Guardian 24,430/Orlando
Mostly fairly straightforward, with a lot of anagrams, but the top left-hand corner had me stumped for a while. I particularly liked 2dn for its brilliant misdirection. … Read more >>
Independent 6,773/Virgilius
A nice games-themed puzzle today. A number of references in clues and I spotted at least ten in answers scattered throughout the grid. Across 1 BOWLS – B,OWLS 4 TIC TAC TOE – … Read more >>
Guardian 24,429, Paul: On Clitheroe Moorage baht (brass) hat
I guess when you’ve been setting for a while, you can either spice things up for self and solvers with esoteric themes, or you can cast ever wider into the available word-pool. Paul’s … Read more >>
Financial Times 12808 / Highlander
A puzzle where no clue poses any especial difficulty. I solved 21dn first even as my eye took it in. I got 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 17 and 24 in the Down … Read more >>
Independent 6772 by Eimi
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed Eimi crosswords tend to send me scurrying for the reference books and there were quite a few words in this that were new to me (13 across being particularly obscure, … Read more >>
Independent 6765/Tees (21-06-08)
Apologies – I wrote this up last week and then forgot to publish it. Across 9 (CULT AWARE)* – CATERWAUL. I liked “heated call” as the definition. 11 (ON ISLAM)* – OSMANLI 12/15 … Read more >>
Guardian 24428/Rufus
Pretty good offering from Rufus: quite a few clues with a surprising twist in the surface. And not a cryptic definition in sight (OK, not many). Across 1 LUCIFER – two meanings: a … Read more >>
Azed 1,882 “Cherchez la Femme” – Tough search
This was probably Azed at his toughest and I am grateful to Peter B and the Cryptonuts for helping fill-in my gaps. First things first. As with all out-of-the ordinary puzzles, read and … Read more >>
FT No.12,805 Set by VIKING, June 27 2008
Sorry for the delay – the crossword was only accessible to me this morning. Rather a lot of anagrams, I thought. ACROSS 1. VISAGE – (vie, to include sag) 4. AMBIENCE – (Ambi-val-ence … Read more >>
Guardian 24,421 (Sat 21 Jun)/Paul – Knap hand
Solving time: 15:55 Don’t take too much notice of my time – I was at least three-quarters asleep when solving this. Reasonably straightforward for Paul, I think. I’m going to be unable to … Read more >>
Independent 6770 by Phi
Each of the Indy setters has their own distinctive talent – with Phi it’s immaculately constructed clues that I always find I can understand. This was a typical example, where I was able … Read more >>
Guardian 24426/Arachne – TGIF
Some tough stuff here that had me using Chambers (not something I like to do on a Friday morning getting ready for work but I tend to have a bit more time). Bit … Read more >>
Inquisitor 77 ONE TOO MANY by Raich
Easy to solve the grid (with some rather underwhelming clues), much harder to find the phrase made up of the extra letters. The phrase was almost irrelevant in terms of completing and sending … Read more >>
FT 12,804/Orense – Twin Shocks
In the interests of timely publication, I’ve kept annotations to a minimum today. Nothing too untoward here, although the repeated use of “shock”=hair seems a touch gratuitous, and a couple of the single … Read more >>
Independent 6769/Nimrod
My goodness me. What a mountain to climb. Well, at least I’ve filled everything in, but one or two I don’t quite understand; when they are explained no doubt I’ll be full of … Read more >>