Financial Times 13654/PHSSTHPOK
This is my debut FT blog. Thought I was going to be in trouble after getting only 1 in the initial run-through. And the clue for 5D seemed to tell me something! But … Read more >>
Guardian 25282 Araucaria – Unofficial like Chang & Eng
What a lovely duty I have today, blogging the Master with his unpredictable devices that stretch Ximenean limits and torture his clients delightfully … don’t we all have this masochistic streak? A most … Read more >>
Independent 7627 / Phi
It was something of a surprise to see Phi on a Monday, Eimi must have something interesting lined up for April 1st. A relatively easy, but pleasant, start to the week with, so … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic N° 593 by Arachne
An amusing offering from the Spider Woman, notable for some fine surfaces. Across 1. Exclusive property, often used in films (7,7) SPECIAL EFFECTS Charade of SPECIAL (‘exclusive’) + EFFECTS (‘property’). 8. A month … Read more >>
Guardian 25,281 – Rufus
Very gentle Monday puzzle from Rufus with plenty of anagrams, double and cryptic definitions. I liked 5d and 13d. Across 1 BENEFIT double def 5 EXCERPT EXCEPT=”but” around R[ight] 9 NORSE (reason)* minus … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 439 – Bad Eye
I found this Eye much harder than usual. It took till 20A Niggle to find a clue I could cold solve, and only had a handful in place after the first pass. The … Read more >>
beelzebub 1100
? This puzzle is cleverly and wittily misleading in places such as 25down ( )* = anagram [ ] = omitted < = reversed Across 2 Crises? Energy and information used … Read more >>
Azed 2025/Carte Blanche
I tend to enjoy empty grids in the Carte Blanche style — it makes me think I’m doing something more than just “mindlessly” solving clues. In this case, I got lucky guessing that 1A and … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1101 by Quixote
Another entertaining Sunday puzzle from The Don ACROSS 1 DEPARTMENT Cha of DEPART (leave) MEN (fellows) T (time) 9 STET Ins of T (last letter of text) in SET (put) In proof-reading, a … Read more >>
Everyman crossword No 3,364
A typically entertaining puzzle from Everyman. Unusually for this setter, though, there’s one clue I can’t quite parse (see below). It’s probably my fault, so any suggestions welcome. Across 1 AVERSE A + … Read more >>
New Blogger Required
A new blogger is required to cover the FT puzzle each Tuesday. If you are interested in joining the 15² team please send an email to admin{at}fifteensquared{dot}net. Edit: Position filled.
Enigmatic Variations 958: Seven by Dysart
I thought that this was a tough puzzle from Dysart. The preamble seemed to have so much going on that I needed a bit of a lie down after reading it. That, together … Read more >>
Guardian Prize Puzzle 25,274 / Araucaria
Something of a treat for me, to blog an Araucaria prize puzzle. It’s one of those with a long answer, this time only a partial anagram, together with some rather nifty wordplay. I … Read more >>
Independent 7620 by Nimrod – Saturday Prize Puzzle 19 March 2011
I was able to fill the grid on the Saturday the puzzle appeared but this was a puzzle that I kept returning to during the week, mainly to try and understand the wordplay … Read more >>
Independent 7,625 – Phi
Despite the fact that I seem to have blogged a lot of Phi puzzles recently, he can still really put me through my paces, and that he did this very morning. It took … Read more >>