Found this slow at the beginning and smooth once I got going. Top favourite was 12dn, and I also liked 20ac, 24ac, and 23dn. Thanks to Brummie for the puzzle
Inquisitor 1714: Clouds by Phi
The most complex and confusing rubric of the year! The grid has top and bottom halves. In each half, six entries occupying cells in that half are clued without a common definition. The … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,884 by NEO
A consistently interesting Tuesday exercise.
Guardian 28,544 – Qaos
A quick solve for me today, helped by…
Independent 10890 / Radian
Tuesday’s Independent puzzle is set by Radian who is a regular in the Independent series. On Tuesdays, there is usually some theme or message involved in the puzzle. Today the … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,883 by JASON
Filling the grid this morning wasn’t too much of a challenge, but some of the parsing took me longer than usual.
Independent 10,889 by Hoskins
Monday morning fun from Hoskins, with a fair bit of his trademark smutty humour (you have been warned).
Guardian Cryptic 28,543 by Pan
Monday, Monday…and it’s Pan who appears in this morning’s Guardian.
Guardian Quiptic 1,138/Pasquale
You always know you will get a sound, fair and no-bells-and-whistles Quiptic from Pasquale. I’d be specially recommending this one to those who really are newish to the art of cryptic solving. … Read more >>
Everyman 3,907
The Observer crossword from Aug 29, 2021
Guardian Genius 218 – Vlad
The words “Genius puzzle” and “Vlad” are a scary combination for a blogger, but this one turned out to be “only” moderate-to-hard on the Genius scale. My way in to the theme was … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1,645/Shabbo
A pleasing and tractable puzzle to go with my Sunday morning coffee. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,568 Plain
One of those puzzles…
Independent 10,888 by Tees (Saturday Puzzle 4 September 2021)
Some relatively gentle fun-and-games from Tees this week…
Guardian 28,536 / Maskarade
This was a good challenge for the Bank Holiday weekend from Maskarade, with an impressively constructed grid The theme of the puzzle is RING CYCLE, referring to Wagner’s four opera cycle, Der Ring … Read more >>