Independent 6297/Monk – Six wise Monks
Solving time: 11:36. Monk is one of my favourite Indie setters and today was another gem with clues as inventive and accurate as ever. Some difficult words – five I didn’t know (12, … Read more >>
Independent 6296/Dac
More quality cluemanship from Dac. Across 6 hidden in “riCE REAlly”. 10 O,I,GIRL< 11 YO,SEMITE – I guess this is a reference to George Bush’s infamous “Yo Blair!” comment. 12 (EACH HIPS)* 13 … Read more >>
Guardian 23,954/Quantum – CD hits a sour note
Solving time – 10 minutes – would have been under 5 if I’d realised what what was going on in the middle “column” of the grid. I started well with this one – … Read more >>
Coming Soon in 2007 – Independent Weekend Magazine Puzzle
From the New Year we will start to cover the advanced cryptic puzzles that appear on a Saturday in the Independent Weekend Magazine. These puzzles are edited by Mike Laws and are generally … Read more >>
Independent 6295 by Virgilius – F-words in the Indy!
Another amazing tour de force by Virgilius, whose weekly Indy puzzles usually have a theme. This time (1) all the sixteen perimeter cells contain the letter F (2) there are seven rows and seven … Read more >>
Guardian 23,953/Paul – What You See is What You Get
I thought that this puzzle was quite tough for a Tuesday morning, or maybe my brain is starting to wind down for the festive season. As usual. Paul demonstrated some clever wordplay, but … Read more >>
Guardian 23952/Rufus – it’s Christmas already
Virtually every clue is holiday related (xmas, parties, trees, pantos, carols…). I probably missed an allusion or two being of the other faith. I think this is the first of the Xmas-related themes … Read more >>
Independent 6294/Tees
I really enjoyed this. Quite tricky in parts, with some subtle and genuinely inventive wordplay. I got one wrong (18D), confirmed one on the Interweb and filled in a couple without fully understanding … Read more >>
Azed 1,802 – Vocabulary 7 down.
I did most of this on the tube, without Chambers, which is an interesting exercise – you have to make quite a few educated guesses and then corroborate them via the dictionary later … Read more >>
Everyman 3141 – quoit easy
One of these days I’m going to miss a theme in an Everyman. I’ve stared at this one but no joy. Though I always enjoy solving Everyman – which typically takes about 1/2h … Read more >>
Independent 6287/Scorpion – Elusively hard
Like the last Scorpion puzzle a few weeks ago I found this very challenging but very enjoyable. I wish I could put my finger on exactly what made it difficult for me as … Read more >>
Guardian 23,945 / Araucaria – Alphabetical jigsaw
Solving time 21:35 when last answer (K) was looked up. I think this is the first “alphajig” since we started the blog. They’re an old favourite of mine – before I started doing … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 878 by Quixote – as tough as any of his this year for me
When I solve a clue and think I’m certain I won’t have to go back to verify it, I tick the clue number in the paper. This is usually the case if I … Read more >>
Independent 6292/ Phi – The Phi’s Have It
Solving time: 24 minutes If there were to be awards for consistent setting, I am sure Phi would in with a shout of the award. His puzzles are always entertaining and are just about … Read more >>
Guardian 23,950, Orlando: A puzzle of two halves
In keeping with Orlando’s divided personality, perhaps, there seemed to be an easy half and a difficult half to this puzzle – not that I’m assigning a specific gender to either! I got … Read more >>