Fairly gentle in the DA world, but some pretty tricky wordplay (15A specifically, and less so 5D). Not sure about my parse of 18D, I don't see enough indicators in there to flip IEL into LEI without putting the anagram indicator after the fodder, which just feels odd. 25A definitely …
read moreOther articles
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-08-07
We don't see NS often, but this one felt similar to the last one. Dubious anagram indicators, repeated mechanisms ("seaman", "almost all"). At the same time, maybe that's just their thing. 9A had the double wordplay going on and 8A had the semi-&lit. BIBELOTS and AGOUTI were nicely clued …
read moreSydney Morning Herald 2025-08-06
Clues were a little wordy, but pretty easy. Last one in was 22A, not a hard word but not super common!
Across
- 1
- Selfish team found locked in container at sea (13)
INCONSIDERATE — SIDE (team) in anagram (at sea) of CONTAINER - 9
- Established proposal shown by TED (7)
PLANTED — PLAN …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-08-05
Another fairly standard LR, fairly homophone-heavy and a little dig at DA in there.
Across
- 7
- Produce initial evidence in case (6)
CREATE — E (first letter of evidence) in CRATE (case) - 9
- Directions,,, around Central London? (8)
COMMANDS — COMMAS (,,,) around ND (middle letters of London) - 10
- Reportedly glimpse more attractive …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-08-04
Nothing special, clunked through it all. Monday done.
Across
- 1
- Harry cabled me when in the doldrums (8)
BECALMED — anagram (harry) of CABLED ME - 6
- Turn on spot to get spectacular views on laptop (6)
SWIVEL — anagram (spectacular) of VIEWS, L (first letter of lap) - 9
- Rubbish out of this …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-08-03
Tough one! Lots of words I'd never heard of before. 13D in particular felt slightly unfair: a double definition with a very uncommon word (or at least I've never come across "a shrewdness of gorillas").
Across
- 1
- Player upset about back of train being full (7)
PLENARY — anagram (upset) of …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-08-02
Back to easier solves. A few good anagrams and a nice charade in 3D. There's maybe a spare bit of wordplay in 13D, but it was close enough.
Across
- 1
- Considerate reaction to sinful defilement (11)
DESECRATION — anagram (reaction) of CONSIDERATE - 7
- Arnold alternates with another man's name (3)
ROD …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-08-01
Special instructions today were "NB - the four marked clues are all 1-across 21-down [sporting cliches]". A little tricky, but not insurmountable once I got back on DA's wavelength. Not completely sure about all of my parses: the "ATA" in 10A feels a bit flimsy; there's no insertion indicator in 24A …
read moreSydney Morning Herald 2025-07-31
Nice and smooth, I feel like this has been a pretty good week for the SMH so far! Maybe a bit trickier than the past few days, but nothing controversial.
Across
- 1
- Gradually ruin ruffles or decor (7)
CORRODE — anagram (ruffles) of OF DECOR - 5
- 'Drafts' or 'Spam' cryptically? (4 …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-30
Another easy one, lots of anagrams and containments. Probably also reasonable beginner crossword fodder!
Across
- 1
- Report mimic used in public relations (5)
PAPER — APE (mimic) in PR (public relations) - 4
- Bus involved in crash is OK (6-2)
THUMBS-UP — anagram (involved) of BUS inside THUMP (crash) - 10
- Authority's men …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-29
Super easy, but also I think quite well clued. This would probably make for a good beginner crossword. It's interesting how LR bounces around difficulty levels, but I do think his easier ones are better constructed.
Across
- 1
- Constructs secret puzzle (6)
ERECTS — anagram (puzzle) of SECRET - 5
- Filled in …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-28
Not too tricky, but a little clumsy. I suppose there wasn't anything particularly egregious worth noting.
Across
- 1
- Muted reception for vessel expected on first day (7)
SUBDUED — SUB (vessel) DUE (expected) D (first letter of day) - 5
- Wealthy, healthy and out of sorts (4-3)
WELL-OFF — WELL (healthy) OFF (out …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-27
Lots of name references here! Didn't pick the double definition of 4D without looking it up. Never heard of 6D. Everything kind of came together pretty well, really.
Across
- 1
- Levelled off but not disposed? (11)
DISINCLINED — cryptic def. - 7
- Shoot a fellow (3)
BUD — double def. - 9
- Prosper and …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-26
Pretty tricky one! Hadn't heard of 6A or 13A, and plenty of reasonably difficult clues elsewhere. Figuring out the parse of 16D was a struggle: "top" to remove the first letter combined with a synonym is a hard mechanic.
Across
- 1
- Vocalise about wine that's unspeakable (8)
SHOCKING — SING (vocalise …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-25
Surprisingly tame for a DA. Very regional words, however.
Across
- 1
- Opposed to month cycling Caribbean island (7)
ANTIGUA — ANTI (opposed to) reversal (cycling) of AUG (month) - 9
- Green Party’s leader 4-down (3)
PEA — P (first letter of party) EA (4-down [a head]) - 10
- Writer of the first musical …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-24
Good fun, nothing particularly tricky!
