Independent 6453/Nimrod
When I swapped to Friday this week I expected a nice Phi puzzle, instead I got Nimrod! A little more difficult than Phi for me with some clues still a mystery. However, much … Read more >>
Guardian 24,110, Brummie: Numbers game
My blog day falling conveniently on a day off, I settled down at 8.30 to get the crossword out of the way,but it was not to be. Several hours of partner stranded by tube … Read more >>
Guardian 24109/Araucaria
Apologies for this being a day late. I had to go to a customer site yesterday and didn’t get back till 8pm, when I found that my ADSL connection was still down. I … Read more >>
Independent 6448 – Eimi
Solving time 11:40 Here’s the explanation for the gentle ribbing about “strange characters turning up on Saturday” in the comments on last week’s Virgilius puzzle. For those who don’t know, Eimi is Indie … Read more >>
Independent On Sunday 905 by Quixote
Solving time: 26 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 CU POL(e) A 4 S CRAM S The athlete Steve Cram 11 PA THAN(e) 12 ERLANGEN (Greenlan)* D = Germany German university city. 16 … Read more >>
Independent 6452 by Monk
Monk is among the toughest setters, with some very original treatments, and very rigorous logic in the clues. Usually his puzzles in the Indy are themed, but I cannot see one here. (Later … Read more >>
Guardian 24108/Orlando – nippy
Some nice well-disguised wordplay here – especially wrt use of head and tail letters – while preserving good surfaces. Two identical nippy clues here which are well-handled. Across 1 DAWDLER – (Edward, L)*: … Read more >>
Financial Times 12,480 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 9, 2007 Across 1. PAWNSHOP – PA*(SHOWN)P. I had to look up “uncle” in a dictionary to learn that it has a slang meaning of … Read more >>
Independent 6451/Dac
A fair and satisfying crossword but I’m still missing an explanation (25) which always niggles! No theme as far as I can see. Across 1 RANSOM – RANSOM(E) refers to Arthur Ransome, famous … Read more >>
Financial Times 12489/Gozo
Good fun, and reasonably easy although 15A and 4D held me up a bit for reasons explained below. I didn’t realise the FT had so many setters on their team; as well as … Read more >>
FT 12,488 by Neo
This turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticpated at first; plain sailing initially, but then got becalmed on the last few clues. At the time of solving, I wasn’t … Read more >>
Guardian 24,107/Paul – whatchamacallits and thingummyjigs
A typical Paul effort with clues ranging from easy to difficult, and a collection of words some will know, and others won’t. I quite enjoy the mental challenge of a Paul puzzle, but … Read more >>
Independent 6450/Virgilius – Pole to Pole
An entertaining puzzle with a not-too-difficult-to-spot theme. Across the middle of the grid is the phrase POLES APART, which separates 6 across answers, all of which are poles of some description: NORTH/SOUTH, POSITIVE/NEGATIVE … Read more >>
Guardian 24,099 (Sat 9 June)/Paul – Cross purposes
Solving time: 19:10 This should have been a fast time, as I spotted half the theme straight away from 17ac (TIGON). Unfortunately I then displayed immense slowness in various places, especially 2dn and … Read more >>
Guardian 24106/Rufus
A slightly harder than usual Rufus puzzle. I’m mystified by a couple of wordplays (8A and 12A) still. One weakfish cryptic def (1D) but a couple of hard clever clues as well. Across … Read more >>