Guardian 23,982, Auster: What’s up Doc?
A puzzle with an overt theme, rather than one to be deduced, which gives a good illustration of the many different uses of ‘doctor’ in a puzzle. All the across clues and a … Read more >>
michod
Guardian 23,978: Type O
A couple of tougher clues, but a pretty standard puzzle really. The bottom right corner held out longest, helped by a typo in 18 down – ell for eel (see below). Across: 1. … Read more >>
Guardian 23,972, Gordius. + KNOT LIT.
An appropriately knotty puzzle that left me defeated by two clues, offers welcome. A good range of treatments, with several homophonic puns, a nice spoonerism and a punctutation mark as well as the … Read more >>
Guardian 23,966, Logodaedalus: Weak ending
A simple and somewhat uninspiring puzzle, unusually for a Friday. 14’s mildly misleading use of ‘suit’ stood out as most of the other clues were totally straightforward in definition and structure. Took me … Read more >>
Guardian 23,960, Araucaria: Tutu much?
Actually, fairly mild stuff from the octogenarian enfant terrible today – two of his trademark multi-word linked entries, and only a handful of clues to wind up the purists. But I’m not sure I … Read more >>
Guardian 23,956 by Chifonie: Soup, stew or curry?
Not as hard as some Friday puzzles, but containing one or two relatively obscure words and sub-words with a capacity to frustrate. Took me about 20 minutes over a leisurely breakfast. A lot of clues … Read more >>
Azed 1,802 – Vocabulary 7 down.
I did most of this on the tube, without Chambers, which is an interesting exercise – you have to make quite a few educated guesses and then corroborate them via the dictionary later … Read more >>
Guardian 23,950, Orlando: A puzzle of two halves
In keeping with Orlando’s divided personality, perhaps, there seemed to be an easy half and a difficult half to this puzzle – not that I’m assigning a specific gender to either! I got … Read more >>
Guardian 23,944: Thank Puck it’s Friday
Is it just me, or have the crosswords been getting harder since we started reviewing them? This one took a good half-hour, with half a dozen or so clues coming quickly, then a … Read more >>
Guardian 23,938/Arachne – Caught in a web
A mixed bag. I found half the clues came very quickly, but there was a stubborn hard core, one of which eluded me to the end (but see comments for solution). Eight proper … Read more >>
Guardian 23,932 by Shed
Some nice touches and some tough clues here – 8ac and 18ac took some thought. This Guardian grid pattern’s not the easiest, with no first letters for more than half the words, and eight with … Read more >>
Guardian 23,926 by Logodaedalus
Pretty straightforward, took four to five tube stops (10-12 mins). ACROSS 9 ABODE. AB + ode – has anyone had to use the abbreviation for Able Seaman outside crossword-land? Sailor can also give ‘tar’ … Read more >>