All very nice. Good clues and nothing that seems to me to be all that much of a problem (although see below for my discomfort over 8ac and 26ac). I enjoyed this and although it wasn’t perfectly simple — is it ever perfectly simple on a Tuesday? — everything was easily enough explained after the event.
Guardian Cryptic 26743 by Bonxie
Wasn’t at all on the right wavelength for this at first, but once I got going it all seemed to fall into place. I particularly liked 14ac, 18ac, 1dn, 7dn and 8dn.
Financial Times 15102 by DANTE
One for lovers of double definitions…
Independent 9088 by Lohengrin
* = anagram [] = removed A(mpere) = abbreviation I found this to be quite difficult, even though none of the clues individually seem particularly difficult. There were some quite off-centre word associations … Read more >>
Quiptic 837 by Pan
An enjoyable dip into the cryptic waters from quiptic regular Pan. Very nicely pitched, I think, for beginners and those (like me this morning) in a hurry.
Guardian 26,742 – Rufus
A very quick solve for me, helped by the generous number of anagrams, and a corresponding reduction in the usual cryptic and double defnitions. Tbanks to Rufus. … Read more >>
Everyman 3607
Not much variety in the cluing this morning, but a sound enough puzzle from Everyman. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,342
Well I never, it’s amazing what being stuck on train with nothing else to concentrate on can do. This was my first unaided finish in quite some time, though I’ll admit there were … Read more >>
Azed 2268
Mostly fairly easy on the Azed scale, though I struggled with the intersecting 4-letter words at 27d and 32a, which had rather unhelpful checked letters (?OA? and ?A?E), and quite tricky clues. Thanks … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1344 by Poins
An enjoyable puzzle that I found harder than usual for Poins. Thank you Poins.
Independent 9,081 by Klingsor (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 21/11/15)
Klingsor was excellent company on a train ride up to The North at the weekend. The grid seemed to fill up from right to left for me, at one point having one half … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 26735 by Arachne
A pleasant stroll through the web created by the Spider Woman, with many characteristically concise and witty surfaces.
Enigmatic Variations 1200: Rule of Thumb by Jaguar
The EV clock has ticked over to 12:00 – midday/noon, or midnight? Will this be significant? We celebrate another century of EVs with … yet another jigsaw (gaaahh!). Chambers defines ‘RULE OF THUMB’ as … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,099 by BRADMAN
A tough challenge from Bradman today meant that I couldnt solve this entirely on my own! Thanks to the Don for keeping me at my wits’ end.
Guardian 26,740 – Shed
An interesting puzzle from Shed – mostly quite straightforward (with a large number of reversals) , but with a couple of unfamiliar words, and I took longer than I should have in the … Read more >>