Financial Times 12506/Orense
I found this very straightforward and a quick solve but there were a few nice touches. Just a short review because most of the clues are reasonably self-explanatory but if anyone’s unsure of … Read more >>
neildubya
Financial Times 12499 by FALCON
Across 1. ANTENATAL CLINIC – cryptic def. issue=children 9. TH(e)ROW,IN 10. NUT,CASE 11. ELITE (hidden) 12. DEODORANT (too darned)* – good surface. 13. ETRUSCANS (runes cast)* 15. C,HAIR – ‘Hair’ is a musical … Read more >>
All about you
One of the advantages of moving the blog to its own domain is that I’m able to get much more information about who’s reading us. It’s amazing the stuff you can find out: … Read more >>
Independent 6469/Dac
Across 1 IT in A,GATES – I wasted some time thinking that “a software giant” was A,MS (Microsoft) rather than A,(Bill) GATES. 9 ISLA – “I’ll”,A 12/13 ITCHY AND SCRATCHY – I’d like … Read more >>
Financial Times 12493 by DANTE
Across 1. CHEESE – Cryptic def. 4. REASON – (Sane or)* 8. A,C,COUNT(=tell) 9. PFENNIG – 100 pfennigs to an old German mark 11. ASPIRATION – (a pianist or)* 12. LEES – “leas” … Read more >>
Independent 6460 (30-06-07)/Nimrod – Not cobblers!
Quite often, when I’m solving a puzzle that I’ll be blogging later on, I fill in answers which I’m reasonably sure are right and then think, “I’ll work out the wordplay when I … Read more >>
Financial Times 12501/Io
IO was another new name to me until I checked the Setters page here and found that he is also Nimrod and Enigmatist, which explained a lot. Unusual to see a preamble in … Read more >>
Independent 6462/Virgilius
Easier-than-usual puzzle from Virgilius but with another clever bit of grid trickery – every down clue (except 9D, which reveals the theme) is a reversal of its (180 degree) symmetrical opposite . Of … Read more >>
If you want fast solving times you need to start young…
My three-month old son Dylan helping me with last Saturday’s Indie crossword.
Starting Today – the Cyclops crossword in Private Eye.
From today we will be blogging the Cyclops puzzles that appear in Private Eye magazine. This represents a shift from our current policy of covering puzzles that appear in national newspapers but it’s … Read more >>
New Premises
Welcome to the new home of Fifteensquared. The difference between this and the old site is that I now own the domain name fifteensquared.net and I’m using it to host the blog, rather … Read more >>
Guardian 24116/Taupi
Across 1 BESIDE THE POINT – double definition. 9 RI,T in IRAN,T – excellent surface reading. 11 H in (METEOR)* 12 DUN,(GONE)* 15 HOMOPHONE – nothing to do with the answer at 4D, … Read more >>
Independent 6454/Hard-Phi – Moving to the Weekend
We had a tough Saturday Phi puzzle a couple of months ago but I think this one was harder. I solved this one in deepest Suffolk, with no access to a decent dictionary … Read more >>
Independent 6458/Dac
Across 1 PAT,C,ASH(e) – excellent topical clue. 9 P in SOHO,MORE – one of the last 2 or 3 answers to go. “Part of London again” had me puzzled for a while. 10 … Read more >>
Independent 6457/Morph – Stepping down
Fantastic puzzle from “one of us” with a very clever and very topical theme. You probably know the game where you have to change one word into another in a certain number of … Read more >>