i Cryptic Crossword 953 Hypnos
February 28, 2014
A nice end to the week from Hypnos, which a good mixture of easy and harder clues. That said, to my everlasting shame, I failed to get 27ac.
COD? 13d – ‘Bobby’s best friend? (6,3)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/02/independent-no-6981/
i Cryptic Crossword 952 Merlin
February 27, 2014
Pretty tough, but not impenetrable like some we’ve had of late. I wasn’t that fond of 12ac, which I’m sure was very clever, but with both an obscure answer and pretty odd wordplay, pretty unfair. See also 25ac – Bush hasn’t been president for an age now.
I did, though, like 20ac, which is my COD – ‘Grant vehicle coupling with university friend (4,8)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/09/independent-6987-by-merlin/
i Cryptic Crossword 951 Phi
February 26, 2014
Phi gave us one of his sort-of-themed puzzles again today;- fortunately I got all those intersecting two-worders in the corners on the first pass which made things afterwards a lot easier than they might have been… All went smoothly until the last four which took a lot of head scratching and a bit of dictionary trawling. Was the clue for ‘zeugma’ itself a zeugma? I’ve no idea!
With honorable mentions to 14ac, 4d and 16d, my COD goes to 17ac: Get back regarding voucher that’s not viable (6)
The original complete blog is here: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/06/independent-6985phi/
i Cryptic Crossword 950 Morph
February 25, 2014
Pretty tough, with too many that I needed Fifteensquared to fully explain.
COD? 14d – ‘Get revenge on pals, cryptically? (6,4)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/12/independent-6990-by-morph/
i Cryptic Crossword 949 Quixote
February 24, 2014
The usual gentle start to the week, with the exception of 25d which you either knew or you didn’t. I didn’t…
COD? Amongst many good clues, 14ac – ‘Meeting tight-lipped person, this paper’s boss cried out (9)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/12/independent-on-sunday-995-by-quixote-8-mar-2009/
Edited to note:
Just noticed Fifteensquared is down at the mo. In case this continues throughout the day, here’s a link to Google’s cache of the same page:
i Cryptic Crossword 942 Dac
February 22, 2014
February 15th 2014
Undoubtedly harder than usual for a Dac, probably because it was a double pangram – with every letter of the alphabet appearing at least twice. So, as happens very often on a Saturday, there was ‘something going on’, so to speak.
Several elegant clues, amongst which was my COD – 3d: US state hasn’t severed viable link (10)
The original blog, is here: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/02/04/independent-6959dac/
i Cryptic Crossword 947 Bannsider
February 21, 2014
As the original blogger said, tough, very tough. I’m not going to finish early enough to get the blog out in time, so here’s a link to the 2009 blog, while I struggle onwards. 🙂
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/06/independent-6980bannsider-prize-puzzle-28-02-09/
Edited to add: Well, I’ve finished. And it was a bit much, wasn’t it, as evidenced by all the questions regarding the clues in the old blog. Less like this, and more like yesterday’s, please.
i Cryptic Crossword 946 Punk
February 20, 2014
Another excellent puzzle from Punk. Inventive, with a nice mixture of easy and hard clues. I’m not sure, personally, that 20d really works, but maybe that’s just me as others seemed to like it. I won’t tell you how long I struggled over 9ac, having persistently misread adversary as anniversary. Strange the tricks the mind plays.
COD? With honours to 6ac, 21ac and 16d, my nomination goes to 4d – ‘Opposite sides hiding a woman’s secret drink (5)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/02/26/independent-6978punk/
i Cryptic Crossword 945 Dac
February 19, 2014
I must to admit to being defeated today, by the combination of 1ac and 2d. The latter I should have got, the former I never would have. Never mind.
Lots of ticks by the clues, but my COD goes to 22ac – ‘Like 10, aunt is upset by the cad behaving badly (10)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/11/independent-6989-by-dac/
i Cryptic Crossword 944 Virgilius
February 18, 2014
Another nice crossword from Virgilius, with a well flagged theme to help us along with one or two.
COD? 6d – ‘Is love a subject of chemical variations? (8)’.
The 2009 blog is complete.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/03/10/independent-6988virgilius/