Private Eye/Cyclops – Page 18 – Fifteensquared

Cyclops 564: House of fools?

January 18, 2016 at 6:25 pmJanuary 18, 2016 at 12:01 am by jetdoc

Happy New Year! A relatively gentle start to 2016, with no major hold-ups, though there are a couple I might have struggled with a bit if I hadn’t had the checking letters.

Apologies for the fact that, in my last-minute rush, I forgot to fill in the entries at 23d and 27d in the grid. I only got round to completing it in Crossword Compiler and generating the exported graphic after I had done the rest of the blog, and Crossword Compiler defaults to putting Ds in the cells. I haven’t time to amend it this evening, but will try to do so tomorrow m0rning.

Private Eye (Cyclops/563) Xmas Special – Where are they now?

January 4, 2016 at 9:51 pmJanuary 4, 2016 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

It’s Christmas and like the strange man at the back of the night bus Cyclops shows us a worryingly large monster. As expected, there is a theme and this is spelt out in the preamble: … Read more >>

Cyclops 562, and a Christmas bonus

December 23, 2015 at 7:16 amDecember 20, 2015 at 11:59 pm by jetdoc

A relatively gentle Cyclops puzzle, in preparation for the Christmas special. Good luck to Beermagnet for blogging that one. What more is there to say, except to wish everyone a great Christmas and … Read more >>

Private Eye / Cyclops 561 – Transcend Presidency

December 7, 2015 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

Not what I would call an outstanding puzzle though there are some excellent surface readings in the clues I did the wrong thing by solving this crossword a week ago soon after the mag arrived, … Read more >>

Cyclops 560: Looks bad for some

November 25, 2015 at 5:43 amNovember 23, 2015 at 12:01 am by jetdoc

Alas, the dental abscess that is currently tormenting me was compounded by the fact that I woke with a migraine (and that is not a reference to my husband!) this morning. And I … Read more >>

Private Eye / Cyclops 559 – Shabby Diplomat

November 9, 2015 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

This puzzle was not a hard as some Eye grids of late, till the last few – notably those <50% checked lights. Particularly fine smut in clue for 15A Across 1 SKIMPY … Read more >>

Cyclops 558: Body talk

October 27, 2015 at 7:07 amOctober 26, 2015 at 12:01 am by jetdoc

It’s Friday and I am trying to get this finished and scheduled in preparation for the York Sloggers & Betters weekend, so I don’t miss the Sunday session like I did last year. … Read more >>

Private Eye / Cyclops 557 – Etonian Lenin

October 12, 2015 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

Cyclops is on a run of quite tough Eye crosswords lately. This is another that took me a fair while to solve. I had more than half the grid filled on the first pass, … Read more >>

Cyclops 556: A bit of a challenge

September 30, 2015 at 3:13 pmSeptember 28, 2015 at 12:01 am by jetdoc

A much more challenging Cyclops than I have blogged of late, and perhaps more enjoyable for it. I will give 17d my accolade for clue of the fortnight, for its clever and misleading … Read more >>

Private Eye / Cyclops 555 – Vulgar Role Model

September 14, 2015 at 7:07 amSeptember 14, 2015 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

This seemed tougher than many Eye grids of late. I certainly had trouble getting started – I read all the way down to 24A before finding the first answer, and after the “first … Read more >>

Cyclops 554: The dissolute honours list

September 2, 2015 at 8:44 amAugust 31, 2015 at 12:01 am by jetdoc

I haven’t got much to say about this, really — not too difficult. For some reason which I can’t now fathom, 4d held me up longer than the others. Favourite clue this week … Read more >>

Private Eye / Cyclops 553 – Daft Squib

August 17, 2015 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

Cyclops includes a couple of topical references to the current Labour Party leadership contest (9/4) and has put Andy Burnham squarely in the centre ground at 15. I had a curious conversation with … Read more >>

Cyclops 552: “Beautiful plumage!”

August 4, 2015 at 10:56 amAugust 3, 2015 at 7:44 am by jetdoc

I rather enjoyed this Cyclops — I didn’t find it difficult, but some of the clues were nicely challenging. And it gave me the excuse to give you a link to a classic … Read more >>

Private Eye / Cyclops 551 – Brandish spider

July 20, 2015 at 12:01 am by beermagnet

Well over half this puzzle was filled-in by the end of the first pass. I got going again with DISGRACED at 10 which I considered earlier but couldn’t see where the S came from, but … Read more >>

Cyclops 550: Shrink Rap

July 7, 2015 at 8:36 pmJuly 5, 2015 at 9:54 pm by jetdoc

Huge apologies for the laptop failure and consequent lateness. Back in my office now, with what I hope is a reliable computer, trying to get this finished as quickly as possible. So it … Read more >>