Cyclops 615 – Xmas Special (Tweet-le-dumb Britain?)
My fellow Cyclops blogger beermagnet kindly ‘took one for the team’ and allowed me to have the Xmas special this year, even though it fell on his shift. Much appreciated… This is the … Read more >>
mc_rapper67
Cyclops 614 – Old-School Pain-in-the-arse
To whom could Cyclops possibly be referring?…oh yes, there he is at 1A… An enjoyable, and not too taxing, solve this fortnight, or rather this week, as Private Eye seem to have squeezed … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1307: Classic by Hedge-Sparrow
Chambers defines CLASSIC as, among other things, a great writer or work; a particular horse race; (in plural) Greek or Latin studies; a stylish clothing look. But which of these does Hedge-Sparrow, or Prunella … Read more >>
Independent 9722 by Monk (Saturday Puzzle 9 December 2017)
Some clever stuff from Monk today… …a high standard of clueing/misdirection, and a Nina to boot! After a couple of runs through the clues, the SW quarter remained stubbornly underpopulated, and it took … Read more >>
Cyclops 612 – Water-bed Geriatric
It may just be a product of my febrile (50-year-old) teenage imagination, but this puzzle seems to be a bit of a homage to the late Hugh Hefner… There is a WATER BED … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1303: Who’s Who by Gaston
I think this is my first blog of a Gaston EV, although I have solved a few over the years. (S)he made it into the WHO’S WHO of setters celebrated in the recent … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 172 by Chandler
‘Chandler’ is a new name to me, and not obviously present on this site or the inter-web generally, so either a debutant(e?) or yet another collaboration of existing setters… The preamble states that: … Read more >>
Independent 9692 by Anax (Saturday Puzzle 4 November 2017)
A challenging puzzle from Anax this week…with some clever cross-references, silky surface readings and a bit of mirthful misdirection… After a bit of a flying start from letting my eye roam straight to 23D … Read more >>
Cyclops 610 – Florid Tycoon
The usual mix of excellent surface readings, political targets at home and across the water, and a lower-than-usual reading on the Smut-ometer from Cyclops this fortnight… An impressive, if maybe sub-Araucarian and even sub-Paulesque, … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1299: Vicious Circle by Raffles
‘Only’ thirty clues (with a quotation round the perimeter), so surely VICIOUS CIRCLE is an EV blogger’s delight? But I found it hard to get going at first, although I squared the circle in … Read more >>
Cyclops 608 – Backstabbing Party
It is political conference season (in the UK), and Cyclops has highlighted a few pertinent aspects – without naming too many names… …BACKSTABBING, WANNABE, PSYCHOBABBLE, (political) ROOTS, – and presumably nothing actually gets AGREED. … Read more >>
Independent 9662 by Klingsor (Saturday Puzzle 30 September 2017)
A solid, but maybe fairly un-challenging, puzzle from Klingsor today – not sure it would have passed 1D as a Saturday Prize puzzle in days of yore…some nice presentation, in terms of surface … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1295: Circuit Diagram by Granville
It must be 30-plus years since I last drew a CIRCUIT DIAGRAM, in ‘O’ and ‘A’ level physics, so this offering from Granville (a new setter on the scene?) had me thinking OMG … Read more >>
Cyclops 606 – Mess With Railway
Is Cyclops showing solidarity with all those commuters struggling into and out of London this August, with various stations affected by ‘improvement’ works in the quieter holiday month?… Certainly Trump seems to have … Read more >>
Independent 9632 by Maize (Saturday Puzzle 26 August 2017)
I had the pleasure of blogging Maize’s (debut?) Independent 9392 back in November last year, which turned out to be a quadruple pangram! What could be in store for us this time?… …well, in the … Read more >>