Financial Times 12748 / The Crux of the Matter
Across 1 JERRY BUILDER – jerry, ? – Gerald gives ‘jerry’ but I don’t know how Bob yields ‘builder’. The phrase itself is new to me but the second word can be easily … Read more >>
Guardian 24368/Rufus
Rufus at his finest: an excellent set of misleading and satisfying cryptic definitions and some devious wordplay as well. As per usual Rufus’s surfaces are coherent, sensible and, as a result, often hard … Read more >>
Independent No 6712 by Radian
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed The Independent continued its trend of trying out less well-known compilers for the Monday puzzle. Radian was another new compiler for me, although I don’t know if it’s actually a … Read more >>
Azed 1872: Treading the boards
Quite a pedestrian Azed this week, I thought. Definitely one for those with TEA (or a similar anagram buster) to hand — some obvious anagrams for obscure words, which could be hard work … Read more >>
Guardian 24,337 (Sat 5 Apr)/Taupi – Double trouble
Solving time: 11:40 This puzzle had a theme of 12 double word phrases, where the second word in one phrase was the first in the next. Starting with 9ac, these were BLANK, CARTRIDGE, … Read more >>
Independent 6710/Phi
The usual sound and enjoyable stuff from Phi – there don’t seem to be many novels here and I wonder if I’m missing anything. Across 9 TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, one of the four … Read more >>
Guardian 24366/Shed – 20V
A couple of unfamiliar words had me scurrying to the dictionary, e.g. PSITTACOSIS and I’m still not sure about a wordplay or two. Par for the course. Updated based on comments. Across 1 … Read more >>
Independent 6705/Morph
Excellent puzzle from Morph with a theme that must be close to the heart of many a crossword solver: 10A. The ones I recognised were 4a,9a,27a,3d,4d,6d and 17d. I think I noticed what … Read more >>
Inquisitor 67 – Dissent by Hypnos
Solving time: ages! This was a classic example of the kind of themed puzzle for which solver A can spot the theme instantly and have the whole thing done in an hour or … Read more >>
Guardian 24365/Audreus – new setter to me
This is a new setter to me, and I enjoyed the puzzle on the whole. It didn’t take long to do, and, if the week’s puzzles are to get harder as the week … Read more >>
Independent 6709 by Nimrod
I’ll have to admit defeat on this one. The two main features were a line of an Elton John song covering 5 clues and many clues linked to one word from it. When … Read more >>
Situation Vacant
I’m looking for someone to join the Independent bloggers team. If you’re interested, please email me at blogging@fifteensquared.net. Neil
Independent on Sunday 948 by Quixote (13 Apr 2008)
I found this harder than usual – solving time 39 minutes. * = anagram ACROSS 1 CAR ACT (A CU) S Chieftain who fought the Romans in Britain Cu = copper 10 CON … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,734 by Cincinnus
You know what it’s like when your mind wants an answer to be a particular word and won’t let go in the face of ridiculous amounts of evidence? Well, my mind so thought … Read more >>
FT 12,743/ Satori
Greetings earthlings! I’ve managed to resurface after something of a blogging exile – it turned out that the rehab clinic wouldn’t allow me wi-fi access during my (longer than anticipated) stay. Good to see several … Read more >>