Financial Times 13,602 / Redshank
Another Thursday, another debut setter (or, at least, pseudonym). My second new opponent in consecutive blogs – the FT editor must be broadening his church further still in 2011. And it’s not too … Read more >>
Guardian 25,230 – Crucible
I seem to have got into a habit lately of sailing through one half of a puzzle and struggling with the rest. With this one I finished the bottom half quite quickly but … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,593 / Crux
The FT gave us a pleasant change from Dante this week. Please don’t take that the wrong way — I am a fan of the cd master. But some variety in this space … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,592 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 15 I had trouble finishing the lower-left quadrant of this puzzle and maintain a reservation about 17D (EGYPTIAN). My top clues here are 28A (BEGRUDGE) … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,601 by ALBERICH
Quite a tricky puzzle to finish, the bottom left corner had me stuck for quite a while. Lots of nice clues with some nice & Lits. I thought 27 across was nicely crafted, and 14dn made … Read more >>
Guardian 25,229 – Gordius
Solved most of this quickly but couldn’t get a foothold in the NW for a good while. Some nice clues (26d my favourite), but some (6d, 14d) were a bit shaky. Across 1 … Read more >>
Independent 7575/Dac
As usual a lovely crossword from Dac, who week after week shows that it is not necessary to have difficult clues, simply ones that are perfectly formed. In fact the clues are so … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1160: How Many? by Phi
With hindsight, quite a tame one from Phi. A number of answers, with a common feature, are entered in an unusual manner, implying a numerical value for a letter of the alphabet. With … Read more >>
Independent 7574 / Mordred
I’m an emergency stand-in today, so apologies for the slight delay in posting. I’m not a regular daily Independent solver – I tend to get The Independent on Saturday for the Inquisitor (which … Read more >>
Guardian 25228 Paul …Make Your Armpit Your Charmpit
Today I felt quite dense and took a very long time to finish off Paul’s puzzle and even then had problems understanding some of the wordplay. Fortunately, I have the eight hour advantage … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,600 / Neo
I was happy to see Neo in the Tuesday FT again. As always, there is plenty here to entertain the solver. Across 1 CROSS-REFER d&cd A cross-reference that refers to a cross. 7 … Read more >>
Guardian 25,227 / Orlando
A very nice puzzle from Orlando today, although I think many people would think it rather difficult for Monday in the Guardian. I look forward to seeing many of you in Derby on … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 584/Moley
It’s the first time I’ve blogged a puzzle by Moley, and I was pleased when her name came up because I’ve enjoyed her Quiptics in the past. I enjoyed this too and thought … Read more >>
Independent 7573 by Nitsy
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism This is only the second Nitsy puzzle I can recall and it continues an improving trend. It was mostly on the easy side but … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,091 (16/01/11)
A slightly strange week for me. I found this quite tough going and ended up writing in quite a few without following the wordplay. Strangely enough, everything seems perfectly clear on blogging, though … Read more >>