Guardian 25,037 – Puck
What a tantalising offering from Puck who teased and tormented us with such a wide and varied array of cryptic devices …. and like all masochistic cruciverbalists, I thoroughly enjoyed each clue. ACROSS … Read more >>
Guardian 25,036 / Rufus
As usual, good stuff from Rufus – smooth surface readings, clever constructions and plenty of smiles from the cryptic definitions. (Apologies for any errors – I’ve had to do this post very fast … Read more >>
Independent 7382 by Morph
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism Obviously, this was written a few weeks ago when the ash cloud debacle was at its height. Inexplicably, though, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano doesn’t seem … Read more >>
Azed 1984 – Doublethink (Competition puzzle)
This puzzle reminded me (after completion) of a famous clue from N C Dexter, back in January 1984 (Azed 610), when the word to be clued was DOUBLETHINK. The winning clue was: By … Read more >>
Everyman No. 3323 (6th June)
Lorraine: No real problems this week really so long as you read the clues properly!; 6 across being a fine example, I put ‘free association’ which then messed me up for 6 down, … Read more >>
Guardian 25,029 (Sat 5 Jun)/Araucaria – Teething trouble
Solving time: 16 mins (23ac wrong and another possible mistake at 10/27ac) Similarly to last week’s puzzle, this was very hard until I spotted the theme (a class of creatures like anteaters) and … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 917 – Prime Mover by Samuel
I came to this EV tired and jaded after a long weekend away golfing and drinking…(or was that the other way around?)…not having done a crossword of any form for 4 days – … Read more >>
Independent 7,380/Eimi
Much as I usually love drawing the Friday blog and finishing the working week with a nice piece of Phi, I was hoping that the start of the World Cup would mean that … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,409 / Hamilton
I started off smoothly with this puzzle but struggled to finish it, stuck for a long time with 11A, 5D. While there were some neat clues like 17A and 28A, I wasn’t particularly … Read more >>
Independent 7375 (Sat 05-Jun) by Nestor
Another Saturday Prize Indy that was surprisingly easy compared to previous experience of both Nestor and Saturdays. There has been a run of easier Saturday crosswords lately. After first getting one of the … Read more >>
Guardian 25,034 – Rover
Rover, aka Ian Morgan, died on 31 May at the age of 78 – see the posting under “Announcements”, and also the editor’s newsletter on the Guardian crossword site. I, and others, have … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,408 – Orense
I found very little to comment on today. Hope that’s not a Wildean case of “The only thing worse than being talked about, is not…”. The longer anagrams at 21A and 13D were … Read more >>
Independent 7379/Nimrod
You’d never have had a blog were it not for the ability to cheat on the Indy website. This crossword wasn’t there at five past midnight, so I did it from the paper … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1060 by Quixote 6th June 2010
An easier offering this week than last, with the usual good mixture of clue types. Our favourite was 20 across, which gave us a lovely penny-dropping moment on this hungover Sunday. ACROSS 1. … Read more >>
Guardian 25,033 / Araucaria
This was quite a tough one for a before-work solve, especially as our knowledge of golf clubs is limited to those mentioned by Bertie Wooster, so there was a good deal of new … Read more >>