RatkojaRiku

This was my first attempt at blogging a Scorpion puzzle, and as soon as I noticed there was a theme, I wondered if I’d make my blogging deadline: I tend to relish thematic … Read more >>

This was a more manageable puzzle to solve and to blog than one or two that have fallen to me in recent weeks. Unsurprisingly, it is up to Dac’s usual high standard, with … Read more >>

This was my first attempt at blogging an Anax puzzle, and given how challenging I always find his puzzles, panic immediately set in: while under normal circumstances I would expect to get at … Read more >>

Despite the fact that I seem to have blogged a lot of Phi puzzles recently, he can still really put me through my paces, and that he did this very morning. It took … Read more >>

When logging on to the Independent website this morning, I had to do a double-take: had I slept for three days and woken up to Phi’s usual Friday crossword or had the unthinkable … Read more >>

No surprises over today’s setter: it’s Wednesday, so it just had to be a Dac. Similarly, no surprises about the kind of crossword in store for us: a set of perfectly sound, uncontrived … Read more >>

I hadn’t had the opportunity of blogging a Klingsor puzzle until today, and I think that I’ve only ever solved a handful of crosswords signed Klingsor, although perhaps this setter masquerades behind other … Read more >>

This Phi puzzle did my blogging confidence a world of good, after I had emerged last week battered and bruised from my tussle with Nimrod. Nonetheless, I found this a challenging and enjoyable … Read more >>

I felt rather out of my depth with Nimrod’s offering this morning. I can only marvel at the hard work and ingenuity that has gone into setting this puzzle and bemoan my own … Read more >>

Sound, tight clueing and an enjoyable, not overly challenging, solve: would we expect anything else on a Wednesday morning from Dac? Some new words for me at 3, 7 and 12, but the … Read more >>

The key to this puzzle was correct interpretation of the references to the numerals 1-10 that, rather cleverly, appeared in ascending order as the first words of each of the ten across clues: … Read more >>

After spending a week struggling with crosswords of all descriptions and from numerous sources, and having difficulty unpicking wordplay even when I had the solution before me, Phi’s puzzle felt like a breath … Read more >>

This was my first attempt a blogging at puzzle set by Tyrus and it proved a real teaser. Is it just me or do others find that when they have to blog a … Read more >>

For me, Dac’s puzzles tend to be characterised by an economy of language and a smoothness of surface reading in the clues, and are reminiscent of those Guardian puzzles set by Custos (the … Read more >>

A tricky puzzle, since so many of the entries revolved around one clue, which for those of us working on the basis of the electronic version alone was merely described as a 17-word entry, … Read more >>