Never knowingly undersolved
I found this rather harder than usual for a Qaos puzzle. It all worked out in the end, but there are some quite involved parsings. Thanks to Qaos. Today’s theme is types of … Read more >>
An accessible Paul puzzle to brighten our Tuesday morning.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29537.
Chandler has produced a puzzle for us this week which fits the bill for a Quiptic well, I would aver. But as I keep saying, what the beginners and less experienced solvers thought … Read more >>
This is the thirty-second Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords. The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here. There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here. This puzzle can be found here.
A first outing of 2024 for Arachne, I think…and lucky me that it falls on my blog slot…
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29535.
It’s only three weeks since I blogged the last Maskarade puzzle – and there’s a clear sense of déjà vu at 22dn. I found this mostly straightforward, with a fair mix of anagrams … Read more >>
A tough solve – I particularly liked 12ac, 13ac, 21dn, and 25dn. Thanks to Vlad for the puzzle.
Quite easy by this setter’s standard, I thought, but ingenious and enjoyable as ever. Thanks to Jack. Jack’s puzzles (and those of his alter egos Serpent and Basilisk) usually include a Nina of … Read more >>
A gentle start to the week.
Thank you to Anto. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1. Gather heat is on the rise (5,2) ROUND UP : ROUND(a heat/one of the elimination stages in a competition leading up … Read more >>
Is it Groundhog Month? This time last year I had a Claw October Genius to blog, I went to the Times Champs and met Claw at the pub afterwards, and then met him again at the York get-together… Can you guess what happened this year?!
This is the thirty-first Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords. The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here. There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here. This puzzle can be found here.
I would normally take the Guardian puzzle with me on a train journey but last Saturday the journey was to the S and B at York and it was my blog and so … Read more >>