Everyman

Nice to be welcomed by a fairly straightforward puzzle to ease myself back into cryptic solving – having been on a diet of Les Mots Croises for the past couple of weeks. Scotland … Read more >>

My Scots theory I think has more evidence in the form of Everyman also being Ascot in the Spectator. This week, JJ is Jeremiah Johnson and admirably the two J’s are checked. Some … Read more >>

Across 1 BY (“buy”) CHOICE – “on the phone” is your homophone indicator. 12 NO MAN IS AN ISLAND – I think I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this … Read more >>

Back to Scotland again this week with Muriel SPARK. More than Everyman’s usual share of weak surfaces though: e.g. 9A, 2D, 5D, 17D. The rest are quite good though so perhaps this isn’t … Read more >>

I think Partick Thistle is the only Scots reference in this puzzle. Of course, my Caledonian theory might be completely incidental but it gives me a goal each week. Overall, pretty easy cluing … Read more >>

Not too taxing and therefore perfect for a Sunday morning, especially if Saturday night went on too long and you’re in desperate need of a 23A or similar restorative. Across 8 AIR<,LAND in … Read more >>

The grid is almost 90 degree symmetrical: would be if 3D and 15D were both 15 letter lights. And we encounter Orlando Di LASSO again. I searched high and low for a Scots, … Read more >>

This would have been a pretty quick solve were it not for 5D; I also hesitated for a while over 19D as I didn’t fully understand the clue. Across 1 AB,DUCT – “seaman” … Read more >>

Solving time: 12’ Fastest solve for me ever – I think. Even managed to spell AUF WIEDERSEHEN correctly the first time. I recognized SHREVEPORT pretty quickly as well probably because it figured as … Read more >>

Solving time: 30’ Good solid wordplay – no quibbles and a reminder that I really must pay more attention to Sean Connery’s films if I’m to continue my relationship with Everyman. Across 1 … Read more >>

Solving time: 20′ Another rather fast solve for me… though spent a couple of minutes at first staring until the first clue (EVITA) succumbed. VP Spiro Agnew shows up again, proving that he’s … Read more >>

Solving time: 15’ Rather fast solve for me… nothing really held me up with the long clues falling almost on first read. I think this means that I’m no longer an Everyman GREENHORN. … Read more >>

Solving time: pretty quickly except for one clue I went through this at a pretty good clip but I’m still befuddled by the wordplay for 5D (CARGOSHIP) : I suspect I’ve completely missed … Read more >>

Solving time: pretty quickly Not sure how long I took to solve this since I was multi-tasking at the time but I don’t recall any untoward hold-ups. In retrospect not much to comment … Read more >>

Solving time: 45’ I actually fell asleep solving this – not because the puzzle was boring, simply due to jet-lag (or as my aunt would say, let-jag). Probably unintended but a couple of … Read more >>