Never knowingly undersolved
For some reason I found this harder going than usual for a Rufus, with the bottom half causing the most trouble. The grid doesn’t help: with no answers longer than nine letters it’s … Read more >>
Flipping heck, I only put my hand up to blog the Monday Indy on the grounds that it was ‘easy’. Easy this wasn’t. I got really stuck on two or three occasions, and … Read more >>
An interesting grid this week, with quite a few short entries and 90° rotational symmetry. I did feel the grid rendered the four quarters of the grid a little isolated, making one or … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3537.
I found this quite hard. Lots of “indirect” clues — where the wordplay requires solving for this. A good example is 33A. Across 1 Twangy instrument I am, bass, kept in box? GU(I’M,B)ARD … Read more >>
I think the kindest thing I can say about this puzzle is that it was not my favourite ever IoS crossword. But much more importantly, what did you think? And can someone explain … Read more >>
This Saturday’s puzzle seemed very difficult at first, though I kept coming back and nibbling away at it and finally managed to finish it unaided by Wednesday or Thursday. Well, I say unaided, … Read more >>
I’m always delighted to see Crucible’s name on a puzzle, especially when I’m down to blog it. I’m always delighted to see Crucible’s name on a puzzle, especially when it’s a Prize. So … Read more >>
What’s the catch? well this week in crosswording terms there are 20 answers to be entered with empty cells. Otherwise straight clues and certainly at the easier end of the EV spectrum with … Read more >>
As always, a neat and pleasant crossword from Phi, with not a superfluous word so far as I can see (except perhaps in 4dn). I can’t quite see 16dn, but no doubt there will be plenty of suggestions.
Yesterday’s plea for fewer Ninas and more vanilla crosswords seems to have been answered very quickly. But a) if it is Nina-free then this is obviously a coincidence and b) I expect it isn’t really Nina-free. It seldom is with Phi.
Definitions underlined.
A very tough puzzle to round off, what has been a very humbling week for me. Alberich has dished out a true challenge this Friday, thanks to whom for a very intensive workout.
It’s always a pleasure to see Tramp’s name on a puzzle, but I was worried when I found it took me a while to make any progress. Fortunately I managed it in the … Read more >>
A decent challenge from Aardvark today with some well disguised definitions and pleasing surfaces, though I do have a slight quibble about part of the wordplay in 1dn. There was one less familiar, or … Read more >>
We should have looked more closely at the number of the puzzle before we started – the last three digits would have warned us of how ‘beastly’ this crossword was to solve (and … Read more >>
(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.) There’s a nina in the grid, … Read more >>