Coming Soon – Azed
From this weekend, we will be covering the Azed puzzles that appear in the Observer. Reviews will appear each Sunday, which is the day after the official closing date for the prize draw. … Read more >>
Independent 6272/Dac – easy but nice
Independent 6272/Dac – easy but nice Solved in 5:05. Got a reasonable start with 5A and then the easy anag at 5D. Should really have had 1A first time for a sub-5 clocking, … Read more >>
Guardian 23,930 by Chifonie – Uninspiring stuff
Solving time – 10-12 minutes This is my first entry in this blog, and also the first time in a while that I have come across Chifonie. I am not terribly impressed. I … Read more >>
Independent 6271 – Making Sense of Virgilius
Solving Time: 18 minutes After yesterday’s enjoyable Tees puzzle, the momentum of the excellence of the recent Indy puzzles continued with today’s puzzle by Virgilius, although the brilliance of most of the puzzle … Read more >>
Guardian 23929/Paul — 24ac?
Solving time : 20-60 minutes (see below). I spent a lot of time looking at this on the bus but at the end of a 40 minute journey I had just a few … Read more >>
Independent 6270/Tees – The Two Ronnies
Solving time: 7:45 I really liked this puzzle on the theme of 11s (coincidentally the first clue I solved), though I wonder if I have missed some of the thematic references. A very … Read more >>
Guardian 23928/Rufus – good clean fun.
Solving time: 20’ Some clever puns and by no means a surfeit of clichés. Quite enjoyable with satisfying surfaces. Across 5 CORPUS – Body of work and physical body. 9 SINECURE – somewhat … Read more >>
Observer 3137/Everyman – Americanisms…
Done sporadically during a very pleasant afternoon in Geneva mainly drinking wine, eating ice-cream, coffee then dinner. Followed by more drink and cakes. After about 4 glasses of wine, crosswords don’t seem very … Read more >>
Guardian 23,921/Araucaria – tough thematic puzzle
Solving time 24:41 This was a nice example of the kind of challenge that has made Araucaria probably the best-loved cryptic setter we have. The theme turns out to be a subset of … Read more >>
Independent 6263/Nimrod – W O N T O N C U D
I got confused about who was writing what and wrote stuff on both of last Saturday’s puzzles. So this one is a duplicate… another excuse for putting it up is that I referred to links … Read more >>
Independent Saturday Prize Puzzle 6263 by Nimrod
Solving Time: 23 minutes An enjoyable Saturday romp from Nimrod with a topical theme given the recently announced departure of Des from Countdown. If the puzzle had a weakness, it was that Countdown … Read more >>
Independent 6268/Nimrod – Frankly, my dear, I stalled on 5 down
Solving time: 11:05 Not the easiest, but I think I made a bit of a meal of some of this, although there were a few difficult words. Nimrod continues a recent theme of … Read more >>
Guardian 23,926 by Logodaedalus
Pretty straightforward, took four to five tube stops (10-12 mins). ACROSS 9 ABODE. AB + ode – has anyone had to use the abbreviation for Able Seaman outside crossword-land? Sailor can also give ‘tar’ … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 874 by Quixote Easy and good
I found this very easy, solved in 13 mins. Typical Quixote style, light in cultural references, homing in on the everyday experience of the solver.Simple constructions with, I think, just three complete anagrams. … Read more >>
Independent 6267 by Phi – Typical high quality puzzle, average in difficulty
Everything perfectly constructed, wording to set you off on the wrong track at first in some cases. Solved in 18 mins – about average for me for a Phi Indy. ACROSS 7 PRINT … Read more >>