Everyman

Pretty standard with a couple of neat tricks here and there, but nothing to tax Everyman regulars. Across 1 CICELY – (ICYCLE)* 4 SPROUTED – R in SPOUTED = sounded off 9 MUSCLE … Read more >>

Pretty tough going this week, especially if you didn’t know the names of the film, the novel, the UK TV programme and the famous Russian(s). Legend to solution comments: *  =  anagram. < … Read more >>

Not too easy this week with some good surfaces and not too much general knowledge required. Overall I rather enjoyed this one, with my main complaint being about 18dn. Across 1 PLOUGH – … Read more >>

Thanks to Andrew Kitching for the alert re the publishing error on this week’s Observer crossword web page;  we never looked at the incorrect pdf file, so therefore solved this cold from the … Read more >>

Definitely a bit harder to get going this week. The double definitions seemed to often require very specific knowlege for the second definition, and the two word clues (except 4dn which was my … Read more >>

Our first blog (as the The Trafites), and we look forward to doing this. A fairly straight forward Everyman this week. 25ac is unusual as we have seen RED RUM used for the … Read more >>

I’ve been rather busy this week so I’m writing this blog six days after having done the puzzle. I don’t remember getting particularly stuck on anything, and seem to remember plenty of pretty … Read more >>

Across 1 STEFFI GRAF – F in STEFI (anag. of  ‘set if’,  ‘tight’ being the anag. signal), G (good), RAF (service) 6 ITCH – (b) ITCH 10 ABSCOND – AB (sailor, from able-bodied sailor), … Read more >>

Nothing too taxing this week, although perhaps not the most exciting crossword. The conductor in 24ac was new to me, but I think all of the other “well known people” answers were incredibly … Read more >>

I enjoyed doing this none-too-difficult puzzle. Across 1 BOTTOM – triple definitions: Weaver (character in Shakespeare’s MND), backside, foot (the lowest point) 5 DOG STAR – Also known as Sirius (which I first … Read more >>

A bit easier than the past few weeks, including lots of anagrams, but I hope your knowledge of the arts & literature is up to scratch with 2 plays (12ac, 5dn), a film … Read more >>

A couple of clues with parochial references (see 23 ac, 7 dn) put me off, but otherwise an enjoyable puzzle. I liked 1 ac especially. Across 1 OTHELLO – THE (the), LL (lines) in O … Read more >>

Definitely harder than the last one I blogged (2 weeks ago) and probably a little harder than last week. The surfaces here are impeccable pretty much throughout, and overall I felt this had … Read more >>

Three clues 1ac, 1dn and especially 2dn, held me up for some minutes before I completed the crossword. Across 1 CHOP-SUEY – CHOP (cut into pieces), SUEY, rev. of YE (the old), US … Read more >>

As always, a well-clued easy puzzle particularly suited to newcomers to cryptic crosswords. I have reservations with 6dn in that it makes very little/no sense in its surface reading. As far as i … Read more >>