Independent 6303/Phi – 15dn + 9ac – 10ac = 8dn?
Solving time: 5:12 The quickest of the week so far for me. A couple of excellent cryptic definitions (12dn/13dn). No theme that I can see, but then I usually can’t. Beginners’ tips of … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 880 by Quixote – pleasing puzzle with Christmas theme
Lots of traditional Christmas references which forced some of the other words to be a little less familiar, I guess, but Quixote gave accessible clues for them. Reminded me of when I first … Read more >>
Guardian 23959/Gordius – drunk and disorderly?
Solving time – about 30 mins Very apposite theme with New Year’s Eve fast approaching…I was held up for a long time because I foolishly put in EPSILON for 4dn, without reading the … Read more >>
Independent 6302 by Merlin – Office etiquette and much more wizardry
Another excellent puzzle by Merlin , which I mostly solved quickly but was slow to finish. Solving time: 21 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 GO (energy) + SPEL(l) (endless charm) 9 BEAT … Read more >>
Independent 6293 / Nestor – late but great
Solving time 14:30 This one slipped my mind in the run-up to Christmas so here it is about 5 days late. Lots more high-quality clue-writing from Nestor here. If you think I’m exaggerating, … Read more >>
Independent 6301/Dac
Solving time : A little over 10 minutes A typical Dac puzzle and a delightful rest from the Listener-type puzzles I have been looking at over the Christmas holiday. The clues are precise … Read more >>
Guardian 23,958/Paul – Online glitches, but brilliant wordplay.
This crossword would have been a bit easier, had the web version not had a glitch (at least on my machine) which led to every letter I typed in being repeated in hte … Read more >>
Independent 6300/Virgilius
Do my eyes deceive me or is this a theme-less puzzle from Virgilius? There’s the reference to the flags of the US and ex-Soviet Union at 1A and 26A but that’s all I … Read more >>
Everyman 3142 – crossword to cross swords with
Nelson (19D) was the admiral (22A) who led the Royal Navy in the Battle of Copenhagen (18A). Maybe I’ve teased out a theme here after all. Or is the theme golf (see 1A, … Read more >>
The Christmas break
We will hopefully be posting to the blog every day throughout the Christmas break except for the 25th – hangovers and other forms of over-indulgence permitting. In the meantime, I’d like to thank … Read more >>
Guardian 23951/Shed
Is it my imagination or do we not see Shed as often as we used to? He’s usually ranked at the harder end of the Guardian scale of difficulty but I never seem … Read more >>
Guardian 23,956 by Chifonie: Soup, stew or curry?
Not as hard as some Friday puzzles, but containing one or two relatively obscure words and sub-words with a capacity to frustrate. Took me about 20 minutes over a leisurely breakfast. A lot of clues … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 879 by Quixote – trouble in the SW corner
I thought this was going to be reasonably straightforward until I hit stormy weather in the SW corner (points covered in notes below). Solving time 34 mins (slower than usual for me for Quixote) … Read more >>
Independent 6298/Nimrod
Another one of “those” grids from Nimrod, with only 9 (count ’em) across clues and 5 of those have 15 letters. It’s been said before, here and elsewhere, that the problem with this … Read more >>
Independent Weekend #598 – SQUARES by JUDE
This is a sample review to show what you can expect in the New Year, when we hope to cover this puzzle every week. Jude is Mike Laws, editor of this puzzle. On … Read more >>