaria, some lovely clues and also some that make you go “hmm..”. Key: * = anagram dd = double definition < = reverse … Read more >>
Nothing too troublesome in this one, with quite a few easy anagrams to get me started. One or two quibbles about meanings noted below. Key: dd = double definition * = anagram … Read more >>
The luck of the draw is giving me all the Azed specials to blog these days. Right and Left is another one that comes up fairly regularly: I think the format was devised … Read more >>
I got off to a good start with this one by getting 1/8ac straight away, but struggled later on. There are quite a few clues that I can’t fully explain: as I’ve run … Read more >>