Never knowingly undersolved
A bright and breezy – and thoroughly approachable – Quiptic from Matilda this week. I wouldn’t be surprised if this fell into the ‘first Quiptic I have solved unaided’ category for someone, somewhere. … Read more >>
A fine Monday offering from Gila to start the Indy crossword week. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed definitions … Read more >>
A nice start to the week, with favourites 9ac, 10ac, 7dn, 16dn, 17dn, and 18dn. Thanks to Carpathian for the puzzle
Cyclops is on good form this week – and doesn’t seem to have been overtaken by the fast-moving events of the last week or so…
Hypnos provides us with the Sunday fun, in 13 years this only the third time I’ve blogged his work.
Everyman sets him/herself several tasks over and above those of the usual setter of a cryptic: the self-referential clue, the first letters clue, the rhyming answers (like BAKEWELL TART and CROSS MY HEART) and no doubt others and almost always does pretty well at this. The standard of the actual clues is the main thing, and they are sound so far as I can see. One or two of the surfaces are a bit lame, though — for example ‘nag a swimmer’ — what does that mean beyond the obvious?
Definitions underlined, in crimson. Indicators (anagrams, homophones, reversal, hidden, etc.) in italics. Link-words in green. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
The puzzle is available here.
Paul in mercurial multi-linkage mode this Saturday Prize puzzle, with no fewer than four linked pairs of answers, and a triple-link…
Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 8, 2022
BASILISK serves up a solid and enjoyable challenge this Friday.
Phi ends the Independent series working week, as he usually does There are some unusual entries in this puzzle – EXTRA JAM, HELIUM SPEECH, AMYGDALA, ANTEBELLUM and SCROFULA – to … Read more >>
Getting a few longer solutions early helped me get through this quite quickly, though it was still tricky in parts. Favourites were 12ac, 22ac, 3dn, 5dn, and 15/17. Thanks to Paul for the puzzle
Bluth provides this week’s Thursday challenge.
I was a little slow to get started on this, but then everything started slipping nicely into place. Thanks to Philistine. We have a mini-theme of words derived from the names of planets, … Read more >>
Chalmie's today's FT setter.