Financial Times 12,504 by Mudd
Across 1. BACKFIRE – BACK + FIRE 5. ARCTIC – C in ARTIC (artic being an abbreviation of articulated lorry) 9. PECTORAL – anagram of CLEOPATR. One of the breast anagram indicators I’ve … Read more >>
Guardian 24132/Orlando – politicians past and present
Solving time approx. 20 mins. Another excellent offering from Orlando, with some very subtle definitions that had me struggling in places. I particularly liked 6A (a subject close to my heart) and 7D. … Read more >>
Independent 6475 by Dac – top quality
A really good puzzle from Dac today with skilful misdirection, great variety and invention, and all clear in the end. Solving time: 27 mins * = anagram < =reversal ACROSS 5 B(AY R)UM … Read more >>
FT 12,512/Quark
An unusual balance of clue types here, I thought. Not often that you see double definitions and homophones (x6 and x2 respectively, by my tally) account for over a quarter of the clues … Read more >>
Independent 6474/Virgilius – Magic Numbers
According to the A-Z of Crosswords by Jonathan Crowther, Virgilius (in real-life) studied Maths at Cambridge and is an academic specializing in the “cultural and political aspects of mathematics education” so I suppose … Read more >>
Guardian 24,131, Taupi: Pun my word
I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, though it may not have been to everyone’s taste. My enjoyment of crosswords starts from the same kind of wordplay employed in puns, which often, though not … Read more >>
Guardian 24130 / Rufus – Solid start to the week
SOLVING TIME: 11 MINUTES Normal Monday fare, a gentle warm-up in the cryptic company of Rufus with the usual large quantity of Cryptic definitions and anagrams to encourage solvers. Ideal for the new … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 343 – Undone
I’m feeling a bit “undone” myself at the moment – a fortnight into the smoking ban and thus a fortnight into my latest attempt to forego the evil weed. How can I possibly … Read more >>
Independent 6473/Merlin
Across 1 O,A,FISH,NESS – “o” is a short form of “of”. Good clue to get us going. 10 (ACTIONS IN A LAB IN)* – CANNIBALISATION has a few meanings, apart from the obvious … Read more >>
Everyman 3171/back in Scotland
Back to Scotland again this week with Muriel SPARK. More than Everyman’s usual share of weak surfaces though: e.g. 9A, 2D, 5D, 17D. The rest are quite good though so perhaps this isn’t … Read more >>
Guardian 24,123 (Sat 7 Jul)/Shed – Cea mulpa
Solving time: 10 mins, one mistake (14ac) I liked this, lots of inventive wordplay without being too complex or convoluted like some Guardian crosswords. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across … Read more >>
Independent 6471 by Phi
Solving time: 20 mins < = reversal * = anagram ACROSS 5 STR (I P LIGHT) ING 8 SECOND S LIP 9 TR(O)Y 10 TE (A PART) Y YET< 12 A GREED … Read more >>
Guardian 24128, Paul — spot the author
To my relief, on a day with multiple unexpected work deadlines to meet, this was one of Paul’s easier puzzles, and I polished it off reasonably quickly. Solving it depended on getting Truman … Read more >>
Azed reports
Some of you will have noticed that we haven’t had many of these lately. As I write this, I’m checking which of us are happy to write Azed reports. We already have enough … Read more >>
Independent 6466 (7th July 2007)/Bannsider
I thought this was a fantastic puzzle, maybe my favourite of the year so far. Not easy though – I got the first few across clues and one or two downs fairly quickly … Read more >>