Never knowingly undersolved
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def An enjoyable puzzle with nothing too difficult or controversial. I couldn’t see any obvious NINA. Across 9 Orchestra: I think this is just a CD relating to … Read more >>
This was again harder than most Eye crosswords with a few very tough clues. I had trouble in the bottom half – and particular trouble with number 2. Across 1 LAMB CHOP LAMB … Read more >>
Solving time: 27:40, with Chambers used for the last three – 25/26/27. As promised, I’m going into more detail than usual to help solvers who are unfamiliar with Azed puzzles to use this … Read more >>
Solving time: 7:17 When I first printed this off I thought I must be missing a preamble, but in fact the asterisks in some clues (those starred below) acted as definitions of ‘stars’ … Read more >>
Please excuse the drive-by blog, which I’ll aim to flesh out in a couple of hours. (I can sympathise with the clue at 8D today.) Not much to explain, although I suspect that … Read more >>
I found this unusually difficult — the two-word clues were a problem and one or two short answers are even now not totally clear. But apart from one or two quibbles, a typically … Read more >>
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. I actually managed to finish this on the Sunday, which is something of a rarity for me. Still, it was a very pleasant way to … Read more >>
Quite a few nice clues in this fairly easy puzzle from Auster. (I’m a bit disappointed there’s are no Australian words or phrases this time, though. :)) Across 1. MILDEWED MILD + EWE … Read more >>
Scorpion has a reputation as one of the tougher Indie setters but I found this pretty easy. Good fun to solve too, which is the most important thing after all. Just two queries … Read more >>
We were told that the initial letters of extra words in twenty-two (of forty-seven) clues would spell out the source of a quotation explaining what happens to seven answers. These initial letters would … Read more >>
I might be being unduly unfair but I was dissatisfied with this puzzle overall. On the plus side the idea was neat and simple and many of the clues were good and relatively … Read more >>
Those who think Azed is beyond them might like to try this puzzle. I solved it in pretty short order, and I’m due to blog it on Sunday. I’m going to mention points … Read more >>
A mixed week for me here. A handful of very good clues, some others (especially the dds) which I could take or leave, and a few I can’t fully explain. There’s a “cattle” … Read more >>
It has been some time since I have had quite as many quibbles about clues in an FT crossword. These made the solving process, for me at least, somewhat protracted and, in places, difficult. … Read more >>
This was far from straightforward with some quick tricky decoding. Still not convinced by some of my efforts. Across 9 HOOVERING: (OVER + IN) in HOG (corner) 10 OUTDO: a kind of double … Read more >>