Agentzero

An American and a New Yorker, I learned to solve cryptic crosswords by working my way through Emily Cox's and Henry Rathvon's monthly puzzles in the Atlantic. Good cryptics are scarce in America, so eventually a growing appetite drove me to attempt the puzzles in the British broadsheets. I initially found them bewildering, but persistence, recourse to the learned bloggers and commenters on this website, and a stint working in London (which taught me such useful things as the meaning of "leg before wicket") helped immensely. Nonetheless, I am still invariably thrown by homophones that depend on the non-pronunciation of the letter "r". I am a regular solver of the daily and Saturday FT and Guardian puzzles, but completing an Azed puzzle is still very much in the realm of aspiration for me.

Financial Times 13,056 / Armonie

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Another smooth, cleanly-clued puzzle from Armonie.  I am a big fan of concise clues, and the brevity of these clues is impressive; I make it an average of exactly five words. Across 1 REPRESENT … Read more >>

Categories FT

Financial Times 13,050 / Jason

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A collection of flowers, three of each kind.  Fairly easy, as is normal for a Tuesday FT.  I had one question (the definition of CRYOSTAT) and one minor complaint (repeating the use of LORE). Across … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,033 / Neo

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Although these clues were not difficult, a number of them had admirably smooth surfaces.   Dumas and Shakespeare turn up a few different times, but probably not enough to count as a theme. Across … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,027 / Jason

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Two slightly tricky clues exploiting the is=’s=s ambiguity.  I am unsure of the parsing of two others–any assistance is welcome! Thanks to Phi and Paul B for their help, noted below Across 1 LANDLORD … Read more >>