Private Eye/Cyclops 419 – Big Nancy
I must be getting better at these. Another Eye crossy that was knocked off without raising a sweat. The long giveaway answer gave away lots of crossing letters and everything else slotted in … Read more >>
Azed 1985
The usual pleasurable experience. All the clues are utterly sound and you know you’ll get there in the end, even if the progress is a bit slow. The words are — in this … Read more >>
Everyman 3324
A few slightly more obscure answers and a little fiendish wordplay here and there (8dn in particular) made this one a bit tricky, but hopefully pretty fair. Some lovely surfaces dotted about too. … Read more >>
Guardian 25,035 (Sat 12 June) / Paul
I don’t know what has happened to rightback this week unless he has been drowning his sorrows due to the recent England performances (though England have just beaten the Wallabies 🙂 ). A … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 918: Motorworks by Piccadilly
Well, it seems that I’m the blogger that gets saddled with all the EVs involving jumbled entries! There are twenty extra words in clues to be discovered, paired and jumbled to form the … Read more >>
Independent 7,386 by Phi
An enjoyable and fairly challenging Friday Phi. The grid seemed to fill from the bottom up for me, and I was perhaps held up by some unfamiliar terms, for example at 15ac and … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,415 / Viking
A fine offering from Viking. The SE corner was tricky to unravel, the rest of the answers fell into place without hiccups though the wordplay took more time to work out. 1A, 13A … Read more >>
Guardian 25,040 / Bonxie
An entertaining puzzle from Bonxie, featuring references to Guardian crossword compilers, past and present. [I must admit to having forgotten some of them.] Lots of clever surfaces and wordplay. Across 8Â Â GADABOUT: A … Read more >>
Independent 7381 by Phi (Saturday Prize Puzzle 12 June 2010)
My most recent Inquisitor blog was a puzzle by Phi, as is this. I said in the Inquisitor blog that I enjoy Phi’s cluing. It is unambiguous and often very clever. I got … Read more >>
Independent 7,385/Tees
Thursdays are never particularly easy in the Indy and, after an initial run through of the clues on this one, I thought I’d be relying heavily on the online cheat facility by the … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,059 (06/06/2010)
Apologies for a delayed post again. The usual top quality puzzle, with the bonus of several good long anagrams this week. I think I found this one of average difficulty, but made life … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1061 by Quixote 13th June 2010
A pleasant offering this week, very much at the easier end of the scale, we felt. 8dn (pastern) was the only real stumbling block, mainly because we struggled to get ‘postern’ out of … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,414 – Jason
A well-balanced mix of tractability and trickiness . I came unstuck in the SW quadrant, due to an over-impulsive stab at 17D, but overall the answers manifested themselves at a satisfyingly steady and … Read more >>
Guardian 25,039 / Paul
I’m possibly a little jaded against loose setting having just come out of exams, but this wasn’t my favourite Paul. Maybe 3 and 5 will look better in the morning. Across 1 ANUBIS … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,405 – Mudd
Monday Prize Crossword on 7 June 2010 A nice change from the easier Dante and Crux. Mudd employs some devices which are unusual and therefore challenging for a Monday. Most entertaining as well … Read more >>