smiffy

A well-balanced, but not too daunting puzzle. Just what the Doctor ordered for the morning-after-the-office-party, in my case. Across 1 UN,OBTR(U)SI,VE(-t) – Phew, glad we got that three-line, thirteen word clue out of … Read more >>

Just when you thought that the FT blogs had become extinct…. Apologies for going AWOL last week, when short-notice travel plans scuppered my schedule again. Incidentally, the FT puzzles seem to have become … Read more >>

This one flowed pretty steadily from the NW corner, where the first few clues allow a pretty generous introduction.  The FT puzzle seems to have suffered an upsurge in bizarro surface readings of … Read more >>

I solved this one much later in the day than usual, which could well be the reason that it didn’t really float my boat as much as a typical Neo offering does. I … Read more >>

Was relieved to avoid an overly-taxing puzzle today, as I think recent sleep deprivation is catching up on me.  A couple of good though-provoking devices nestled away in here, though.  My parsing of … Read more >>

Although Bradman is a prolific stalwart of several national dailies, his FT appearances seem to approximate at only monthly in frequency. So the fact that publication also coincides with our sporadic FT blogging … Read more >>

Apologies for the late posting; I ended up putting in a longer than anticipated shift at the salt mines today, so am blogging much later in the day than usual. Nothing too goofy … Read more >>

Well, I’m glad I voluntarily rescheduled my blogging duties from Tues to Wed – as this puzzle was a real humdinger.  I think I only solved one clue on immediate inspection, but none … Read more >>

The only real stumbling block today for me was 18A, which took me several minutes of plodding through the alphabet until I could find an answer that justified the clue.  10A doesn’t work, in … Read more >>

I didn’t spot anything unduly devious today so, coupled with the fact that the answers are all basic vocab, most clues are pretty self-evident.  The only possible gripe would be that the wordplay/definitions … Read more >>

Not too tricky, by Cinephile’s standards, with the Jane Austen mini-theme being familiar enough that even a lit-twit like me could twig it early on. Having just logged on to post this, I … Read more >>

Some nice touches today but I had to rattle through the puzzle (and this blog) later in the day than usual, so I may not have appreciated all of the nuances fully.  Had … Read more >>

This was a tough nut to crack, at least by FT standards.  I don’t have regular access to other daily puzzles that are blogged on this site, but I suspect that the difficulty … Read more >>

I solved this one in fits and starts, although each quadrant of the grid fell into place pretty readily once I’d cracked the four “long” clues.  I use quote marks because no answer … Read more >>

One for the orologists today, as the eight clues that lack definition (denoted with an asterisk below) are all mountains. I had to take a guess at 24D to finish the grid – … Read more >>