FT 12513/Cinephile – south of the border
(Finally showed up on the FT site — couldn’t find paper copy). In his FT persona, Araucaria is hardly less… um… what’s the word? Challenging? Anyway, the usual breathtaking surfaces (one or two … Read more >>
ilancaron
Everyman 3171/back in Scotland
Back to Scotland again this week with Muriel SPARK. More than Everyman’s usual share of weak surfaces though: e.g. 9A, 2D, 5D, 17D. The rest are quite good though so perhaps this isn’t … Read more >>
Guardian 24127/Rover – holi shaman!
Spent longer than usual since there were quite a few clues for which I understood either the wordplay or the definition but not both. One or two is par for the course – … Read more >>
Guardian 24117/Araucaria (Sat Jun 30) – flighty
Avian theme. 14D (CHAFFINCH) was my way in. I solved this twice. The second time took as long virtually as the first since I’d forgotten most of the birds already. Across 1 PART,RIDGE … Read more >>
Guardian 24120/Logodaedalus – no downside
No wordplay quibbles but there are a couple of loose definitions that dictionaries probably support but felt a bit unsatisfying while solving (see 15A, 17A, 21D). Two across anagrams got me started here … Read more >>
Everyman 3169/Partick Thistle
I think Partick Thistle is the only Scots reference in this puzzle. Of course, my Caledonian theory might be completely incidental but it gives me a goal each week. Overall, pretty easy cluing … Read more >>
FT 12497/Mudd – nourishing
Even though his name is Mudd here – it’s Paul in the Guardian. I definitely solved this more quickly than the typical Paul – so maybe there is something to the theory that … Read more >>
Guardian 24115/Gordius – Twins and tarring the bush
1A was the best cryptic political comment I’ve seen in a long time. I had to look up 21A and 14A for being too esoteric. Found this overall rather hard but with many … Read more >>
Guardian 24113/Paul – are you a salopette?
Felt a bit Araucarian today – surfaces sacrificed at the altar of clever wordplay. I had to look up SALOPETTE – which I think is contrived (derived from SALOP which I recognized as … Read more >>
Guardian 24108/Orlando – nippy
Some nice well-disguised wordplay here – especially wrt use of head and tail letters – while preserving good surfaces. Two identical nippy clues here which are well-handled. Across 1 DAWDLER – (Edward, L)*: … Read more >>
Guardian 24106/Rufus
A slightly harder than usual Rufus puzzle. I’m mystified by a couple of wordplays (8A and 12A) still. One weakfish cryptic def (1D) but a couple of hard clever clues as well. Across … Read more >>
Everyman 3167/where’s Sean?
The grid is almost 90 degree symmetrical: would be if 3D and 15D were both 15 letter lights. And we encounter Orlando Di LASSO again. I searched high and low for a Scots, … Read more >>
Guardian 24104/Puck – Nina
Maybe it’s jet-lag but I found it pretty hard to get into this puzzle. I wonder whether the NINA in the first column of unches is intentional or just my feverish jet-lagged brain. … Read more >>
Guardian 24094/Rufus – heartening
Solving time: 10’ Heartening start to the week after the weekend puzzles: I do know how to parse a cryptic clue after all. Not too many cryptic defs either – but a couple … Read more >>
Everyman 3165/record time
Solving time: 12’ Fastest solve for me ever – I think. Even managed to spell AUF WIEDERSEHEN correctly the first time. I recognized SHREVEPORT pretty quickly as well probably because it figured as … Read more >>