A familiar face this Friday with the return of the Don. Genial puzzle, with only a couple of clues that bothered me due to the fact that I didnt know these words existed. Typical smooth straightforward cluing for most part. Thanks Bradman, for stress-free passage today.
Guardian 26,631 / Paul
It was something of a surprise to see a Paul puzzle with a theme that was so overtly stated and that at first sight seemed rather daunting. Paul had a wealth of outlandish … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,990 by IO
We were awaiting an Io puzzle with some trepidation, as we’d been told that they could be very challenging. As there is no facility to cheat or check one’s guesses and reverse-engineer the solutions on the FT, there’s no safety net for the blogger. We found this a challenge in parts, but mainly because of what we see as vagueness of some of the clues and obscureness of some of the answers. On the other hand, there were some really clever clues to compensate.
Independent 8977 / Nestor
This was a good Thursday challenge from Nestor, with several clues that got the old grey matter working overtime. We had to check some entries which we had not come across before … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,981 – Crux
Monday Prize Crossword / Jul 13, 2015
Another enjoyable exercise by Crux, complete with some cross-references (which he does more often nowadays).
Financial Times 14,980 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 11, 2015.
My clue of the week has to be 16d, “Raw fish”, (BLEAK) in spite of its use of a rather obscure meaning of the word (the name of a small freshwater fish). I also especially like 27d (BALI).
Financial Times 14,989 by PETO
First time I have tried a Peto puzzle. Very smooth with good surface readings is what I thought. Thank you Peto.
Guardian 26,630 by Chifonie
Plenty of fun, and trickier than usual for a Chifonie. Favourites 10ac and 21ac.
Independent 8,976 / Dac
Dac has provided this Wednesday morning’s cruciverbal workout. For me, this was a typical Dac solve, as I worked my way through the clues, admiring their smooth surfaces and unambiguous parsings as I … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1394: Matching Pairs by Ifor
Ifor is becoming a fairly regular setter of Inquisitor puzzles. His puzzle today had a fairly lengthy preamble which stated: "In rows containing highlighted cells, pairs of clue answers must … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,988 by SAYANG
A very easy mixed bag
Guardian 26,629 – Shed
I started off slowly on this one (for no obvious reason), but it yielded steadily, making a very enjoyable and satisfying solve. Thanks to Shed. Across 9. … Read more >>
Independent 8975 / Crosophile
Crosophile has given us a puzzle with a few entries that are not obscure, but neither are they in regular daily use, such as … SEAMSTERS, UNSWADDLE, EMBRASURE and NAUTILUS. A … Read more >>
Guardian 26,628 by Rufus
Well it’s Monday, it’s Rufus, what do you think you’ll be getting?
Independent 8974/eXternal
A sound, workmanlike puzzle from eXternal. And I don’t mean to damn with faint praise when I say that. It was hard, though. The idea of the Monday Indy being the ‘easy’ one … Read more >>