Independent 8211 / Tyrus
We are celebrating our first anniversary of blogging on fifteensquared this week and it’s Thursday so we expected a somewhat difficult solve, especially when we saw that it was Tyrus who has the … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,222 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword/Jan 28 Another Monday, another Dante? I am not sure. There were quite a few clues that I didn’t find particularly satisfying. Perhaps it was just me. If indeed so, I … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,221 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 26th, 2013 One of my solving buddies referred to this puzzle as a slow burner. Meaning, as I took it, that you don’t get completely … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,230 by Cinephile
Yet another good puzzle from Cinephile, fresh and original as ever. For overseas solvers a P45 is a UK tax form given to employees when they leave a company. If anyone is unaware … Read more >>
Guardian 25,864 / Paul
Not a lot of joy here for me today, with a theme in which I have little interest – but I’m glad to say that I did not resort to Google, except to … Read more >>
Independent 8,210 / Dac
It is Wednesday today and not the last of the month, so it has to be Dac, and indeed it is! I found this towards the tougher end of the Dac spectrum, and … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1266: WOODCHUCK PUZZLE by Plench
Another first time setter – welcome Plench! The rubric read: Nine clue answers have been thematically affected. Two cases are of a different sort from the rest, and a third item of this … Read more >>
Financial Times 14229 Neo
I thought this was going to be Neo shaking us out of our Tuesday complacency, on first pass. However it turned out to be quite benign, helped in my case, by the … Read more >>
Independent 8209 / Radian
Radian is a regular setter in the Independent (and also the Guardian and Financial Times under different pseudonyms. I note he is in the Guardian today as Crucible). Radian is keen on themes … Read more >>
Guardian 25,863 – Crucible
This is a very foxy puzzle with a mini-theme that I almost missed. The clues are varied and employ many devices to bemuse and amuse. Very entertaining. Across 1 DECOCT It takes months … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 690 / Moley
Another good puzzle with a good range of clue types, but I wonder how many solvers from South of the Border knew the Scottish word for shudder. Most of the definitions given are … Read more >>
Guardian no. 25862 by Rufus
Pretty typical Rufus I felt this morning, shed loads of double definitions which aren’t really my favourite clue type. Andrew is away, so I’m standing in, AMP and BROAD appear twice in the … Read more >>
Independent 8208 by Quixote
After some tough puzzles last week, things were back to normal with a straightforward Quixote. Across 1. Beauty treatment? Female having a cold one gets a line reduced (6) Facial F(emale) = a … Read more >>
Private Eye / Cyclops 487 – Climactic Recession
Don’t know about anyone else but I’m still reeling from the Xmas giant, so this normal sized grid seemed small… … and the level of difficulty not too great – (e.g. compared to … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,195
A solve of two halves for me this week: a brisk start followed by fairly slow progress through the remainder. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across 1 SCAPUS – CAP … Read more >>