Hihoba

I’m usually worried when I can do 1 across immediately, but solving the clues here was pretty straightforward though I had a number of question marks about several of the across wordplays and … Read more >>

Most of the clues were reasonably straightforward, which was particularly necessary where there were clashes (sometimes multiple ones). Many were really inventive and entertaining. The puzzle element was considerably less straightforward! We were looking for a … Read more >>

Another challenging and well-constructed puzzle from Phi. I found the bottom half of the puzzle easier to solve than the top, and indeed only had one word in the top half before solving the … Read more >>

An excellent offering from Lato. Some odd words and a clever and (we thought) pretty taxing theme. Entertaining though! The TRANSACTION referred to is 33D 23A – PART EXCHANGED and the answers had … Read more >>

The usual shudder occurred when I saw that it was Schadenfreude this week and I wasn’t disappointed! Not only misprinted clues, but also columns with a letter to be moved. This meant that … Read more >>

My apologies for the late arrival of this blog. I have been having problems getting into Google Calendar and so was not aware that it was my turn! Another finely thought-out puzzle from … Read more >>

Ho (of Hihoba) had inconsiderately gone on holiday this week, so Ba and I were left to struggle with this, and struggle we did! We worked on the normal clues for some time … Read more >>

Blimey, what a corker! Several new words (including two of the dreaded Spenserian ones), a theme that was in code, answers to be both altered AND encoded. I almost gave up before starting! … Read more >>

I got the TV message straight away. REDRESS and TransVestite (not TeleVision!) indicated that we had to do some cross-dressing. The first clear example was 2 down, where the wordplay pointed to HUSONEY … Read more >>

Solving time : Three or four hours, on and off. I always worry when I can do 1 across straight away, and this was no exception! I filled in most of the grid, but … Read more >>

Good stuff from Schadenfreude. Educational too! I spotted BARTHOLOMEW and hence the theme for the “complete set” early which made it fairly simple to fill in the most of the lights. The exception was … Read more >>

 Loved this puzzle! Great stuff from Lato. I (HI) can’t take much credit for solving it though. A weekend’s windsurfing left me exhausted physically and in no state mentally to tackle some very … Read more >>

Easy to solve the grid (with some rather underwhelming clues), much harder to find the phrase made up of the extra letters. The phrase was almost irrelevant in terms of completing and sending … Read more >>

Excellent puzzle based on James Bond villains on the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming, with some inventive and amusing clues. Once I’d twigged that we were looking at SCARAMANGA (which led … Read more >>

 A nice twist in a crossword with conventional clues (no misprints, extra words etc. to muddy the waters). The puzzle was made more difficult by the fact that I found the clues in … Read more >>