Never knowingly undersolved
Audreus has picked up Rufus’s Monday gauntlet with panache: a straightforward puzzle as befits Monday but nothing cliched nor run-of-the-mill. In particular, I like her charades (e.g. 8D, 16A) and a couple of … Read more >>
Solving time: intermittent Solved on and off on the tube last Sunday with only 18A refusing to yield until I got home. Not sure I’ve fully worked out the wordplay for EXTRAVAGANZA. Across … Read more >>
When I made an error in a competition puzzle last year, after failing to confirm a guess in Chambers, Azed was kind enough to drop me a note pointing out my ‘lapsus calami’, with … Read more >>
Solving time: 10:36 The ‘same person’ referred to in the preamble is Ludwig van Beethoven: “E 1”, “O 1” and “N 1” refer cryptically to “Beethoven’s 3rd“, “6th” and “9th” symphonies (see 1dn), … Read more >>
After yesterday’s super-difficult Bannsider, this was easier from Phi, with some pleasing clues and all is clear. Solving time: 22 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 BIRDSEED Excellent cryptic definition punning … Read more >>
Solving time: 45′ Nice (comic?) relief from yesterday’s Independent for which I’ve exonerated myself for not knowing Nigella Lawson (she’s probably never heard of me after all). Some clever &lits and overall a … Read more >>
Despite the sombre occasion which inspired the theme of Phi’s puzzle, this was an enjoyable crossword to solve. The clues were not overly complex, and, despite taking an inordinate amount of time to … Read more >>
A disadvantage of having Sloggers and Betters 2 on a Thursday was that we lost John Henderson (Nimrod and Enigmatist for those who don’t know) to a quiz night – depite being in … Read more >>
No particular problem with this one, with the two longest words in the centre coming straightaway from the definitions. Solving time: 12 mins ACROSS 1 P SHAW The playwright George Bernard Shaw 2 … Read more >>
Solving time: 59′ (missing two answers) This felt like a fairly hard Times — and I’m going to hazard a guess that Bannsider slums there as well. I spent too much time on … Read more >>
Can’t really give a time for this – I breezed through the top half in my head between two tube stops, and thought it’d be a breeze, but got bogged down at the … Read more >>
Solving time 8:40 About 50% slower than usual for Dac, with most trouble in the NE corner where I couldn’t get ‘Bye Bye’ out of my head for 6A, or quite understand 8D. … Read more >>
Solving time: roughly 15 mins in total, although work intervened a few times. It’s the first time I’ve solved a Logodaedalus puzzle, so I didn’t know what to expect. This one seemed quite … Read more >>
After 7 days of the Lenten season last week, this time Virgilius gives us the 7 deadly sins, familiar (in theory, of course) to most, I’m sure. This made it an easy puzzle, … Read more >>
You may notice that the service we provide is a bit irregular over the next couple of weeks. This is because Mrs Dubya yesterday gave birth to our first child, a week early. … Read more >>