Private Eye/Cyclops

First, further apologies — I promised to post this, already late, yesterday, but didn’t get home to my office (where this almost finished blog was waiting for me) until late. This was a pretty … Read more >>

This crossword was unusual in two respects. It had a large number of clues: This grid design gives 32 lights and only one clue involved two lights, whereas Cyclops often creates longer answers … Read more >>

The usual fun from Cyclops, who has managed as ever to work all sorts of salacious references into wordplay for simple and innocent words. Clue of the fortnight, though, has to be 17a, … Read more >>

How many tabloid editors or execs will end up in “Stalag Leveson”? Expectations are being laid by the number of people that have been arrested by Operations Weeting and Elveden, but preparations are … Read more >>

As Cyclops puzzles go, I thought this was pretty straightforward — none of those stubborn clues that hold you up once you have solved everything else. As usual, plenty of witty surface readings … Read more >>

Which Odd couple is Cyclops alluding to I wonder: Cameron and Idi Amin? Al Capone and Robin Hood? There’s an odd couple of bits of wordplay that are not pinned down to my … Read more >>

Oops, I hit ‘Publish’ before rescheduling this for midnight! I hope no one is discombobulated by the earliness. Sorry about the lack of a witty title, but I just can’t think of anything. … Read more >>

This surely rates as the gentlest start to a year yet, and the weather’s very mild for the time of year too. I had all but 4 answers filled in after the “first … Read more >>

Here’s hoping you all had a splendid time over the holidays, and wishing you a very happy and (cruciverbally, at the very least) successful 2012. This blog is due to appear for tomorrow … Read more >>

The festive season seems to have started early in the Eye with a couple of pantomimes opening. Solving-wise, I didn’t have any hold-up clues, and only needed one session to finish this.   As … Read more >>

I tackled this one on the train home from the Derby Sloggers and Betters. For some reason I fell asleep.  I was roused by a hearty chant from the carriage-load of football fans … Read more >>

I’m not sure why, but I found this a rather more challenging Cyclops than many recent ones, and all the better for it. There certainly seems to be a plethora of male genitalia … Read more >>

50th Anniversary of the Eye and I was half-hoping for a special Cyclops. What did I get? A relatively easy crossie made hard by being printed in the fuzziest print I’ve seen since … Read more >>

Even for a Cyclops, this one abounded in anatomical references. A fairly quick solve for me — nothing in the clues really held me up. Across 8 PSALTERY Players pissed round toilet’s entrance … Read more >>

This was one of the fastest solves of an Eye crossword for some time. Everything slotted in steadily from start to finish with none of the clues holding me up for any appreciable … Read more >>