Author: Guy du Sable

I plunged in at the easy 15-letter CD 10 and, after getting a few others quickly, was thinking this might be a cinch. Then I tackled 13, obviously an anagram, and when I surfaced with the (absolutely wonderful) answer, realized that I was heading into more treacherous waters.

We’re looking (apparently) for some Caledonian somebody in the first clue, which may have even been my FOI, and then the last Down answer, and definitely my LOI, is a charming Scots term, which could also describe this puzzle, a thorough joy from start to finish.

A highly enjoyable exercise, navigating this tight and tidy grid.

What a fine puzzle! We have everything here, from a hidden word through CDs to an &lit. Two philosophers, and plenty of food for thought.

Another fine Bob creation that garners nothing but praise from me. For a time, the surface of 1A seemed rather opaque, which isn’t his style, but that was my own fault.

After spotting the two-letter definition, I wasn’t expecting the single-letter one! This was challenging and enlightening. I learned things, never having heard of the jacket at 10 or the culinary mixture at 25 or encountered the idiom at 26 or the pejorative expression at 13…

Another excellent offering from Dean. The surfaces are mostly deadpan, though 20 is pretty funny and 4 seems at first a somewhat nasty joke. The most fun this time may have been had from the CDs and the brilliant (semi-)&lit 12.

Great fun, as always, from Bob. Some very tricky stuff, I thought, but no perplexity remaining in the end.

Wow, I was really on the wavelength for this one!—hence the French expression in my headline, which originated in the vocabulary for radio transmissions: « Employé…pour indiquer le niveau de compréhension des messages transmis, sur … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 5003, by David McLean — Reçu cinq sur cinq !”

Almost Easter. Guess that’s why. When I solved 17, some time before seeing what was behind the seemingly anodyne 19 that appropriately crosses it, I was flooded with my eternal revulsion at the atavistic notion … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 5001, by Dean Mayer — Nailed it!”