Guardian 24,802 / Puck
Well, I’m not complaining about lack of humour today – nor that the puzzle was too easy! I found this quite a challenge, not least in the parsing, but very rewarding, thanks to … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,179 / Bradman
A delightful puzzle, the two long anagrams at 1D, 10D being the highlights. Quite tough too, had to pick up my dictionary several times. The top-right corner was especially tricky taking me double … Read more >>
Inquisitor 140 – Alevin by Viking
Viking is a new Inquisitor setter for me, but a bit of research indicates that there is a Viking who plays a major part in crosswords in another place, so the pedigree looked … Read more >>
Independent 7142 (Sat 5 Sep) Bannsider
I’m looking very hard but I can’t see a Nina in this one (I completely failed to see the Nina in last Saturday’s). Nevertheless, a pretty tough puzzle which is what we expect … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,178 / Phssthpok
Apologies for the tardiness of this post. It would seem that Smiffy’s holiday has gone on longer than he originally intended, or something else has prevented him from posting a blog, so here … Read more >>
Independent 7146 by Scorpion
I found this extremely tough, to say the least, setter made tremendous effort to use meanings of words that gave consistent surface readings. Solving time, 73 mins. * = anagram < = reversed … Read more >>
Guardian 24,801 / Rover – a pair of Queens
I’ve been a bit unkind about Rover in the past, and I was hoping to be proved wrong in this one, but unfortunately there are a few rather weak definitions and a bad … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1021 by Quixote (6 Sep 2009)
A bit harder than some by Quixote, solving time 35 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 BAR (MA)N 4 FU (SIN)G 8 ANTICOAGULANTS (a nostalgic aunt)* 10 G E (HE)NNA … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,169 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword on 31 August 2009 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,168 by Cinephile
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 29 I have been a big fan of Cinephile for many, many years — although all these years amount to only a minority of those … Read more >>
Independent 7,145/Dac
Nice stuff as always from the mid-week maestro. There are some great clues here. Across 1 HOSTA – S[-een] in HOT,A 4 RELOCATED – CO. rev. in RELATED 9 LOOPINESS – PINE’s in … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,177 / Cinephile
Another one of Cinephile’s ‘X has the same meaning …..’, this time it was ‘P’ for ‘peaks’, made easier for me having climbed all but one of them in my youth. Some typical Cinephile … Read more >>
Guardian 24,800 (Crucible)
A themed puzzle with one clue still puzzling me (3D) Across 1 BLIXEN: BLIX (Dr Hans Blix of WMD fame) + EN (directions); Karen Blixen, author, 1885-1992 4 MIX-UPS: homophone for MICK SUPS … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,176 / Hamilton
A new setter (I think). If so, welcome! An enjoyable puzzle. Across 1, 4, 26 EASIER SAID THAN DONE cd 10 COLLAGE COLLEGE (Academy), removing E (English) and substituting A (amateur). 11 TICKLED … Read more >>
Independent 7144/Virgilius
How Virgilius keeps on thinking up these original ideas I don’t know. This time he is using the numbers of the clues and sometimes also the numbers in their enumerations. Across 1 A … Read more >>