Andrew

A tour-de-force of linked clues and clever wordplay from Brendan that is exceptional even by his high standards. Unfortunately I’ve had to solve and blog this in rather a hurry before catching an … Read more >>

At first I thought Crucible was a new setter, but I see he (?) has appeared a few times, most recently in September this year. Not surprisingly, Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot … Read more >>

I guessed the planetary theme almost immediately, knowing that “planet” means “wanderer”, from the fact that the planets move in the sky relative to the so-called “fixed stars”. It’s not a complete set: … Read more >>

A bit of a Grauniad glitch meant that the online version was late in appearing, but it all seems to be sorted out now. I found this a bit more difficult than some … Read more >>

I had quite a struggle with the spider-woman this morning, with the result that I didn’t have much time for writing up the blog, so apologies if anything isn’t clear. Some nice clues … Read more >>

A very enjoyable puzzle from Orlando, difficult enough to be a challenge but nothing outrageous. There are several nice clues where an anagram is cleverly concealed by the surface reading, Key: dd = … Read more >>

Another easy Rufus, with the usual crop of cryptic definitions, one or two of which I think are a bit lacking. Key: dd = double definition dd = cryptic definition * = anagram … Read more >>

A nice challenge from Araucaria today, with almost entirely Ximenean clueing. I was particularly pleased to be able get the Shakespearian references in 1ac and 9ac without assistance. Key: * = anagram dd … Read more >>

Back to traditional Monday fare with Rufus. Ernjoyable and pretty easy going, though with a couple of words that are perhaps slightly obscure. I have one or two minor quibbles, noted below. Key: … Read more >>

I found this mostly very easy, with just a few clues preventing a complete walkover. I have quibbles about 12ac, 18ac and 3dn, but generally it was all pretty sound, if not terribly … Read more >>

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 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 >>