A nice solid puzzle in this issue.
Not too hard, except for the last clue – funny how it’s always the last clue solved that’s tricksiest.
Most was filled in on the first pass, but a handful resisted till the end.
Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,601 by Vlad (25 January 2025)
Vlad gives your correspondent a pretty tough mental workout this week…
Financial Times 17,963 by SOLOMON
A very late blog – sorry!
Listener No 4850, “Counterfeit” by Charybdis
Just over a year since the last Listener puzzle from Charybdis and that was based on the Necker cube. [As of writing, solver and setter blogs for Charybdis Listeners can still be seen … Read more >>
Listener No 4850 Counterfeit by Charybdis
Clashes in four cells, four unclued lights and a string of four letters to be changed after filling the grid. There was nothing too disconcerting there and, as the founder of the Listener … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 29,606 by Brockwell
A fun challenge with neat surfaces and some tricky parsing. My favourites were 8ac, 11ac, 12ac, 26ac, and 7dn. Thanks to Brockwell
Independent 11954 / Phi
We probably get a puzzle from Phi every 9 Fridays out of 10 in the Independent. Today is no exception
Komorník Cryptic Challenge 2025
Komorník announces the publication of his Cryptic Challenge for 2025. There are 16 puzzles to be solved, and a required response sent, before 1st July this year.
Independent 11,953 by Eccles
My third Eccles blog in a month: I’m not complaining, but some of my colleagues might feel they’re missing out.
Guardian 29,605 – Picaroon
Good to see another (final?) puzzle from the pirate before he goes into setting Purdah in his new job at the Telegraph. A smooth and witty set of clues, as we’ve come to … Read more >>
Financial Times 17,962 by GURNEY
Gurney is today's setter in the FT.
Enigmatic Variations No.1678 – Local Disturbance by Cranberry
“Clashes in 13 cells can be resolved to help reveal, obliquely, either a thematic question or a LOCAL DISTURBANCE. Select the question, thus eliminating the problem, and thematically modify four answers (of a kind) to illustrate its answer (30 cells), involving characters well-placed to deal with the issue. Enumerations refer to grid entries, which include non-words after thematic treatment. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Financial Times 17,961 by IO
It took me a while to get into this one, as the special instruction is a bit… mysterious.
Independent 11,952 by Bard
What is going on? No Eccles today! But we have Bard’s 5th puzzle instead.
Guardian Cryptic 29,604 by Qaos
A typical Qaos puzzle.