Some lovely clues – my favourites were 29ac, 9dn and 15dn. Thanks Crucible.
Independent 9,737 / Knut
Knut has provided today’s lexical challenge in which there is nothing Christmassy but which is nonetheless a real treat. It was only when I had almost finished this puzzle that I realised that … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,742 by ALBERICH
The puzzle can be found here.
Guardian 27,391 – Screw
It’s a pleasure to have one of Screw’s relatively rare appearances for my last blog of the year. Good fun as always, with some slightly tricky parsings, and quite a few well-concealed definitions, … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,734 by Goliath
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 16, 2017
Financial Times 15,741 by FALCON
A nice easy puzzle form Falcon, though I don’t expect there will be many people will be doing the FT puzzle today. Thank you Falcon.
Guardian Cryptic 27,390 by Pasquale
Sorry for the late blog – post-Christmas fuzziness is my only excuse!
Independent 9736 / Dac
Dac takes us away from Christmas-themed crosswords and provides us with his usual smooth surfaces leading to everyday words as entries. You know where you stand with Dac. Rarely is … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1521: The Hard Stuff by Phi
I’m used to blogging Phi puzzles in the Independent, but I think it’s a while since I last blogged an Inquisitor by Phi The preamble told us that “Four across … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 945
Never a dull moment with the Grauniad. I wasn’t really expecting a Quiptic on 25th December, and on checking first thing, there wasn’t one. Later in the day, there was: the numbering was … Read more >>
Independent 9,735 by Hoskins
Sorry about the lateness of this blog. But it is Christmas, after all.
Hoskins referred to this puzzle the other day, suggesting that it wasn’t going to be easy; I was very concerned, remembering how difficult he can be: I am one of the slower solvers around but I hardly ever fail to solve crosswords eventually, although the time taken can be embarrassing. However, shortly after Hoskins started to set for the Sunday Times he inflicted on us what was the hardest crossword I have ever done and I had to admit defeat. (But it was football-themed, so that’s my excuse.)
But this one was not in the same league, ho-ho. It was a very pleasant crossword, easily accessible, and with a whole lot of excellent clues. Over the years there must have been a vast number of Christmas-themed crosswords, but without my looking back at them all, I’d say confidently that many of these clues used ideas that have never been used before.
Definitions underlined in maroon; anagram indicators in italics.
Guardian Cryptic 27,389 by Picaroon
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27389.
Azed 2375
This was a puzzle where I got about half-way through without too much trouble, and then ground to a halt and took much longer to do the rest. Looking back I see that … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1452 Phi
There must be good reason for Phi to appear on a Sunday, and in particular, this Christmas Eve (see below). Thanks to Phi. Definitions are underlined in the clues. The theme is Charles … Read more >>
Everyman 3714/17 December
Another sound Everyman puzzle for our Sunday morning education and entertainment. By the time you read this, no creature will be stirring, not even a murine one, so a chance for me to … Read more >>