Private Eye/Cyclops

I  had trouble getting going with this puzzle. I read loads of clues before finally cold solving one with a definite answer at 6D, and then only had about a dozen answers in … Read more >>

… and all the better for it! The usual fun from Cyclops — a relatively quick solve, with nothing too tricky. Across 1 EMBRACES Hugs as Ed Miliband starts getting supporters EM = … Read more >>

First Eye blog of the new year for me.  Thanks to jetdoc who is alternating the task from now on and who produced an admirable effort last time.  She has certainly laid down … Read more >>

My Cyclops blogging debut — I’ll be sharing this with Beermagnet. It’s great to blog a Cyclops, because I’ve been taking the time to appreciate his clues, with their clever use of double … Read more >>

Christmas at the Eye – another year – another big grid with proportionally inflated prize**. Preamble: Twelve clues, lacking definition, lead to the names of people quoted in Pseuds Corner in 2010. While … Read more >>

My subscription copy of this issue did turn up –  a week late.  A little bit of snow and the world stops round here.  And with much more snow on the ground as … Read more >>

So it was at the London Sloggers’n’Betters in The Salisbury that I realised that almost a week had passed and I hadn’t finished this puzzle. In fact I had only got 10 answers … Read more >>

I’m well aware that when we bloggers baldly present the answers and wordplay it can make the solving process seem all too easy. But for some of us our calm exterior belies frantic … Read more >>

Lovely stuff as usual. Nothing too tricky or unexplained this time.  Pleasant solve over a couple of pints.  I noted I had 9 unsolved when starting pint number two. Across 8/16 ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION … Read more >>

Good work from Cyclops in this crossy. Some clues easy enough to cold solve to get going but funny, and a few tricky ones that fall after a few crossing letters. I nearly … Read more >>

If there is a theme to this crossword it is that several clues refer to the male member, some in ways that I, as a sensitive soul, find difficult to contemplate. Jacqui Smith … Read more >>

I got one wrong.  And I even sent in my entry for the prize competition with it wrong. So I’m expecting my entry to be picked from the gazillions – and then rejected. … Read more >>

Another excellent crossword from our resident setter with no depth to his vision – presumably that’s why he concentrates on the clue’s surface. Across 7 GOVERNMENT G (A large sum) OVER (surplus) [brow]N … Read more >>

Half-way through solving this I thought I was on for a record time – covering half the grid in a very few minutes. Then I slowed and then got interrupted by Real Life. … Read more >>

I made a note that I only had 10 answers in place after the first pint, which is an indication that this was harder than the last few Eye crossies.  On the other … Read more >>