Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 030
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Welcome to the thirtieth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week’s puzzle is from regular contributor Prolixic.
Author: Prolixic
NTSPP – 029 (Review)
NTSPP – 029 (Review)
Strains of Blue by Radler
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This was an excellent puzzle from Radler with lots to get your teeth into and savour. It felt a lot like a Guardian crossword and was definitely in the Toughie spectrum. My favourite clues are shown below in blue.
There is a theme to this puzzle, alluded to by the title. Although the preamble says that finding the theme will assist with the nine themed clues, in practice, I think its is essential to find the theme to assist with solving the crossword as the definitions for some of the themed clues are very wide and would not lead you to the answers without the theme to guide you. The theme is that of royal houses.
I did have a few niggles with some of the clues. I have tried to indicate these fairly and they did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the puzzle.
NTSPP – 028 (Review)
NTSPP – 028 (Review)
A puzzle by Bufo
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A warm welcome back to Bufo with his second puzzle. This was an enjoyable puzzle to solve and, writing the review made me appreciate the skill and hard work that had been put into producing fair clues with some excellent surface readings. My favourite clues are shown in blue. Let us know what you liked and disliked. Please feel free to add comments below. Continue reading “NTSPP – 028 (Review)”
NTSPP – 027 (Comments)
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 027
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Welcome to the twenty seventh in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week’s puzzle is from up-and-coming setter Prolixic.
Toughie 405
Toughie No 405 by Busman
Mon Goose is Cooked
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The Toughie provides a range of styles and difficulty levels that cater for many tastes and solving abilities. With a Busman puzzle, you know you will get some very fair clues and usually a gentle introduction to the world of the Telegraph Toughie. Today is no exception. But for 10a and 28a, there is nothing here that would not be out of place in one of the more difficult back page cryptic crosswords.
NTSPP – 024 (Review)
NTSPP – 024
A puzzle by Anax
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One of Anax’s fortes is his ability to create clues that seamlessly merge definition, wordplay and link words. Looking at one of his clues you can never sure where one part of the clue ends and the other begins. In today’s cracker of a puzzle (pun intended), this ability comes to the fore with so many good clues it is difficult to pick favourites. Ones that I particularly enjoyed for the wordplay or surface reading are highlighted in blue.
There is a theme in this crossword. A number of the clues rely on definitions that are not given in the clues themselves but are defined by the wordplay in the clue (not the answer) to 22d.
NTSPP – 023 (Comments)
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 023
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Welcome to the twenty third in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we have another puzzle from Prolific Prolixic.
NTSPP – 022 (Review)
NTSPP – 022 (Review)
First Offence by Radler
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A fine puzzle by Radler for a hot Saturday afternoon. There were some looser definitions but this did not detract from the enjoyment of the challenge.
There is a theme to the puzzle indicated by 14d / 24d. I did wonder about sampling each of the theme words but tried 20a first and could not be bothered with the rest!
If you try hard enough, you can also link 17a, 12a and 17d in to the general theme. I shall leave this as a gentle exercise for the reader!
NTSPP – 021 (Review)
NTSPP – 021 (Review)
A puzzle by Biddle
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Welcome to Peter Biddlecombe as the lastest in a long line of professional setters. With his recent debut in the Church Times, he joins the ranks of Anax, Tim Moorey and Bufo as those who have had their crosswords appear in print and who have appeared in the Not The Saturday Prize Puzzle series. I hope that this will be the first of many from Biddle on the site.
This was a themed crossword based on the recent epic 11 hour match at Wimbledon. For someone who is not a follower of tennis, I needed to research some of the older players! Because of the theme and the need to work some complex names into the wordplay, some of the clues were not as smooth as I might have liked but this did not detract from a fine puzzle. There are a few minor comments that I have made in the notes below.
NTSPP – 019 (Comments)
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 019
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Welcome to the nineteenth in our series of weekly puzzles.
Prolixic returns with another super puzzle.