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This was a pretty gentle, pleasant offering from Viking with plenty of starter clues (17A, 23A, etc.) to give you a foothold in the puzzle. The vocabulary was on the easy side too … Read more >>

GK buffs will feel right at home with this puzzle which touches a range of domains like literature and biology and geography. The wordplay is accessible, so with help from good old Wikipedia, … Read more >>

An enjoyable puzzle with many nice clues (14D, 17D, for example), but I missed something outstanding (like a memorable &lit) as there usually is in Bradman’s puzzles. Across 1 CROSBY CROS[s] (sorry, reduced) … Read more >>

A very enjoyable puzzle liberally sprinkled with anagrams and cryptic definitions.  The clue surfaces are uniformly well-crafted. Specially liked the neat anagram at 8D and the wordplay with ‘bill’ in 23A. Across 1 … Read more >>

A fine offering from Viking. The SE corner was tricky to unravel, the rest of the answers fell into place without hiccups though the wordplay took more time to work out. 1A, 13A … Read more >>

I started off smoothly with this puzzle but struggled to finish it, stuck for a long time with 11A, 5D. While there were some neat clues like 17A and 28A, I wasn’t particularly … Read more >>

The second Loroso puzzle to appear in FT, and the first I’m blogging about – welcome to the setter who’s better known in these parts as Anax. Loroso treats us to novel tricks … Read more >>

Bradman gives us his trademark &lit clues for the long slots and general solid clueing all round. There are some superbly smooth clue surfaces, as in 20A and 9D. A very enjoyable solve. … Read more >>

This was a pleasure to solve. Impeccable clues, creative and challenging without being insurmountable. It took me the longest time to see 4D, but got there in the end. Across 1 BILL OF … Read more >>

A simple crossword, no obscure words or circuitous wordplay. Newbies might want to cut their solving teeth with this. For old hands, it might seem a little uninspired. Across 1 ADMINISTERED MINISTER (vicar) … Read more >>

Falcon is ideal for days when you want a smooth ride with the crossword without it getting dull. A pleasant puzzle with especially nice clue surfaces, and not much to hold one up … Read more >>

An elegant puzzle from Viking as always. Especially liked 1A, 27A and 1D, and 6D for its fun surface. Across 1 COURTING CO (company) URGING (insisting) + T (time) – G (Golf in … Read more >>

A wide spread of domains covered today – books, film, food, places, famous people. Harder than Falcon’s usual; fine clueing as always. Across 1 BRUTUS BRUT (very dry, used of wine) US. The … Read more >>

I had a great time with this puzzle. Not as hard as Viking usually is, but with lots of clever wordplay. Thank you Viking. Across 1 SELF-CLEANING (LENS IF GLANCE)* A nice &lit … Read more >>

Straightforward solve today with most answers entered on first pass through the clues. I had to look up a couple of wordplay components that involved people’s names, but this didn’t pose much difficulty. … Read more >>