Guardian 24,442 / Araucaria – Proboscis Puzzler
Phew! Struggled through this very slowly, including a good five minute stare at 1dn before giving up on it until almost the end. Really enjoyed this. Across 9 LAURIE LEE LAUREL around I, … Read more >>
Independent 6786/Dac
One runs out of superlatives. Every clue here is pithy, elegant and utterly fair, and my slowness in completing some of the clues in the bottom half of the grid is only the … Read more >>
Financial Times no. 12,821 Set by DOGBERRY
ACROSS Much of this puzzle was ‘instant’ but I had some problems with 24a and 26a, and would welcome comments. 1. TEMPLE – (dd – Shirley Temple, adored child star of the Thirties, … Read more >>
Independent 6785/Virgilius
Easy, enjoyable and cleverly constructed puzzle from Virgilius with a theme explained in the three across answers in the middle of the grid, all of which are homophones of Ts. Every answer has … Read more >>
Financial Times 12820 / Dante
I downloaded the crossword and solved most of it quickly. However, I was called away from home and was back only at about 7 p.m. IST. At that time the bottom left corner … Read more >>
Situation Vacant
One of our Guardian bloggers is stepping down from active duty so we have an opening. You don’t need to be a super solver but you will need to be able to blog … Read more >>
Guardian 24441/Rover – placeholder
see you…
Financial Times 12,813 – Dante
From FT Monday 7 July 2008 Common abbreviations used dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) … Read more >>
Independent 6784 by Eimi
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed A Zimbabwe themed puzzle from Eimi, with the definition for Robert Mugabe (“one destroying his country”) only controversial if you’re one of Mugabe’s ruling circle. There was a fair amount … Read more >>
Guardian 24439/Rufus
Is Rufus getting harder? I had some trouble with this – particularly in the top left corner. Lots of CDs and DDs (Cryptic Definitions and Double Defs) and not many anagrams (I can … Read more >>
Azed 1884/AE AE AE
At first I found this fairly easy going – in particular, several rather obvious anagrams (34, 28, 20…) were my way in, so that I swiftly filled in the bottom half. I was … Read more >>
Inquisitor 79 – Cause and effect by Schadenfreude
This was a fairly gentle puzzle from Schadenfreude – the challenge was to idenitfy the empty cells where the cause and effect were to be entered, “thus thwarting an attempt to save the … Read more >>
Guardian 24,433 – Araucaria
From Guardian Prize Crossword Saturday 5 July 2008 Common abbreviations used dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>
Independent 6777/Scorpion
This was the best prize puzzle I’ve done in some time. That’s not to say the others weren’t any good, just that this one was really good. Lots of great clues and invention, … Read more >>
Independent 6782/Phi
I had a feeling this might turn out to be pangrammatic when answers like 14,17a and 4 went in. I found this a bit tougher than usual for Phi and had to “reveal” … Read more >>