Never knowingly undersolved
This week, we were greeted with five unclued answers thematically related, plus 15 and 22 hinting at how a “20” should be taken from thirteen clues. A 3×3 block would need highlighting together … Read more >>
In the preamble for the ‘END OF THE LINE’, proXimal tells us that: “eight song titles associated with a group are given only as word lengths within clues; solvers must deduce the full titles in order … Read more >>
In REVOLUTION, some answers have blank cells that are to be filled… but with what?
Words to be removed from each clue and latent letters to be removed from each answer. Nothing like a straight cryptic crossword! And a name to find too – who is the Pine … Read more >>
The preamble this week told us we needed to uncover a murder mystery novel, the title of which was cryptically represented. This was probably given by the title of our puzzle, but I … Read more >>
The preamble to OBSTACLE says that solvers have to find in the grid: a desired ‘union’, a place, and an obstacle to said union (37 letters in all) – with 19 corrected misprints providing … Read more >>
Here’s the preamble in full:
Clues are presented in the correct order. The completed grid, which does not have one letter per square, displays mirror symmetry, and resembles the item given by the unclued entry (verifiable, though not the precise form used, in the Oxford Dictionary of English). Clue numbers and bars must not be entered. Those letters which are not one per square, when combined with those in the four shaded cells, can be rearranged to give a thematic word which must be written under the grid. Chambers Dictionary (2014) is recommended, but does not contain one reasonably common foreign word; one entry is an abbreviation.
2 unclued entries to find and every clued entry with an extra letter in it’s wordplay. Then 41 squares to identify connected with the theme subtly revealed by the extra letters A new … Read more >>
This week, there was the second Shark puzzle since the clocks went forward at the end of March. It probably meant that we had a date-related theme in front of us. I’ve had … Read more >>
To paraphrase the Monty Python ‘Australian Wine’ sketch (and I may have done this before, so apologies in advance): ‘…this is not a crossword for solving, this is a crossword for laying down … Read more >>
The preamble to WHO AM I? is quite intimidating. There are two verses to be identified. The first explains changes to two groups of three clues each, a phrase to be highlighted, and the answer to the titular question, which is to be written under the grid. The second is given by extra letters in wordplay in 29 clues, and it identifies the number of the single normal clue and the rationale for the removal of the letters. Got that?
How careless of the type setter – 17 clues have words from their definition in the next clue. Five clues both lose and gain a word. The initial letters of the misplaced words … Read more >>
There have been some fun puzzles from Stick Insect over the last few years, including his recent Listener puzzle, Reductio Ad Absurdum. I was surprised that this solve started off quickly and continued … Read more >>
In CALL SIGN, Shark offers up: a ‘non-standard’, rectangular grid – 10 x 14; seven unclued entries, all of a kind; no misprints/corrections, just four significant extra words in clues; and finally, some colouring in … Read more >>
A somewhat unusual set-up: across clues are given in pairs, and the method of entry for four across rows is thematic (whatever that might turn out to mean), with no definition given. Another row is unclued, and must be filled with ‘the reason for the WARNING’. The down clues, meanwhile, are not idle – extra letters from their solutions give ‘the subject of the WARNING’.