Guardian 25,236 / Araucaria
What a treat! This took a while to get into but, once I latched on to the theme – right up my street! – it was rather plainer sailing for me than for … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,608 / Orense
I found this one a little chewy in sections and on several occasions found myself resorting to the toothpick after digesting a clue. In fairness to Orense, there is a reasonable sprinkling of … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,599 / Dante
Dante is back in his accustomed spot this week. A somewhat heavy reliance on anagrams; I count nine (excluding clues where an anagram is only part of the wordplay). The best of these, … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,598 by Cincinnus
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 22 Once again Cincinnus comes up with an impressive set of clues. How juicy is 19A (REDSTART)? How witty 13A (NON-USAGE)! How splendid 8A (CON … Read more >>
Independent 7,581/Dac
It’s Wednesday. Which means it’s Dac. Which means it’s the usual excellence and nary a thing to complain about. I loved it all, but special mentions for 9A and 6D. Across 1 RIGHTABLE … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,607 by Aardvark – ‘a tale of two cities’
Easier than the last AARDVARK puzzle I blogged, but no less enjoyable. My favourite was 29 across which made me smile, 13 across is good too. Also, I got throught he whole thing without … Read more >>
Guardian 25,235 – Chifonie
A fairly typical Chifonie, with a lot of quite obvious clues. There’s a preponderance of charade clues, with 13 out of 28 being of that type, including 10 out of 14 acrosses: rather … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1161 – Nicknames by Ifor – Saturday 23rd January 2011
Ifor is a new compiler for the Inquisitor but he has had four crosswords published in The Magpie and one published in the Telegraph Enigmatic Variations series, all in the last two years. I … Read more >>
The One Show
Most of you will be aware of the controversy surrounding the inclusion of secret D-Day code-words in Daily Telegraph crosswords only days before the operation. For those who aren’t familiar, or those who would … Read more >>
Independent 7580/Eimi
A nice crossword today from Eimi, generally easy enough but with one or two slightly difficult (for me at any rate) words or senses of words. It seems that there is something … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,606 / Armonie
A quick, clean Tuesday puzzle from Armonie. No especial comments, except that I thought the anagram fodder was cleverly blended into the clue in 10 across. Other favourites today were 27 across and … Read more >>
Guardian 25234 Paul … Good things come in threes
The Chinese has a saying that good things come in threes and true to the ancient wisdom of my people, I get to blog Paul for the third time in a row. This … Read more >>
How to solve cryptic crosswords
Don Manley is giving a presentation on ‘How to solve cryptic crosswords’ in Oxford on Saturday 26th March. Details of the event are given below. .
Independent 7579 by Crosophile
This is, I think, a new pseudonym for the Indy so maybe a new setter. If so, welcome! Quite a difficult puzzle, I found, solving time 43 mins, but I got there … Read more >>
Guardian 25,233 / Rufus
This was a fairly standard puzzle from Rufus that will no doubt divide the solving community along the usual lines. As ever, from Rufus, there were a number of clues based on cryptic … Read more >>