Independent 6462/Virgilius
Easier-than-usual puzzle from Virgilius but with another clever bit of grid trickery – every down clue (except 9D, which reveals the theme) is a reversal of its (180 degree) symmetrical opposite . Of … Read more >>
If you want fast solving times you need to start young…
My three-month old son Dylan helping me with last Saturday’s Indie crossword.
Independent 6461/Hypnos
Across 6 BORIS – SIR + OB =< 7 RETICENT – CITE <= in RENT 10 HOGWEED – ((L)OW HEDGE)* 13 DOWAGER – “DO WAGER” 14 STAGE FRIGHT – Cryptic definition 20 CARAMEL … Read more >>
Guardian 24118/Arachne
Solving time approx. 15 mins. I think this is the second time I’ve blogged an Arachne puzzle on a Monday. As in the last one, the surface readings are all good, and most … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 342
The Eye Crossword normally takes every opportunity to be rude, funny, and disrespectful to authority, just like the magazine. Often there are references to in-jokes, magazine nicknames, fictitious Eye columnists etc. that mean … Read more >>
Starting Today – the Cyclops crossword in Private Eye.
From today we will be blogging the Cyclops puzzles that appear in Private Eye magazine. This represents a shift from our current policy of covering puzzles that appear in national newspapers but it’s … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 48 – Monk
When Neil asked for someone to blog this one, I had just printed it out, so I readily volunteered, having to date completed all the Geniuses I have attempted, most of them without … Read more >>
New Premises
Welcome to the new home of Fifteensquared. The difference between this and the old site is that I now own the domain name fifteensquared.net and I’m using it to host the blog, rather … Read more >>
Everyman 3169/Partick Thistle
I think Partick Thistle is the only Scots reference in this puzzle. Of course, my Caledonian theory might be completely incidental but it gives me a goal each week. Overall, pretty easy cluing … Read more >>
Guardian 24,111 (Sat 23 Jun)/Enigmatist – Taiping error
Solving time: Forgot to record, but I think I gave up on 17dn after about 15 mins. The bottom left corner was the hardest, if I remember correctly. Some very inventive clues in … Read more >>
Guardian 24116/Taupi
Across 1 BESIDE THE POINT – double definition. 9 RI,T in IRAN,T – excellent surface reading. 11 H in (METEOR)* 12 DUN,(GONE)* 15 HOMOPHONE – nothing to do with the answer at 4D, … Read more >>
Independent 6459/Phi
I thought I’d got the schedule wrong when I came to post this and saw the top Independent post from Neil for a Phi! Closer examination revealed a different crossword completely so business … Read more >>
FT 12497/Mudd – nourishing
Even though his name is Mudd here – it’s Paul in the Guardian. I definitely solved this more quickly than the typical Paul – so maybe there is something to the theory that … Read more >>
Independent 6454/Hard-Phi – Moving to the Weekend
We had a tough Saturday Phi puzzle a couple of months ago but I think this one was harder. I solved this one in deepest Suffolk, with no access to a decent dictionary … Read more >>
Inquisitor 25 – Conclusion by Zero
Solving time: about 90 mins A fairly standard challenge here: find extra words in four across and four down clues which allow what’s presumably a quotation to be identified, and clashes between across … Read more >>