A welcome return for Dill, who hasn’t appeared in the Independent for a while.
Guardian Cryptic 28,825 by Qaos
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28825.
Azed 2615
I’m writing this up somewhat belatedly, so don’t remember much about my solving experience, but I think it was of fairly average difficulty. I may be missing something (it wouldn’t be the first … Read more >>
Sad news
I’ve just heard from Grant Baynham’s partner, Moira, that Grant passed away last week. Grant blogged the FT puzzle every Tuesday. As far as I can see, this was his first blog published … Read more >>
Quiptic 1,185 by Carpathian
Carpathian usually shows up in the Guardian about once a month, either at the trickier end of the Quiptic range (as here) or in the regular Monday slot.
Independent 11,170 by Filbert
I found this a fairly challenging puzzle with a few clues that needed quite a lot of crossing letters before I could solve them.
Guardian Cryptic 28,824 by Vulcan
Found this trickier than most Mondays, and still not 100% sure on all of the parsings. Favourites were 4ac, 2dn, and especially 26ac. Thanks to Vulcan
Financial Times 17,161 by SLORMGORM
This week, and month, begin with a SLORMGORM…
Guardian Genius 229 by Karla
A conventional puzzle with an unusual clueing style for this month’s Genius.
Everyman 3,954/24 July
Another pleasing and well-constructed puzzle from Everyman, with its now well-established trio of features: the rhyming couplet, the first letter clue and the self-reference. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1692 Shabbo
Thank you to Shabbo. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1. A few good-looking bananas dropped off (4) SOME : “handsome”(good-looking/physically attractive) minus(… dropped off) “hand”(a bundle or cluster of bananas). 3. … Read more >>
Independent 11,169 by Tees
You learn something new every day and you certainly do if you tackle Tees’s puzzles. Solving started at pace: 8A SEA WALL seemed very obvious, then 1D ASTEROID looked like a well known … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 28,817 by Picaroon
The second Picaroon in seven days!
Independent 11,168 / Phi
Friday is Phiday and thus brings us his latest crossword to solve. I found this to be a medium-difficulty Phi puzzle overall, one that I had to chip away at after writing in … Read more >>