Following puzzles by Ballard, Mitz, Dalibor and Neil, the latter’s second puzzle – an alphabetical – will be the final Cambridge blog. For those who still want to give it a go, click here: Neil 2 @ Cambridge .
Beelzebub 1,312
Was it my imagination or was this week’s Beelzebub a little different in style to usual? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it seemed that more, shall we say, informal … Read more >>
Azed 2238
After my run of specials, it’s almost a relief to have “just” a Plain Azed to blog. I didn’t get off too lightly, though: I did about three-quarters of this quite quickly and … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 142 by Crucible
The preamble for Genius 142, when you can work your way through the hotch-potch of ‘temporary’ (?) workarounds the Grauniad have built around this ‘non-standard’ puzzle which has been there for 10-plus years, … Read more >>
Everyman 3,577
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3577.
Independent on Sunday 1314/Kairos
Top puzzle, this one, imho. There’s one I can’t parse, though. Kairos has got the knack of what most folk expect from the IoS crossword. Nothing too obscure; good variety of … Read more >>
S & B Cambridge – puzzle by Neil
One more blog from last Saturday’s S&B: Neil @ Cambridge. A crossword that’s themed but not around the Cambridge event.
Independent 8,901 by Nimrod (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 25/04/15)
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, Nimrod is something of a long-term nemesis of mine, having regularly made my life difficult back when I was blogging the Independent dailies. These days I do … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 26,555 / Picaroon
Quite a few people in Cambridge last Saturday had done this puzzle on the way to the S and B and were remarking on how enjoyable it was. I deliberately left it at … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 1170 Fallen by Nudd
How careless of the type setter – 17 clues have words from their definition in the next clue. Five clues both lose and gain a word. The initial letters of the misplaced words … Read more >>
Independent 8,906 by Phi
As usual an enjoyable and sound crossword from Dac Phi (my apologies for calling Phi Dac — I have a suspicion that this isn’t the first time I’ve done this. Well they do both have three letters in their name. I must cure my Dac-obsession.). I found it a bit tricky in places, but once a clue had been solved, there seemed to be no reason for the difficulty. Many of these answers are so neat that they can be explained in a single short expression.
Guardian 26,560 – Crucible
I got off to a quick start in the NW corner, but then slowed down somewhat, even with the help of the useful 4d. Quite an “arty” puzzle, with two writers and two … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,919 by WANDERER
A brilliant and superb puzzle from Wanderer today. I really enjoyed solving this every minute of the way, and while there are still a couple of clues that I need help parsing with, doesnt take anything away from the really nice afterglow of a good solve. Thanks Wanderer for an absolute treat today. There is a mini-theme around Russia / Russians but a quick googling didnt turn up anything significant related to today’s date – anybody with any ideas here?
S & B Cambridge – puzzle by Dalibor
Dalibor’s puzzle for the day can be found here: Dalibor @ Cambridge and featured a double mini theme built around 10 across.
Independent 8905 / Hob
An intriguing puzzle from Hob today. It was only when writing up the blog that we realised there was a theme…. But the thematic references are in the clues, not the … Read more >>