26th to 30th August

There will be no blogs during this period, sorry, due to holiday. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves in the comments, or post your own links…

i Prize Cryptic Crossword 787 Phi

As good as always from Phi. And a theme that helped me solve two of my last three in when I was in danger of getting stuck, even with my pitiful knowledge of opera. COD? 17d. ‘Witness watching the cricket? Both ends of over (8)’.

The 2008 blog linked to below is complete:

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/09/05/independent-6830-by-phi/

i Cryptic Crossword 792 Nestor

Sorry for the delay, didn’t realise I’d be blogging today…

Pretty tough, I thought, but unlike yesterday’s fairly accessible, apart from 7d and 16ac which needed the Chambers Word Wizard to help me out. COD? 18ac. ‘Barrack timber’s sound for store (8)’.

Here’s the 2008 blog, and clues missed.

Down

8 W EEK
23 BEER

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/09/05/independent-6825nestor-prize-puzzle-30-08-08/

i Cryptic Crossword 791 Hypnos

Too obscure… The 2008 blog is, thankfully, complete. While I had all the answers, too many were guesses, and too many were nigh on impossible to explain. 12ac for example.

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/08/25/independent-6820-by-hypnos/

i Cryptic Crossword 790 Dac

A lovely crossword from Dac today, lots of ticks by the clues. The 2008 blog is complete, so I’ll just nominate a COD – 10d. ‘Maybe how I’ve got trainer repaired (13)’.

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/08/27/independent-6822dac/

i Cryptic Crossword 789 Virgilius

Lots of fun, and also fairly difficult, trying to untangle the various possible definitions for ‘number’. COD? 14d. ‘Numbering less than 18 in teams, even as I define (5-1-4)’.

Here’s the 2008 blog, and clues missed:

Across

19 OREGON – Anagram of NO and GORE, I think.
25 E(XIS<- TEN)CE
27 OPIUM – First letters from ‘Of Players In University Match’

Down

1 HOST – Double Def.
14 Hidden in teamS, EVEN AS I DEfine
21 SHANTY – Double Def.

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/08/26/independent-6821virgilius-numbers-game/

i Cryptic Crossword 788 Quixote

It took me a while to make much progress, with the long anagrams in particular taking some time. But when 6ac in particular had fallen into place, I finished very quickly. COD? 20ac. ‘Army success – independence on island (6)’.

The 2008 blog is complete:

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/09/04/independent-on-sunday-968-by-quixote-31-aug-2008/

i Prize Cryptic Crossword 781 Phi

I made fairly swift work of this, apart from 5d and 21ac, which seemed to take an age. Nicely pitched for the end of the week. COD? 24ac. ‘The remoter parts of North Dakota? (3,4,2,6)’.

Here’s the 2008 blog, and clues missed:

Across

15 T(R)ENCH
19 SE(ToTaL)ED
26 STEaM

Down

4 BE(N)E FIT
16 A DD END UM
19 STAFFS – Double Def.

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/08/22/independent-6818phi/

i Cryptic Crossword 786 Quixote

I thought there were some tricky corners in this puzzle from Quixote, but the original blogger seems to have made short work of it. The old blog is complete:

Independent on Sunday 969 by Quixote (7 Sep 2008)

i Cryptic Crossword 785 Math

I ended up feeling dissatisfied with this one – quite difficult, but with many clues that just seemed over convoluted. See 9d for example. I lobbed in the answer for too many without being able to untangle the wordplay satisfactorily. A pity, because there were also lots of clues I liked – 12ac, 14ac, 27ac, 6d, 18d. My COD though goes to 3d. ‘It isn’t Group Captain Peter Townsend that wrote diary material … (6)’.

The 2008 blog linked to below is complete:

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2008/09/01/independent-6826-by-math/