FT

For the first time since I started blogging I had a clue that I could not solve! See 17 across. There are others that I do not completely understand and a couple that … 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 >>

Across 1. VERBATIM – anagram (terribly) of BRAVE + TIM (little chap) 6. CUCKOO – double definition 9. SPRUCE – double definition 10. NO LONGER – anagram of GO ON LNER. LNER was … 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 >>

Following two Weekend FT puzzles that I fairly sailed through, Mudd gave me a bit of a challenge with this one. As usual, it was a satisfying challenge. I did however fail to … Read more >>

Solving time :32 mins 59 secs. Thank goodness this wasn’t one of Cinephile’s really difficult ones. As always with Cinephile, one or two clues that stretch a pedantic Ximenean, but nevertheless lots of … Read more >>

I believe this is the first Bradman puzzle I have attempted. It took me a while — longer than I would generally want to spend on a daily puzzle — perhaps because I … Read more >>

For the second week in a row, I completed the FT Weekend puzzle very quickly. In this week’s case, it helped that all the words are common — or at least ones I … Read more >>

Having a little extra time today, and seeing it was Monk, tackled this.    Very hard and very inventive as I’ve learned to expect.     And there is a theme, referred to after the clue … 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 >>

This is one of those characteristic Cinephile puzzles with a theme that carries through the longest entries and into a few of the short ones. Spot the theme quickly as I did and … 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 >>

Yet another beauty from Cincinnus. This one had several words/terms that I did not know but they all proved fairly easy to figure out. My favourite clues are 12A, 24A and 25A. Across … Read more >>