“Each quadrant represents one of five ELEMENTARY SOLUTIONS; solvers must determine which quadrant each set belongs to. Clues are in normal order within each group. All entries except one at every stage are real words or names. Initial answers may not fit the space allocated. Solvers must highlight four examples of the fifth solution, each spanning two quadrants (16 cells). Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Independent 11,178 / Hoskins
Quite unusually, Hoskins is filling the Wednesday this week. I found this puzzle to be of exactly the right level of difficulty for a mid-week puzzle, i.e. not too stiff a challenge but … Read more >>
Financial Times 17,169 by JULIUS
An alphabetical jigsaw today. You can download the puzzle here… Thank you Julius
Guardian Cryptic 28,832 by Pasquale
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28832.
Inquisitor 1762: Square Dance by Serpent
Puzzles where you have to modify all answers before entering them into the grid are not my favourite. It normally means that you have to “cold solve” half the clues before you can make headway. Not my strong suit, but fortunately in Ho I have an ally who is very good at this, so, after some answer swapping, I was able to make some progress. The rubric read:
Independent 11177 / Bluebird
Bluebird challenges Independent solvers today. I last blogged a puzzle by Bluebird when he produced a puzzle dedicated to the setter Klingsor who sadly died recently. I made steady progress … Read more >>
Financial Times 17,168 by NEO
This is my inaugural post for Fifteensquared. Proofreading this post, I realize that I have not settled upon a consistent annotation style. I hope that these nevertheless make sense, and I welcome any comments.
Guardian Cryptic 28,831 by Chandler
I really enjoyed this. As mentioned in the Special Instructions…
Azed No. 2,616 Plain
A plain Azed that gave me a bit of trouble.
Guardian Quiptic 1,186/Hectence
Apologies for the late blog. The Guardian didn’t post the puzzle online till mid-morning. In the end, it was worth waiting for a delightful puzzle from Hectence to please the beginners and entertain … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 28,830 by Picaroon
A tougher solve for a Monday, with a few trickier clues. Favourites were 10ac, 12ac, 24ac, and 23dn. Thanks to Picaroon.
Independent 11,176 by Knut
Knut is often very topical
Financial Times 17,167 by PHSSTHPOK
Thanks PHSSTHPOK for this morning’s challenge.
Guardian Quiptic Monday 8th August – placeholder
Bonjour The Grauniad website is still at the moment (0715 BST) showing last week’s Quiptic and has not been updated. This is not the first time that this has happened. I will solve … Read more >>
Private Eye (Cyclops / 733) Emergency Turnip
We need an Emergency Turnip to enter the race to be new PM – bound to do a better job than whoever we’re going to get. I made the silly mistake of trying … Read more >>