Guardian 24630 – Rufus

by

sorry if this is a bit terse, internet went down at home so am solving/blogging between lectures. I got through this quickly with a few niggles. Liked 18ac. Across 1 DESCRIBE (seed)* around … Read more >>

Independent 6975 by Virgilius

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def A topical, Oscar-themed puzzle which I found quite enjoyable but may not be to the taste of non-film buffs, especially since some of the films referenced were … Read more >>

Azed 1916/who is Aled J?

by

A typical Azed outing involving quality time with The Big Red Book: a couple of wordplays still to be decoded and the requisite mystery clue. Thanks to Andrew all is clear now! Across … Read more >>

Guardian 24,623/Paul

by

Not, as I’d expected, a St Valentine’s Day special, but a theme based on famous Belgians, of whom there are supposedly very few, though for its size Belgium in fact does pretty well. … Read more >>

Beelzebub 991 (15/02/09)

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. A good tough one this week, offering us plenty of obscure words with which to conjur. Happily, I still managed to get most of this … Read more >>

Guardian 24,628 / Pasquale

by

What a delight to see Pasquale back – fully recovered, I hope. There are several slightly unusual words but they are scrupulously well-clued and there are some lovely surface readings. A highly enjoyable … Read more >>

FT 13,006/Alberich

by

As usual, Alberich dishes up a healthy dollop of clues where the surfaces are uncannily natural (14A, 15D and 19D being today’s exemplars). However, overall, I couldn’t help but feel that this pudding … Read more >>

Financial Times 13,005 / Cincinnus

by

A relatively gentle stroll today but a very pleasant one due to the excellent surface of the clues. I had to smile at some of the clues, for example 14a, 25a and 11d though I did … Read more >>

Categories FT

Independent 6,972 by Tees

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. This was interesting. We haven’t seen a weekday Tees puzzle for some time, and I certainly have never blogged one. I really struggled to get … Read more >>

Guardian 24,627/Paul

by

As usual, good fun from Paul, with a couple of typically cheeky clues, and not too difficult. One or two minor quibbles, but nothing to complain too much about: in fact there are … Read more >>