Inquisitor

An Araucaria-style alphabetical jigsaw with a serious twist! No clue numbers, but the normal clues were presented in alphabetical order of their solutions and answers were to be fitted in where they would … Read more >>

Quite an easy puzzle for me though I didn’t fully understand the theme until the very end despite seeing HENRY JAMES on the main diagonal about half way through. Though solving the clues … Read more >>

Solving time: about two hours This was an interesting geographical challenge, with just about the right amount of work for me remaining to be done after the grid was nearly completed from plain … Read more >>

The preamble stated that ‘eight double clues lead to two solutions (two of two words); straddling the two in the order presented is a thematic word.  The thematic words (one of two words) … Read more >>

I’m usually worried when I can do 1 across immediately, but solving the clues here was pretty straightforward though I had a number of question marks about several of the across wordplays and … Read more >>

Despite some initial misgivings this turned out to be a straightforward puzzle from Schadenfreude. Quite a few answers seemed to fit and a couple were too short but their first and last letters … Read more >>

This started as a placeholder post. This was a pretty straightforward puzzle – I managed to see through the trick of making the source of the quote much longer than the quote itself, … Read more >>

We were told that wordplay in twelve clues was deficient by a single letter, the omissions making an arrangement for what the couple failed to provide when it was first demanded. Further, solvers … Read more >>

Most of the clues were reasonably straightforward, which was particularly necessary where there were clashes (sometimes multiple ones). Many were really inventive and entertaining. The puzzle element was considerably less straightforward! We were looking for a … Read more >>

A very enjoyable journey from Salamander I was well chuffed with it! The theme turned out to the the SETTLE-CARLISLE LINE, a beautiful and dramatic railway line linking the two towns and travelling … Read more >>

Solving time: about 2 hours, with reference help This puzzle presented thematic material in a novel way in the grid, and from each clue. We were told that the perimeter contained a writer … Read more >>

We were told that the initial letters of extra words in twenty-two (of forty-seven) clues would spell out the source of a quotation explaining what happens to seven answers. These initial letters would … Read more >>

Another challenging and well-constructed puzzle from Phi. I found the bottom half of the puzzle easier to solve than the top, and indeed only had one word in the top half before solving the … Read more >>

Even more minimal blog as I’m on holiday. I’ve not commented on the clues but as usual Loda’s clues were very good, except 13 where there is either a mistake or I’m missing … Read more >>

In each row’s pair of answers, one letter moved from one clue to the other, the moving letters giving two words, thematically described by 4 down. There were four unclued downs also matching … Read more >>