Guardian

Quite a bit of complex wordplay in this puzzle. A couple of obscure allusions but nonetheless accessible. Across 1 COM(PUT)E – A tour de force pushing the cryptic envelope: here’s the clue: “Number … Read more >>

Standard fair Rufus. A couple of containment issues below. Curious what people think about their soundness. Across 10 (victo)R+OUGH – Last letter of Victor followed by (Hugo)*. “Poorly” is the definition 11 NEED(L)ED … Read more >>

Solved this when it was published last week, wrote up my notes and then promptly misplaced them which I just discovered. Turns out that solving a puzzle the 2nd time round, when you … Read more >>

A puzzle with a cricketing theme, appropriately enough for a time when the Ashes are being decided. Not sure how much fun this would have been for those with no interest or knowledge … Read more >>

Is it just me, or have the crosswords been getting harder since we started reviewing them? This one took a good half-hour, with half a dozen or so clues coming quickly, then a … Read more >>

Solving time: 13:59, with one careless mistake (22dn) plus another I’m not sure of (1d). Some very clever clues today with largely convincing surfaces, and just a couple of Guardianisms (25ac, 7d), by … Read more >>

Solving time: 20 mins (1 missing) I found the bottom left half harder than the top right, but had almost finished after 10 mins. I then spent another 10 trying unsuccessfully to make … Read more >>

Around 20 minutes. A fairly straightforward puzzle for me with a few long anagrams providing a good start and very fair clues. Across 1 SINGLE FIGURES — This got me for a while … Read more >>

Solving time: 20’ I stared at this puzzle for a few minutes, scanning clues, until one of the long ones clicked: ALL OVER THE PLACE. From that point on things went rather more … Read more >>

I wasn’t paying attention and that’s what I filled in at 11A instead of ATTENTIVE which made the NE corner a spot of bother. Nice puzzle with good balance of clue types. If … Read more >>

Typically Araucarian puzzle with a theme of coloured butterflys. There was a nice bit of deception in the note above the puzzle which said that the four undefined clues “were connected with a … Read more >>

A mixed bag. I found half the clues came very quickly, but there was a stubborn hard core, one of which eluded me to the end (but see comments for solution). Eight proper … Read more >>

Solving time – 45 minutes. I feel sorry for anyone trying to do this on the train – after struggling in vain for 20 minutes to get half of it I resorted to … Read more >>

[This is actually courtesy of loonapick who due to technical difficulties asked me to post… so please direct all compliments to him and complaints to me about the formatting] Gordius is a regular … Read more >>

No good deed goes unpunished. I volunteered to do Tuesday’s cryptic thinking that I’ll probably get someone tractable like Shed, Quantum, etc. – but no… and we’re left with four wordplays I can’t … Read more >>