Not finished yet, but the grid fill is going smoothly, the theme has been cracked and therefore some reverse solving can take place,but, the rugby is beckoning. Certainly one for beginners and...
Although I am nowhere near finished, the grid-fill seems fairly straightforward. Despite the very long preamble, I am not expecting any major problems, so please can we try to keep any hints to an...
Lovely whilst it lasted. Definitely one for beginners and newcomers.
Sadly, it leaves me without an excuse for Mrs Starwalker's grand garden redesign tomorrow....
A step up in difficulty here. We've floundered our way to a complete grid with crime fighters, an item of clothing and a set of villains, though I am not sure which one is the appropriate one to...
Fairly straightforward debut by Ragtag this week. The basics of the theme we have seen in a listener a couple of years back as well as in the EV. I was wondering what the clashes had to do with it,...
Another Friday, another Listener and another new setter (or is it). After a very straightforward grid fill, I shall now retire for a glass of something to consider the preamble. These easy fills are...
My first listener from one of the Magpie team (talk about coincidences from last weeks magpie pitch). Obvious misprints made this fairly straightforward to start but tricky to finish. The theme...
This is a terrific technical challenge, with some fine and fair cluing. It made my head spin towards the end, and I suspect transcription into the final grid is going to be particularly prone to...
This week we have Hexes by Stick Insect. Very straighforward compared with last week's gem. I thought there was a little ambiguity with shading, which I took to be resolved by requiring symmetry in a...
This one's a gem: don't be put off by the complex instructions or that fearsome 65,536 possible combinations: It all comes out well in the end. Good, fair clues, some lovely PDM's, and a satisfying...
This was a good mix of lots of different techniques. Progress was steady until a major PDM when I realised what the keywords were. After that it was very straightforward. I was rather uncomfortable...
I am glad there was no dilemmas here (which was the case for me in "A New Year Message" 2008). As with all of the year's listeners so far, the grid was fairly easy easy to fill, but the...
This week's offering is "Five Dots" by Franc, which feels somewhat reminiscent of one or two of his previous puzzles. More difficult than some of the recent offerings, but sound and...
I very much enjoyed last years penny dropping moment with playtime, and likewise with this weeks listener, it was very neat how it all came together. No ambiguities although one answer I couldn't find...
This week's offering is Metrical Variations by Hedge-sparrow. A typical offering such as we have come to expect from this setter. Some gentle clue and a nice theme. Sadly the final step took me longer...
This week's offering is Whirly-Birly by Sabre. After a run of fairly straightforward puzzles, we have what at first glance looks like a typical Sabre offering - not an "unch" in sight. So,...
This weeks offering is ROC by Loda. Thanks to my scattergun approach to clue solving, I spoiled this puzzle for myself by getting the theme after only three clues, and the nature of the curved lines...
