Never knowingly undersolved
Tough-in-places but enjoyable-all-over puzzle from Nestor. Still not sure about 19a and 4d though. Across 1 P in ELM,AXED,ABATES – SET A BAD EXAMPLE. Cleverly constructed clue although the wordplay completely passed me … Read more >>
Paul’s salute to the ever-inventive British train companies and their feeble excuses for shoddy service. Not as difficult as some Paul crosswords can be, especially once you’ve cracked the theme, but very satisfying. … Read more >>
Following on from the non-appearance of a post on an Araucaria puzzle this week, we’re going to start using placeholders. This is how it will work: Either a full post or a placeholder … Read more >>
What an excellent puzzle, almost ruined by poor proof reading! Editor please note!! First the moans: Wrong word length for 1A – to be consistent with the other clues with unchecked blanks it should … Read more >>
I saw Eileen’s plea in puzzle G24359 comments and agree with her – this puzzle needs a blog – and made some notes. Then Real Life got in the way. Then I saw … Read more >>
Yesterday Cinephile, today Bradman – it’s been an interesting couple of days. Some rather odd words in here! Across 9 BALALAIKA: BALA (Welsh Lake) + LAIKA (dog breed) 10 SCHWA: SA (salvation army) … Read more >>
Across 1 (THE LAW)* in LEAP,ON – LETHAL WEAPON. 9 KIN,IS,G,ZED – I always think KIN whenever I see “family” so I got this fairly quickly. 10 SINUS – the wordplay seems to … Read more >>
Solving time 13 mins. A long quote which might have made all the difference as I knew it and entered it first time round. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 6 CHOR … Read more >>
A clue or two hinting that the setter is a woman. Which I knew already. I wonder a bit about 16D and I think I’m right about 11D (a first for me recognizing … Read more >>
Solving time 27 mins without books, then about 20 mins with Chambers to clear up the resulting mess. Doing Azed without books is an interesting challenge but sometimes you invent a word that … Read more >>
Cinephile frequently does themed puzzles and works his themes in many different ways. Here we have the gentlest of themes: three clues that refer to the Dickens novel “The Old Curiosity Shop”. Across … Read more >>
This blog is brought to you you in association with the NHS – caring for you every day! Well that will teach me! Out on the town with the Sloggers and Betters and I … Read more >>
Across 1 PIKESTAFF: as plain as a, and ‘fishing rod’ 6 FOCAL: anagram of CALF O (love) 10 MARIJUANA: JUAN (John) in MARIA (Miriam) 11 GRUB STREET: GRUBS (foods) + TREET (sounds like … Read more >>
Heavens what an effort. After a long time I’d done very little, and really thought that I’d have to cheat and look at the website, but eventually it all worked out, although there … Read more >>
I took a little more than an hour to complete this puzzle which I would rate as ‘above-average’ in difficulty. My entering one or two wrong answers initially did not help matters. I … Read more >>