Monday morning and back to work with a rare outing from the editor.
Guardian 26,460 / Rufus
Apologies for the late appearance of the blog – I managed to delete it on the point of posting. The first Monday …
Guardian Quiptic 790/Nutmeg
It was all there to be found, but in some cases it took a bit of looking for. I enjoyed it, but …
Private Eye/Cyclops 537 Xmas Special Look-a-likey
The usual massive festive grid with a hark-back to some feature or other from the Eye from the previous year – this …
Beelzebub 1295
This one struck me as being something of a mixed bag, some very easy clues along with some very unfamiliar answers. Most …
Guardian Genius 138 by Picaroon
A message from Joyce: Before you read the preamble, I would like to apologise for my error in scheduling the date for publication. …
Everyman 3,560
A steady-as-she-goes Everyman puzzle, with not too much to alarm (or thrill), but a good collection of clues at the shallow end of the pool.
AZED 2,221
Something very odd has happened this week. The paper and originally the website printed a totally irrelevant clue for 20ac, with Azed’s clue provided (hastily?) after a day or two. Also the website had some extraordinary glitches: it put (5) (5) after 25ac, (7) (7) after 18dn, and (6) (6) after 22dn. Also, 10dn was given as (7) instead of (5), and — at any rate by Tuesday — this hadn’t been corrected.
Which didn’t detract from the usual pleasant solving experience. Everything was straightforward enough and it was obvious what the mistakes were. Azed’s clues are in retrospect nearly always easy to solve: they are difficult simply because they use words that are, to say the least, outside one’s normal experience. This doesn’t take away from their quality, though.
As usual some dictionary research will be needed by you, dear reader, if you are to understand eveything about all the clues. I have underlined the definitions.
Independent on Sunday 1297 eXternal
(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to …
Independent on Sunday 1297 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) I found this a …
Azed 2220 – Christmas Crackers
In six-and-a-half years of blogging Azed, this is the first time the luck of the draw has brought me a Christmas puzzle. …
Independent Crossword 8799 by Klingsor (27-12-2014)
As the old year comes to an end a last Saturday crossword of the year from Klingsor. And a special puzzle for …
Guardian 26,453 / Paul
After the slog of the big Christmas crossword, this was a welcome relief – a fun and fairly quick solve, lots of …
Independent 8794 by Nestor (Saturday Prize Puzzle 20 December 2014)
Some pre-festive fun and frivolity from Nestor… I think I quite enjoyed this at the time, but with the extended submission date …
Enigmatic Variations No. 1153: The Square and Compass by Ranunculus
First of all, apologies for not alerting fellow EV solvers to the early entry date for this puzzle. Although I saw that …