Guardian 24,747 – Shed

A gentle but fun return to solving after a few weeks’ holiday. Edits thanks to Lanson and Eileen. Across 8 DECANTER DETER=”put off” around CAN=”tin” 9 LEECH rev(HEEL) around C for cold. 10 … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,124 / Mudd

Not too often that Mudd makes a mid-week appearance, and this puzzle felt like a good (non-too-fiendish) fit for a summer’s Thursday. Across 1 SNOWDROP – snow + drop 6 SLEEPY – lee … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,115 – Mudd

Monday Prize Crossword on 29 June 2009 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>

Independent 7091 by Dac

Top quality puzzle from Dac, great variety, subtlety and no loose ends.  Solving time, 28 mins. * = anagram  < = reversed 1 TO PIC   “pick”   ‘to’ appearing as itself in the wordplay … Read more >>

Azed 1,935

My apologies for this being posted later than usual. There appears to have been a problem with the scheduled blog. As with my Azed blog a couple of weeks back, I didn’t know I … Read more >>

Guardian 24746 / Gordius

Quite fun today, and not too hard… Across 1. BRONCO BRO[w]N + CO = “firm” 4. ASPIRE A + SPIRE = “sprout” (as an intransitive verb) 9. DALI Hidden answer 10. STOKE POGES … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,122 / Phssthpok

Pretty straightforward, although 25 across still puzzles me.  Across 1 UNRECOGNISABLE *(LOG CABIN ENSURE) 10 HAWKS dd 11 COVER SLIP From COVERS LIP (what a moustache does).  A cover slip is the bit … Read more >>

Independent 7090/Tyrus

Phew! I think that was about as difficult a crossword as I’ve ever done. After nearly an hour less than half of it was completed, so I resigned myself to the full panoply … Read more >>

Independent 7089 by Mordred

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def Doing the Monday blog, I seem to get a disproportionate number of tough puzzles and this was no exception. There was an ice-skating related NINA … Read more >>