A fresh batch of bugger-me clues, most culled from The Guardian, with the devious Paul – or John Halpern – the prime culprit. While the Sportmanteau contest rages next-door, take a little Zen-reflection here and see if you can’t unravel the wordplay, or the wisdom, of these damned koans. Any enlightenment welcome. Tree with many [...]
Your brand-new chance to out-compile the compiler. Seven clues drawn from a batch of British sources, all of which need a little ray of light. Series of dramas with monarch and pistol = DERRINGER [Times 8452] For Spooner, essential father leaves here = TEA CADDY [Paul] The Mae West Club = LIFE PRESERVER [Times 8466] Investing [...]
Garment made by exploited worker? (7) SWEATER Overseas race? (5) SPEED Every second letter an ‘a’ – bananas? (9) ALTERNATE Pop singer’s first love is chopped crumbs! (2,6) BY GEORGE Boats that finish in Madagascar, start there too (6) ARMADA Above are the answers to the sublime Taupi clues, as posted last week. (ALTERNATE is truly [...]
Scan this lot and you should be able to make some headway, someway, either via the definition, or at least of glimpse of worplay. My trouble is accounting for every last detail. Like how’s the DOT defined in Herodotus? Or who’s the bloody TV chef? And why are percussion instruments found in a kitchen?! You’ll see what I mean [...]
To round off the Mekong collection of opaque clues, here’s a raft from various Times puzzles, with a few Guardians for good measure. I have several theories about these, but urge you to float your own, and together we may plumb these chickens into clarity, if my metaphor hasn’t pulled a vital muscle by now. Fact [...]
Rolling down the Mekong, you get some QCT – or Quality Crossword Time. While my fellow crewmates took snaps of limestone tors and albino bullocks, kids splashing and men throwing catfish nets, I wrestled with Pasquale and Shed, Paul and Araucaria, Hendra and Logodaedalus in an old Guardian collection, plus a slew of other English [...]
Premature, I realise, but here’s my latest resolution: No Tough Crosswords At Bedtime. Unless I can guarantee a complete grid-fill before Morpheus comes knocking, I’m plumping for an old New Yorker or a novel. (Like the excellent American Rust by Philipp Meyer, which takes free indirect narrative another notch.) But facing too many elusive clues on [...]
Entangled again in Arachne’s web. This Guardian setter is trickier-stickier than most of her colleagues, though after the GINGERSNAP fiasco – see the post marked Webster Original – my breath is less bated in the hope of having these five latest clues illuminated. RUMBAS, the first answer, is less a Please Explain, than a question. [...]
Crossword setters are solvers too. It’s not just seeing what tricks the Joneses are pulling (which is an important part of the habit), but the habit itself. How else do you think I fell into this racket without an urge to gobble cryptic puzzles? But that’s not to say I crack each grid in three [...]
Four curly clues, drawn from recent puzzles, continue to befuddle long after the answer’s been confirmed. Peace upon the browser who can enlighten us in any of these offerings below. The first two hail from the Financial Times, care of a setter called Armonie. The next is a recent Times puzzle. While the last, I [...]