Financial Times 13,092 /Dante
Rufus’s alter ego sets a puzzle to his usual standard: enjoyable, if not difficult, with clean concise clues and plenty of amusing cryptic definitions. Across 1 FEATHERS *(HERE FAST) 5 SCALED dd 9 … Read more >>
Independent 7059 / Morph
Some very amusing clues from Morph today in a puzzle which was most enjoyable. I’m not sure I have fully understood two clues (13a and 19a) and would welcome any enlightenment that others … Read more >>
Guardian 24,714/Rufus
Very straightforward fare from Rufus today, with the usual smattering of cryptic definitions, but also quite a few anagrams to get things going. My knowledge of classical mythology was stretched by 12ac. Key: … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 71 by Enigmatist
This was a entertaining, but aggressive crossword that took longer than it should have because I had the wrong answer at 18d (KEG) for a while. I thought to begin with that 18d was … Read more >>
Everyman Crossword No. 3269 (May 24)
I enjoyed doing this none-too-difficult puzzle. Across 1 BOTTOM – triple definitions: Weaver (character in Shakespeare’s MND), backside, foot (the lowest point) 5 DOG STAR – Also known as Sirius (which I first … Read more >>
Azed 1930 – computing in Scotland and India
Somewhat of a Compu-Indo-Scots vocabulary this week. I did this rather fast (for me!) at an airport lounge… guessed some answers from the definition in several cases and left the wordplay for later. … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,005 (24/05/09)
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Quite tough going this week but I got there, albeit lacking explanations for a couple (14 and 4, for which I’ve reproduced the wordplay here). … Read more >>
Guardian 24,707 (Sat 23 May)/Araucaria – To a T
Solving time: 10:27 This grid is normally a stinker (it has twelve 9-letter words each with only four checked letters and its four quarters are connected by just a single square each at … Read more >>
Independent 7057/Phi
I made a rather slow start on this typically pleasant Phi crossword, but when I saw that it was all As in the top unches and Zs at the bottom things became easier. … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,089 / Sleuth
A generous helping of long anagrams and letter picking clues in this puzzle. There is also a ‘dense’ mini-theme going on (7D, 8D, 9D). Good stuff overall except that the clue surfaces felt … Read more >>
Guardian 24,712 / Araucaria
Mostly very doable, but with a few tough ones and a couple I don’t quite understand. The excellent charade in 21a, 1d, 2d is particularly noteworthy 🙂 Across 1. SECATEURS SEC = “Little … Read more >>
Independent Prize Crossword 7051 by Monk (23 May 2009)
A tricky challenge from Monk that took me a little while to solve. The clues were fair and the surfaces were excellent, but some of the answers or definitions were fairly obscure – … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 863 – To Its Great Credit by Shark
This one took me far longer than it should have done! Having fairly confidently put in ‘garnet’ for 36a (though not too happy about cage=net), I had the grid complete, including nine clashes, … Read more >>
Inquisitor 125 UNCLUED by Schadenfreude
An Araucaria-style alphabetical jigsaw with a serious twist! No clue numbers, but the normal clues were presented in alphabetical order of their solutions and answers were to be fitted in where they would … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,088/Gozo
Other than a couple of (literally) lavatorial answers at 1A and 18, I can find little comment-worthy stuff in this puzzle. In the double-edged words of an erstwhile history teacher of mine, “It’s … Read more >>