Hihoba

Hard but fair is my normal estimate of Schadenfreude’s puzzles.  The rubric read: One letter must be removed from the answers to 16 clues and the residue used to form a word for grid … Read more >>

Shark’s puzzles frequently involve a lot of clues that are difficult to parse, and this one was no exception. The denouement involved some Googling as the particular book referred to was not familiar … Read more >>

Got there in the end, but a Serpentine puzzle! The rubric read: The completed grid is inspired by a famous image. Other than 8, wordplay in each across clue leads to the answer … Read more >>

The rubric, quite concise but complicated, read: Corrections to misprinted definitions in 14 clues give a hider and seeker. In some other clues wordplay leads to the answer with a letter omitted. Reading … Read more >>

A short rubric often leads to a hard solve: A man whose name (6) must be highlighted in the completed grid dramatically reduced a problem by controlling its primary causes. The problem, together … Read more >>

I am sure that the erudite among you would not have had to google the key phrase as I did, but this was a very entertaining offering from Lato with an excellent PDM … Read more >>

Schadenfreude usually means hard but fair and this was no exception. The rubric read: Initially 15 cells will contain 4 or more letters. They are to be replaced by 2 letters (XY) and the … Read more >>

There were so many Scottish references (my count was 16) in the clues that it was abundantly obvious, even to a Sassenach, that we had a Burns Night (January 25th) connection in this … Read more >>

Preamble: Once upon a time there were three innocent bloggers whose names were Hi Ho and Ba. They were set upon by an unscrupulous and extremely cunning setter. This setter produced a crossword … Read more >>

A concise preamble: The three unclued entries will guide the solver to five clues, close viewing of which will lead them in turn to a location in the grid where they should place … Read more >>

. . . toil and trouble indeed! The rubric read: Each row and each column is referenced by either of two letters – A or B, C or D, etc. Cells are indicated … Read more >>

A large 14×14 grid and lots of clues (50) to solve this week. And anagrams galore! The rubric read: All grid entries are real words or phrases. In each across clue, a jumbled … Read more >>

Did anyone see this article on crossword solvers in the Indy Online on Thursday 1 September? I fit squarely into the profile they discovered, do you? Kruger is one of our most prolific setters … Read more >>

In a hurry as I’m away next week when this blog is due to be published. I started to write the blog before completing the grid, but had solved the outstanding issues by the … Read more >>

I was at a reunion of old (1960s vintage) Swimming and Water Polo players this weekend, so got a late start on this. My grateful thanks to Ho (also at the reunion) who … Read more >>