Never knowingly undersolved
Solving time: 11:58 The clueing in this puzzle was more ‘down the line’ than normal for Araucaria, I thought. Nothing too obscure either, although a couple where the wordplay helped me out. 3dn … Read more >>
As usual, an excellent puzzle from the ever-reliable Phi. Solving time, 21 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 (PIPPED) (AT THE POST) Tempted at first by the 15 letters after … Read more >>
Great pangrammatic puzzle from the Bulletprooof one. Not sure about 2 and 3 though. I think they’re both right but I can’t say why. Across 1 H in WORKSOP – I think the … Read more >>
Hmm, well as today’s fifteensquared quality controller I have a few negative items to feedback here (OK, that’s enough of that – internal ed). Too many rather straightforward cryptic defs for my liking. Sorry if I seem … Read more >>
I found this exceptionally easy – Solving time, 10 mins * = anagram ACROSS 7 CHARGE Double definition 8 G U I DANCE 9 HOUSEMAID’S KNEE Good cryptic definition 10 M1 D O … Read more >>
– Blog Number 1 from me, so first things first, hello! A puzzle of two halves for me. The bottom half went in fairly easily, but I came a bit unstuck on the … Read more >>
Across 1 COPPER: double definition 4 CLEMATIS: M in CLEAT IS. Clematis Vitalba is a wild flower, also known as Old Man’s Beard 9 NORMA: hidden in londoN OR MAnchester. It’s a 19th … Read more >>
This puzzle has no fewer than three clues that I lack a complete understanding of: 26A, 5D and 21D. My copy of the paper did not include the clue for 23D and I … Read more >>
Talk amongst yourselves…
Across 1 PET,RA – an archeological site in Jordan and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Would “old city” been a fairer definition? 4 (GERMAN IS T)* – great clue, … Read more >>
Well not really; rather good, as I have come to expect from Punk. At first he seemed rather difficult and unsatisfactory, but increasingly nowadays I enjoy his well-constructed crosswords. Across 1 RHUBARB. There … Read more >>
Between a SNAFU with my contract and a chest cold, I actually had some leisure to look at this properly this morning. Just as well – Pasquale is one of the compilers who … Read more >>
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 >>
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 >>
*=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 >>