Guardian Quiptic

Another excellent Quiptic from Pan.  Unfortunately at the time I solved it the answer to 22 down had the middle two letters reversed which then gave an incorrect spelling for 25 across. All … Read more >>

Another Arachne quiptic for me to blog, which suits me very well; her clues are elegant and smoothly surfaced. There are a few general knowledge references which may not be so general, but … Read more >>

I don’t rightly know what to make of this one.  There were some good clues all right, but there were some doubtful definitions as well, in my opinion.  And a Grauniad enumeration error.  … Read more >>

While I really enjoyed this puzzle, I thought that many of the constructs and indicators were a bit too difficult for a Quiptic.  As with the previous Quiptic that I reviewed from this … Read more >>

This was on the easy side, even for a Quiptic.  Some, like the first and last clues, where the answers practically identified themselves, to make up the Quick half of the hybrid, and … Read more >>

A Quiptic setter new to me, she hits the entry level spot on, with varied clue types, and nothing too convoluted. Across 4. Large flag for an Egyptian god (6) OSIRIS Charade of … Read more >>

I see Orlando’s on double duty today, having also set the Guardian Cryptic.  This was a sound puzzle, but there were a number of pieces of quite tricky wordplay which I’m guessing would … Read more >>

Quite a straightforward puzzle, putting it somewhere left of centre in the difficulty spectrum for a Quiptic.  Thanks Pan.  Also thanks to fellow blogger, flashling, from whom I’ve copied the additional idea of … Read more >>

I really enjoyed today’s offering from Spiderwoman (the original Arachne in Greek Mythology was changed by Athene into a spider). All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations … Read more >>

Called off the bench by Gaufrid as substitute blogger.  I suspect the difficulty is that the Guardian website is still showing last week’s puzzle.  Anyway, if anyone does access the crossword, then this … Read more >>

A well-clued and straightforward puzzle from Hectence today, with only a couple of clues falling into the more difficult category. dd  double definition cd  cryptic definition (xxxx)*  anagram anagrind = anagram indicator Across … Read more >>

Once I got going, it was quite smooth.  Some nice clues.  Thanks Orlando, enjoyed this. Across 9 Going out to Chile in old age (9) NEOLITHIC :  Anagram(Going out) of TO CHILE IN.  … Read more >>

A puzzle well-suited to the Quiptic genre.  A few nice clues but nothing out of the ordinary. All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations used in the … Read more >>

An amusing offering from the Spider Woman, notable for some fine surfaces. Across 1. Exclusive property, often used in films (7,7) SPECIAL EFFECTS Charade of SPECIAL (‘exclusive’) + EFFECTS (‘property’). 8. A month … Read more >>

Apart from a couple of niggles, I enjoyed this puzzle.  There was an interesting variety of clues and of subject matter. Football fans will be familiar with the term ‘nutmeg’, where a player … Read more >>