Guardian 23,989, Arachne: Nag a ram, perhaps?
What makes a good anagram indicator? This puzzle combines what, to me, are some excellent anagrinds and some weaker ones, so I thought I’d set out my own personal likes and dislikes. “At … Read more >>
Independent 6331/Dac – Pathé-specific
Solving time: 7:35 A fairly standard offering from Dac today: mostly straightforward clue constructions with a couple of more obscure answers/names and a bit of licence with link words. Is there a political … Read more >>
Independent 6331 / Dac – Tougher than usual
Apologies for the lkate post – my briadband went down and I couldn’t let anyone know! Thanks to a very patient BT person (and no thanks to half a dozen complete incompetents), I … Read more >>
Guardian 23988 / Paul – difficult
Solving time 14:42 Not much to do here, so let’s have a go. This was pretty tough, and there are three clues I don’t understand or can’t quite swallow. For me, these slightly … Read more >>
Independent 6330/Virgilius
Got off to a slow start, then raced through most of the puzzle and ground to a halt with 5A and 2D. I also twigged one part of theme before even solving a … Read more >>
Guardian 23987/Araucaria
An enjoyable puzzle today from Araucaria, which either means that there wasn’t too much non-Ximenean shenanigans going on, or that I’m actually getting used to his style (however, the wordplay escaped me on … Read more >>
Independent 6329 / Math – pretty tough
Solving time 10:00 + ?? Had most of this done in about 8 mins, but was stuck on 5 and 16 – I had an answer for 16 but as it seemed to … Read more >>
Guardian 23,986/Rufus – Typical Monday fare
It’s Monday, so it must be Rufus. His puzzles are generally very easy (8 minutes to solve today’s), and this is mainly because his clues are not always terribly cryptic, and his definitions … Read more >>
Everyman 3147/Jan 21 – Newton’s cradle
I had no idea that the mesmerizing 5 silver balls swinging back and forth on my desk was called a Newton’s cradle (17A). Across 3 DAY TRIPPE,R – (pity padre)* followed by R … Read more >>
Azed 1808 – Pearst off
My first Azed. Definitely hard work: I invested at least 3 hours total. The vast majority of words I had to extract from Chambers. Azed’s saving grace is meticulous clueing – and, in … Read more >>
Independent 6322/Nimrod – Tuning in…
A bit easier than last week’s Nimrod I think but there were still a few I didn’t understand. I’m obviously not tuned in to the Nimrodian frequency at the moment but that didn’t … Read more >>
Guardian 23,979/Araucaria (Sat 20 Jan) – The Day Of Wrath
Solving time: 20:01. One mistake (2dn) so the last 3 of those minutes were wasted! I know the Guardian allows its setters much more licence than most publications (and that some setters are … Read more >>
Independent 6327/Phi – Three times a lady
Solving time: 6:37 Welcome relief after a half-hour struggle with Scorpion yesterday: I much preferred this to the last Phi puzzle I blogged (6288). The antipodean flavour to the top left (OTAGO and … Read more >>
Guardian 23,984/Chifonie – inspired by beached containers??
My first entry to this blog related to a Chifonie puzzle, so my heart sank at first when I saw that I would be solving another one today. However, this one is a … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 884 by Quixote – Easy
This puzzle reminded me of a year or two back when I thought the Quixote Sunday puzzle was pitched at an easier level than the daily Indy one. Would have been even quicker … Read more >>