Financial Times 13,324 / Cinephile
The preamble states that five answers have something in common but by my count it could be six. These are: Little Red Riding Hood (2,3dn) and wolf (6dn) Pied Piper (8dn) and rats … Read more >>
Guardian 24,948 – Paul
I found it very hard to get started on this one, but getting 3dn, swiftly followed by 15dn, and most of the linked answers, filled up a lot of the grid, and the … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,323 / Jason
One could say this was a gift of a puzzle because by and large most answers were easily obtainable, though I have minor reservations about 7, 18, 19 and 23dn. The parsing for 14dn … Read more >>
Independent 7293/Scorpion
Tough: I don’t know what I’d have done without the reveal facility on the Independent website. But I’m the one at fault, for, apart from one or two quibbles, the clues were understandable … Read more >>
Guardian 24947 – Orlando
A delightful potpourri of various cryptic devices to brighten up a Tuesday morning. Not too difficult and quite entertaining, too. ACROSS 1 RUSSIA LEATHER RUSSIA (country) LEA (meadow) THERE minus E ; a … Read more >>
Independent 7292 by Eimi
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism Entertaining puzzle by Eimi that mentions a couple of composers, although I don’t know if there is meant to be some hidden theme there. … Read more >>
Guardian 24,946 (Rufus)
Many congratulations to Rufus on this his 1,000th puzzle! Across 1 THEBES: almost THE BES(t) 5 SET ASIDE: SEASIDE around T (end of augus(T)) 9 DEMERARA: anagram of RARE and MADE 10 OTTAWA: … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 411 – Muck News
Quite an easy outing this time with a few intra-Eye references and pet names, particularly several uses of Brenda for ER, and of course lots of botty humour. Across 1 DISRAELI (DAILIES [labou]R)* … Read more >>
Azed 1969
A puzzle of two halves, I found: I whizzed though about two-thirds very quickly and without aids, then struggled rather more to finish it off. As promised, I’ve done this blog in the … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 80 (February 2010) – Puck
I struggled with this puzzle when I first tried it, though getting enough down answers to guess that they all had one or more Bs missing. Then I left it for a couple … Read more >>
Everyman 3308
Plenty of anagrams this week particularly in the down clues (I count 10 clues containing at least a part anagram). Since these are often the easiest to spot, it should have been quite … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 902 – Alternative Outcome by kcit
The preamble seemed quite straightforward, no extra letters etc in the wordplay just the possible modification of six across answers and twelve down ones before entering them in the grid. I started with … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,320 / Falcon
The usual from Falcon, elegant and not too taxing. One new word for me, at 24A, nothing too obscure otherwise. The parsing for 27A is foggy still, help invited. // 27A updated. Across … Read more >>
Guardian 24,939 (Sat 20 Feb)/Enigmatist – Criminal record
Solving time: 14 mins I don’t think I’ve ever finished a crossword having understood so few of the solutions! It took me at least as long again to fathom them all out. As … Read more >>
Independent 7,290 by Tees
A very enjoyable one here. I had expected to say that I found this a bit easier than usual for a Tees, but then I started to struggle towards the end. Still, here … Read more >>