Never knowingly undersolved
A fairly brief blog today, simply because it is as usual a well-crafted puzzle from Everyman with no quibbles, so there’s not a right lot to say. Abbreviations cd cryptic … Read more >>
A lower than usual obscure word count for me this week, but I didn’t find it any easier or less enjoyable for that. Thank you Azed.
Phi is well known for crosswords with themes … … but I cannot see one here. When I got Karelia and Korngold I thought there might be other twentieth century classical music references … Read more >>
This week, I had a preamble that told me that I probably didn’t have too much to worry about clue-wise: A single word must be removed from three answers on entry into the … Read more >>
A themed puzzle “to mark a 200th birthday”.
Serpent has provided the last of this latest set of mid-week puzzles, occupying the slot normally occupied by Phi. Phi’s displacement from his Friday home got me thinking that Serpent may have provided … Read more >>
A message from John Henderson:
Here’s my annual spring announcement, regarding what will be our fifth autumn S&B weekend get-together in York, proposed dates: Friday evening 26th October to Sunday lunchtime 28th October with the main event at the Fox and Roman during the day on Saturday 27th. Once again, we have avoided a clash with the final of The Times Crossword Championships, which is being held in London the following week (see the Crossword Event Calendar).
A reasonably straightforward puzzle from Brummie this morning. We usually expect a theme from Brummie and so I was on the lookout from the beginning. I was pleased to see SESAME … Read more >>
An atypical challenge from BRADMAN today, with a disporportionate number of long words/phrases. A few words that I didnt know before the solve but quite easily gettable from the solid construction of the clue.
Delightful, with many favourites – 1ac, 12/21, 17ac, 22ac, 26ac, 1dn, and 7dn in particular. Many thanks to Picaroon.
I find Wiglaf one of the more difficult setters in the Independent stable Today’s puzzle was another that fell into the tricky character for me. Wiglaf’s cryptic definitions are quite … Read more >>
The puzzle can be found here.
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 28, 2018
A fiendish puzzle from Julius today. Thanks Julius.
You always get a nice transparent offering from Alchemi. Plenty of good clues here, though nothing I could see that was particularly frightening.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.