i Cryptic Crossword 1362 Quixote
June 22, 2015
I wonder how many solvers were left feeling like 8d’s after this offering? The four isolated corners, and quite a few tough clues, meant this took some unpicking. The SW was first to fall for me, the NE last.
COD? The very nice 18d – ”Week’ thus becomes ‘wk’ for one dealing with letter (6)’.
The original blog can be found here:
Borodin
batarde
Saboteur
flashling
jonofwales
Cornick
sprouthater
uiytjhgmj
willow1235
idothei 
For multiple reasons, that takes the biscuit as my least favourite puzzle in 3 years of doing these. 😦
I was okay with this one, but 10ac, 5d and 16d were (correct) deductions confirmed by Fifteensquared. Funny looking grid today, but if there’s a theme or a nina going on it’s passed me by as usual.
Tbh Andy, this bears all the hallmarks of having been compiled in record time by the setter. You or I could probably fill a grid of this shape in under an hour.
Ah, I see what you mean. It’s been a long time since I tried my hand at compiling, but you’re probably right at that. I have a strong preference for being baffled by the obscurity of the clues rather than their solutions, and by that measure this wasn’t one of Quixote’s better puzzles.
Given such a weird grid I spent a while looking to see if there was something special going on – keeping an eye out for ninas and whatnot, but nothing appeared. Very strange. No great problems solving (though I’d never heard of the church-festival usage of 2dn: trust Don to throw in some religious obscurity).