Guardian 24013/Pasquale
I expected a Pasquale puzzle to be straightforward with good cluing, and for the most part it was. However, I had to use TEA to find the final answer, 14ac. Even with maximum … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 889 by Quixote – not too hard
Fairly straightforward, with the SW corner the slowest. As always with Quixote, everything stacks up unambiguously. Solving time: 21 mins * = anagram ACROSS 8 TI PP ER Slightly unusual construction in which … Read more >>
Independent 6356 / Punk – Wot no choo-choo?
Solving time 11:07 (if correct) A theme that kept me guessing for a while, as the crucial no. 5 didn’t fall until I’d got one of the theme answers, most of which are … Read more >>
Independent 6355 / Dac to Normal
Solving time: 24 minutes (one dubious answer) Another sound puzzle from Dac which held my enjoyment right the way through. Not terribly sure about 13 across, I wondered if the countries had been … Read more >>
Guardian 24012/Araucaria – this is a really hard week!
I was at a beer-tasting event last night, so was hoping for an easy puzzle today – no such luck! I groaned when I saw it was Araucaria, but after looking over the … Read more >>
Independent 6354/Virgilius
Ah what’s the theme, I thought as I opened the back pages of the Independent. Momentarily distracted by the pictures of weekend’s big fight between Arsenal and Chelsea, I returned to wondering if … Read more >>
Guardian 24,011/Gordius – very difficult for a Tuesday
Apologies for the lateness of this entry, but I had technical problems earlier today, and have since had to sit through a mind-numbing Property Strategy meeting for a couple of hours. The delay … Read more >>
Independent 6353/Tees – Something tricky this way comes…
Another fine puzzle from Tees and, in keeping with the last few Monday puzzles, quite difficult in places. Across 1 (MARK)* in WON – “Newmark” (helped out by “Maybe”) to indicate an anagram … Read more >>
Guardian 24010/Rufus – a bit of a calamity but not too scandalous
Solving time: 16:49.26 I usually don’t time myself down to the split-second but I have a new desktop timer gadget thingy, with hundredths of a second which will be useful at the next … Read more >>
Azed 1812 – My first Azed blog, and just relieved to have finished the puzzle…
My first Azed blog, and I kinda left it to the last minute to start solving it (ie last night), but I got there in the end. Typical Azed puzzle, full of obscure … Read more >>
Everyman 3151/Feb 18 – 17th century
If Monday is the Day of Cryptic Definition (from Rufus), then Sunday’s Everyman is a day for well-constructed Ximenean clues without recourse to puns. Across 4 [g]O SLO[w] – “endless” removes both the … Read more >>
Guardian 24,003/Auracaria (sic) (Sat Feb 10) – G whizz
Solving time: about 14 mins + a bit of guesswork on 1dn, which I got wrong. The three starred clues, of which two were fairly straightforward despite being clued without definition, led to … Read more >>
Independent 6346/Monk – Tough
I found this really difficult but never frustratingly so. There seemed to be just right mix of easy clues to get you started and tough ones to stop you getting too cocky. I … Read more >>
Independent 6351/Phi
I found this puzzle incredibly easy, for me, for a Friday, and for Phi. I usually start my crossword on the train from Newcastle to Durham and then pick the paper up later … Read more >>
Guardian 24,008/Orlando – took longer to blog than to solve
Not quite sure how to summarise this puzzle. It was fairly easy, even if some of the references and definitions are not immediately obvious, and, for the most part, the clues made sense. … Read more >>