Never knowingly undersolved
The Everyman used to be excellent. Then its setter retired and it went through a short period of being rather unsatisfactory. Now it seems to be returning to its previous standard — harder, … Read more >>
A plain competition puzzle from Azed this week This was a week where I solved more clues on the first pass through than I usually do. We had the usual … Read more >>
A nice Sunday puzzle as usual from Tees, makes you think a bit but not so much as to spoil the digestion. Thank you Tees. ACROSS 8 SANSKRIT Language without appeal draws … Read more >>
Happy new year – well it’s a new one anyway and hopefully we will make it happy. And a treat from Tyrus today. My luck is certainly in – rota wise. Not sure … Read more >>
I found this quite tricky. No show-stoppers, but a series of finicky wordplays to be untangled. Thank you Vlad. ACROSS 1, 13 FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH In season? (7,2,3,5) cryptic definition – … Read more >>
Happy New Year 2021 folks. My first blog for 2021 and a solid challenge from BRADMAN to get things going, thanks to whom for this intellectual treat. There may be some improvements possible … Read more >>
Phi gives us a good challenge to end the working week (if there is such a standard thing these days) The English language is fascinating with the variety of different … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28337. I’m back with Qaos again, which is no bad place to be. He uses many standard crossword devices, but generally makes them seem fresh.; and, of … Read more >>
A rather rudimentary blog today, I’m afraid. I stayed up till midnight to solve the puzzle but did so against a background of the shocking news from America, which made it quite difficult … Read more >>
Serpent provides an enjoyable mental workout today. I understand that there’s usually some sort of Nina or theme in Serpent’s puzzles, but I’ve failed to see one here (apart from the small group … Read more >>
A very good crossword that, with a little editing, could have made even better This crossword from Redshank had some brilliant clues in it – I particularly liked 14ac, 25 ac, 27ac and … Read more >>
Non-prize Christmas Crossword published in the FT of December 23, 2020 As usual for Christmas, we have a crossword from Gozo with added dimensions of puzzling. Let us start with the completed grid … Read more >>
And so we come to the last EV of 2020, and good riddance (to 2020, that is!) The flavours assailing my senses on the Sunday this was published were those of gently simmering turkey stock, as the last of the leftovers were put to good use…
I am sorry that, so far, I have not been able to reinstate the rich text WYSIWYG comment editor. This is still being worked on, but in the meantime I have activated a … Read more >>
A very nice puzzle. Traditional in style but not not old-fashioned in delivery. Thank you Leonidas. ACROSS 1 PTERODACTYLS Early birds in tight lycra spotted (12) anagram (tight, drunk) of LYCRA SPOTTED – … Read more >>