Another Tuesday, another gentle start to the puzzle week at FT.
Quiptic 783 by Moley
The former English teacher returns to the Quiptic slot with a puzzle that left this poor solver with a couple of self-inflicted wounds.
Independent 8765 by Crosophile
I found this an enjoyable puzzle which required a bit of work to tease out some of the parsings. The def in 17 is the only one I’m not sure about. 20 I … Read more >>
Guardian 26,419 / Rufus
I originally thought this was going to be plain sailing (to use a nautical term so beloved by Rufus) because all but a handful of entries went in rapidly during my first pass … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,288
After struggling so much with 1,287, this one was quite a relief. A rare unaided, single session finish, but one that admittedly required writing in quite a few answers on little more than … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,287
I’m playing catchup again, almost like some sort of scandalously irresponsible blogger. In my defence, this week’s Beelzebub was blooming hard, and I’d actually finished 1,288 before this one was complete. I’m not … Read more >>
Azed 2214 – Jigsaw
Azed gives us a jigsaw about every two years, and by the luck of the draw I also blogged the last one. As I said then, my first step with these is to … Read more >>
Everyman 3,553
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3553.
Independent on Sunday 1290/Commoner
We’ve had some very good puzzles in the IoS slot recently, I think, and this was another one. All pretty gettable (which is the brief for the Independent on Sunday) but with some … Read more >>
Independent Prize Puzzle 8758 / Tees – 08/11/14
We enjoyed this Prize Puzzle from Tees. It took us a while to get started but once we had a few crossing letters things fell into place reasonably quickly. Joyce really likes short … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 26,412 / Paul
For a while now we’ve been having a Paul Prize puzzle every other week, apart from the last two weeks. Nevertheless, it was a bit of a surprise to see one today, as … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 1146 Light Extension by Jaques
Some too short answers (half of which contain a misprint in the definition) and all the other clues have a misprint in the definition. How light an extension will this prove to be? … Read more >>
Independent 8,763 by Phi
The usual pleasant crossword from Phi, as always I find a bit slow to begin with but eventually all quite smooth. There seem to be lots of anagrams and part-anagrams here, which make it easier for the solver, and some of them are very obviously anagrams (as in 26ac).
The two words 3dn and 14dn are a sort of mini-Nina, having a similarity of shape to the things they signify, but no doubt there is more …
Definitions underlined.
Financial Times 14,779 by WANDERER
Excellent offering from Rurouni (look it up!!) today. A rich variety of clues spanning the entire spectrum of easy write-ins and really difficult ones to crack. I made quick work of the top half and then went plodding through quicksand as I finished the lower half.
Guardian 26,417 / Paul
I was going to say that this is Paul’s weekly appearance but last week we had him twice within four days so who knows what tomorrow will bring. A typical Paul with the … Read more >>