Guardian 24,824 – Auster

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Pretty easy today, especially the very straightforward double definitions. Still enjoyable, and 25ac and 17dn made me smile. Across 9 CARGO SHIP O=”nothing” in (graphics)* 10 SIMON rev(IS) + MON[day] 11 INVALID double … Read more >>

Financial times 13,200 / Armonie

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Nothing too difficult here; a pretty quick solve.  Meanwhile, the FT seems to alternate between posting the puzzles days late or (as in this case) a few hours after midnight London time the … Read more >>

Categories FT

Independent 7168/Virgilius

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Virgilius’s theme is tricky alternatives, as we see in the three different expressions in the across clues.  As always I suspect I’m not telling the whole story. Across 9 A GREE{n} 12 yellowstonE nationaL … Read more >>

Independent 7167 by Quaiteaux

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*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def I can only recall seeing one Quaiteaux puzzle before, so a fairly infrequent contributor. This was mostly fairly straightforward with some nice CDs. There were … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,197 / Viking

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Now that Friday’s puzzle has been added to the FT website here is a quick analysis of the clues. Across 1 JURIST  RIS[k] (much danger) in JUT (project) 4 AMPERAGE  A MP (a … Read more >>

Guardian 24,822 / Rufus

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Another easy Rufus, with the usual crop of cryptic definitions, one or two of which I think are a bit lacking. Key: dd = double definition dd = cryptic definition * = anagram … Read more >>

Azed 1948

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This was definitely from the easy end of the Azed spectrum: I managed to solve all of it except 31ac without recourse to Chambers or other aids (though with some lucky educated guesses). … Read more >>

Guardian Genius 75, Lavatch

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This felt a little like a puzzle designed to test out a thematic entry technique. The clues were good, and the process of making new words by moving one letter produced some intriguing results and … Read more >>