Azed 1903
A relatively easy Azed for me this time around. That means I did it easily in one evening after dinner, I suspect Peter B could have polished this one off within 30 minutes. … Read more >>
Guardian 24,547 (Sat 15 Nov)/Araucaria – Playing Cat and Mouse
Solving time: 13:40 An enjoyable puzzle from Araucaria, with a couple of strange clues thrown in. Several clues refer to the Suffragette movement. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 1 … Read more >>
Independent 6,896/Nestor
It’s not often that I think that Nimrod isn’t the hardest weekday puzzle, but I really struggled with this one! I only solved 3 clues on my first pass and it took me … Read more >>
Guardian 24,552 – Gordius
Quite easy for a friday, I thought. Straightforward and well constructed, with a lot of anagrams. * = anagram dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition Across 7. LADIES MAN. ASEMILAND*. Never … Read more >>
Independent 6891/Virgilius (Prize puzzle 15-11-08)
A rare treat: Virgilius on a Saturday. About the same level of difficulty as we’ve come to expect from Virgilius and a theme of course: this time, it’s centred around two well-known phrases … Read more >>
Inquisitor 98 – Favourite by Loda
LODA is a regular contributer to the Inquisitor series and his (?) puzzles cover a wide range of subjects. This one took us into deepest Peckham in London. We were told that the … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 837: Hobson’s Choice by Syd Lexis
Being a natural pessimist, I had visions that my first blog would end up being for a puzzle by Dimitry, Kea or Oxymoron (Schadenfreude’s EV pseudonym), so seeing it was by Syd Lexis … Read more >>
FT 12,931/Falcon – Non-Darwinian Evolution
Another early upload online for the puzzle (thanks Messrs Editor/Webmaster) allows me the opportunity to blog promptly again this week. Nothing particularly byzantine here – other than my lack of familiarity with Mel … Read more >>
Independent 6895 by Nimrod
This was tough as Nimrod usually is, but I got there in the end. There is a Nina (hidden message) which helped me from reasonably early on – I refer to it after … Read more >>
Guardian 24551 / Brendan
I very much enjoyed this puzzle and personally didn’t find it nearly as difficult as the last couple of days. There are several references to the United States (7a, 26a, 1d, 3d, 18d) … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 979 by Quixote (16 Nov 2008)
Solving time, 14 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 CUB A 3 DE-CREED 8 ARABIAN NIGHTS (aghast in NI bar)* 9 A RR (Right Reverend) ESTEE(m) 10 FUR ROW 11 INLIER I in … Read more >>
Financial Times, no. 12,930 Set by Jason, November 20, 2008
Nothing very testing in this morning’s puzzle, apart from a few slang terms which may not be known to all. Much easier than last Thursday’s task. ACROSS 1. HORNPIPE – ( ho-rn-pi-pe – … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,921 – Dante
From Monday Prize Crossword on 10th November 2008 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,920 by Cincinnus
This Cincinnus puzzle struck me as distinctly more difficult than most of his. The top-right corner especially took me some time to complete. And it has its complement of splendid Cincinnic clues (10A, … Read more >>
Independent 6894/Dac
As always with Dac, clue after clue hits the button. Across 1 SUBJECT — 2 defs 5 DA(STAR)D — although the similar word with a different initial letter has a similar meaning, at … Read more >>