Author: branch

Some tricky wordplay today. You needed to read the instructions carefully. (Or, biff the answers!)

It was hard to isolate some of the definitions; perhaps they were visions in a dream? (Thinking here of the Coleridge poem suggested by 1ac).

A pleasant Saturday number, done in regulation time. I blinked a bit at the “sounds like” clues at 1ac and 19dn, but probably that’s just me.

I liked the reference to the Tennyson poem, even though that clue, along with some others at the top right, took me longest to see!

I had a flashback to high school physics at 1ac. Otherwise, I had no trouble “forcing” my way through this, except for 13ac which I hoped to figure out before it’s time to load this blog. Alas, it turned out to be my first complete fail as a blogger!

This puzzle appeared on April Fools Day, but the setter resisted any temptation, unless I’ve missed something.

Several things I didn’t know here, but nothing that made an answer impossible to get. Overall, it felt like a steady solve.

I was puzzled by a few of the anagram indicators here. I eventually realised what was happening in 10ac, but I made a note of 6dn, to check whether that one is on anyone’s list of anagram words! A good amount of head-scratching here, but all done, even if a bit slowly.

I loved the Churchilllian reference at 15ac. Clearly the clue of the day.

Much to like this week. Answers went in quickly, until I slowed down in the NE corner. My LOI, and also my COD, was 7dn with its clever reference to Washington DC. Exceptional!