Guardian Quiptic 958/Pan
Come on, rise and shine. I know you’ve had an hour less in bed, but there’s a Quiptic to be solved and enjoyed. A good one it was too. Abbreviations … Read more >>
Pierre
Independent on Sunday 1465/Poins
An enjoyable Sunday solve from the Shakespearean one. One or two remote synonyms, I thought, but generally clearly clued. Just a couple where I’m unsure of the exact parsing. Abbreviations … Read more >>
Everyman 3726
Another sound puzzle from Everyman. Of the 28 clues, there was one hidden reversed, one anagram and two dds; the remaining 24 were charades or insertions. A bit of … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 956/Moley
A sound Quiptic from Moley to start the week. Plenty of anagrams to get you going, all clearly clued and no obscurities. What a Quiptic should be, in my opinion. What did ‘beginners’ … Read more >>
Independent 9800/Kairos
Congratulations to Kairos. That’s an L of an achievement. A pleasing and well-constructed puzzle for the Monday slot, and one which sees us celebrating Kairos’ fiftieth puzzle (for the Indy, … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 954/Anto
It’s fairly well-known that I don’t have a high opinion of Anto as a setter, so here’s a brief blog in order that you can decide what you think. … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1461/Poins
Poins in the pulpit this Sunday, with a pleasing puzzle that took a bit of teasing out. It took me a while to pin this one down (and there’s one … Read more >>
Independent 9782/Raich
Eimi made a reappearance in the Indy last week, and now we see a Raich puzzle for the first time for a while in the daily Indy (he has been contributing to the … Read more >>
Everyman 3722
Everyman is such a good choice of cryptic for those new to them, or for those learning the ropes. Always carefully constructed and at a level of difficulty that should encourage people to … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 952/Matilda
An entertaining Quiptic from Matilda this morning with a sting in the tail. I solved this with the sense only of ‘this is a good, accessible, Quiptic, I’ll give it … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 950/Nutmeg
Nutmeg has been a regular Quiptic setter since the puzzle’s inception eighteen years ago. She has delivered another thoughtful and sound offering for beginners this morning. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition … Read more >>
Independent 9764/Hoskins
No hallucinatory drugs were used in the construction of this blog, but this setter’s past form may have led me to imagine one or two things that aren’t really there. … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1457/Alchemi
A gentle Sunday solve from Alchemi, with a couple of inventive clues that I particularly liked. The only hold ups were caused by my own muppetry. When you’re trying to solve a clue … Read more >>
Everyman 3718
Plenty of charades, anagrams and insertions. Everyman is in town. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed abbreviations are underlined … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 948/Hectence
A pleasing cryptic from Hectence to herald in the new format Guardian (at least I think it’s today, and the style of the header has changed online). Abbreviations cd … Read more >>