Never knowingly undersolved
Back to typical straightforward Monday fare today – thanks, Vulcan. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 7 Game one would want to exclude? (8) DRAUGHTS Cryptic definition, alluding to draught excluder 9 … Read more >>
A solid if unspectacular puzzle with just one Brexit reference to see us into the New Year.
This morning’s Guardian Quiptic has not yet appeared on the paper’s website (although the cryptic has). I will be on the case with the blog when it does show its face. Pierre
The Observer crossword from Dec 22, 2019. ‘A festive treat’ from Everyman (see 4d and 9d, and more). Whether it was a real treat, that’s a matter of taste. We (my solving partner … Read more >>
The last IoS offering of 2019 brings us a themed crossword – unusual for this slot, but an entertaining puzzle from Kairos, which required a bit of headscratching in a couple of places. … Read more >>
Very tricky stuff from Tyrus today. It is no secret that it has a theme – the answer to 23D/8 is referenced in many clues and forms the definition for several. I could … Read more >>
Alphabetically ordered across clues, normal downs apart from one and then an unknown twist, which affects one of the downs and some of the acrosses. The down that needed amendment is 4dn – … Read more >>
Picaroon turns up to round off an excellent week of puzzles [we have been spoiled] in characteristically witty style. Many thanks to him. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 8 Change popular … Read more >>
The festivities are over and we have a Phi to amuse us at the end of this week. When 12ac went in we did wonder about a cricket theme but cannot find any … Read more >>
A clever puzzle from Wanderer today, bending a single word to maximum effort. Thanks for the treat, Wanderer .
That’s the last blog of the year for me – Wish everyone here and visiting, a phenomenal 2020 up ahead.
For one reason or another the scheduled blogger has not turned up today so I am a last minute stand-in. Qaos always has a theme and today it is 10ac plus the first … Read more >>
Serpent has provided the first post-Christmas cruciverbal teaser for anyone sufficiently recovered from yesterday’s excesses to want to give the old grey matter a workout. I think that this was too intensive a … Read more >>
Apologies for the late appearance of this post. Due to the nature of this puzzle, the blogging utility that Grant uses to prepare his blogs would not work. He then had problems with … Read more >>
This is Vismut’s third Inquisitor puzzle. I’ve blogged each of the previous two and have commented both times that there was a lot of thematic material involved. This is also the case in … Read more >>
My apologies for slight lateness today: computer problems and I’ve had to use an old version of the software I normally use for my blogs. Let’s hope it’s working all right (at this stage, before I click the ‘Publish’ button, everything looks fine) and the various things I’ve tried to do (like underlining the definition, which should be in maroon) appear as they should. Anagram indicators in italics.
An excellent crossword from Radian. All the clues run smoothly, with nice surfaces, and there are no wasted words so far as I can see.