A pleasant Monday solve from Rufus. I liked 5ac, 13ac, 27ac and 7dn.
Private Eye / Cyclops 535 Bare cheeks
One of those weekends where I found myself tackling the Eye crossword just after struggling with Cyclops’ alter ego Brummie in the Guardian. So by comparison this seemed easier than expected. More than … Read more >>
Everyman 3,556
Another fairly straightforward everyman, with a couple of new words and some parsing that escaped me.
Azed 2,217
This is the last time you will see me for a while unless someone else decides to go on holiday. It is also the first time I have been scheduled to blog an … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1293 Hypnos
(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) I recall this was slightly more … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1293 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) I recall this was slightly more difficult to solve than usual for a Sunday … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,290
This week’s Beelzebub was excellent train company on a trek home from The North. I don’t tend to keep note of timings, but since I was still finishing Inquisitor as the train passed … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,289
A classic Beelzebub of about average difficulty, I found, though with some quite tricky parsings, and plenty of nice long anagrams to work through. I’m a way behind with these due to a … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1149: Common Usage by Raffles
Raffles is a new setter to me, although I see he has had a couple of Magpie puzzles. Here every across clue needs treatment; most need partial treatment, three need treatment in their … Read more >>
Guardian 26,430 / Brummie
I think this was the toughest prize puzzle we’ve done in while (admittedly we’re mostly just doing them on blogging weeks at the moment due to lack of time), but a satisfying one … Read more >>
Independent 8776 (Sat 29th November 2014) Tyrus
My goodness I found this hard. I started OK with 7 answers in, plus 2 tentative, on the first pass. Then I ground to a stutter and had to leave it for the … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,797 by GAFF
A very entertaining puzzle from Gaff. I had written a much longer preamble than this one, but somehow lost it due to a technical glitch. As with most if not all Gaffles (Gaff-puzzles), there is a central theme. 1ac continues to elude me so any help here would be much appreciated.
Independent 8781 / Phi
Another Phiday! We found this a bit trickier than usual, but none the worse for that. As usual, great clueing and a good mix of clue types. 1ac had us puzzled as we … Read more >>
Guardian 26,435 by Crucible
Tricky fun from Crucible today…
Guardian 26,434 – Otterden
I haven’t been particularly impressed by Otterden’s puzzles in the past, and I’m afraid this one has done nothing to change my opinion. To repeat what I said on a previous occasion, “there … Read more >>