Across
- 1
- Meal tapers off (6)
REPAST — anagram (off) of TAPERS - 4
- Fabricate revealing biography, mostly, that is (4,1,3)
TELL A LIE — TELL ALl (revealing biography, without last letter) IE (that is) - 9
- Oddly, who am I - beast or animal? (6)
WOMBAT — odd …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-23
Very anagram-heavy, but a pretty straightforward puzzle all things told.
Across
- 1
- Football clubs implicated in rigging of score (6)
SOCCER — anagram (rigging) of SCORE with C (clubs) - 4
- Recalling of party food is a little bit strange (6)
ODDISH — reversal (recalling) of DO (party), DISH (food) - 9
- Theatre worker …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-22
A little trickier than the usual LR offering, I actually quite liked this!
Across
- 7
- Barty is able to refuse receptacle (6)
ASHCAN — ASH (Barty) CAN (is able to) - 9
- Painkiller from doctors annoyed (7)
ANODYNE — anagram (doctors) of ANNOYED - 10
- Answer to soul in turmoil (8)
SOLUTION — anagram (turmoil …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-21
A little bit imprecise, and I wasn't too thrilled with 26A. I don't know if it's a straight error, but port is the left side. I took the more generous interpretation that "rail" is to the right of port, but given the level of the rest of the clues, I …
read moreSydney Morning Herald 2025-07-20
Some good words in here! There are some really lovely clues, but I'm not convinced of my parse of a few of them. 10A is the closest I could get, but removal after reversal is a new one to me! 26D has me really stumped, but I think I'm as …
read moreSydney Morning Herald 2025-07-19
It's been a month already! Very generous Saturday puzzle to mark the occasion. Lots of anagrams, little bit of an apt pair with STARRY EYED and BROKEN HEARTED.
Across
- 1
- No-one it'll cast out of a group of stars (13)
CONSTELLATION — anagram (out) of NO ONE IT'LL CAST - 10
- Expert …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-18
An improvement over last week's DA offering. I thought 17 was maybe a bit too cute (and a somewhat dated reference for me).
Across
- 1
- Old measure defends shows turned down (9)
MISERABLE — MILE (old measure) outside (defends) reversal (turned) of BARES (shows) - 6
- Rebuff infuriated Bedouin (5)
NOMAD — NO …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-17
Pretty enjoyable! Nothing hugely remarkable, positively or negatively, just a pleasant solve.
Across
- 1
- (& 11-across) P.S. Bluey lego unfortunately fails completely (4,5,2)
GOES BELLY UP — anagram (unfortunately) of PS BLUEY LEGO - 3
- Someone sculling after audible complaint by key vineyard worker (10)
WINEGROWER — ROWER (someone sculling) after …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-16
Really nice! Lots of smooth anagrams and fun, misleading surfaces.
Across
- 1
- Intriguing board game could be redesigned without bishop (6)
CLUEDO — anagram (redesigned) of COULD bE without b (bishop) - 4
- Film the writer with assorted barmen (8)
MEMBRANE — ME (the writer) anagram (assorted) of BARMEN - 9
- Fed a variety …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-15
Fun words, although rather laden with pop culture! Lots of hiddens and first letters, but all pretty easy as expected.
Across
- 1
- A rotisserie rod around hotel fireplace receptacle (6)
ASHPIT — A SPIT (rotisserie rod) around H (hotel) - 5
- Power of Star Wars thief left one Tolkien creature earth (3 …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-14
Lots of chopped-off clues and easy anagrams, a gentle start to the week!
Across
- 1
- Awful fathead gets legitimate support (9)
FRIGHTFUL — F (first letter of fat) RIGHTFUL (legitimate support) - 6
- (& 9-across) Disapprove of Kate toying with a silly opinion (4,1,3,4)
TAKE A DIM VIEW — anagram (toying …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-13
Eh, strong "meh" from me today. Really clumsy cluing and weird mechanisms. 1A felt unfair, 6A has a useless word, 22A seems completely wrong to use "Mounte" instead of "Mountie". In general, nothing felt particularly precise and snappy.
Across
- 1
- Hanging on, so close to invasion (9)
ATTACHING — ATTACkING (invasion …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-12
Tricky one! A few parses I'm not entirely sure about, like 10A, but otherwise pretty fair.
Across
- 1
- Leave in observation booth (11)
COMPARTMENT — PART (leave) inside COMMENT (observation) - 7
- Sprinkling with pronounced cry of relief (3)
FEW — homophone (pronounced) of PHEW (cry of relief) - 9
- Secretary pinched an expert …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-11
Not quite DA's usual precision, but fairly tricky as usual. Some fun clues but I didn't really find it that enjoyable.
Across
- 4
- Stellar warrior captain cut supporter on the ear (9)
CHEWBACCA — C (captain) HEW (cup) homophone of BACKER (supporter) - 9
- (& 28-across) Drunk racing at sea? (5,6,2 …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-10
No real complaints again! There were quite a few combined fodder and action words, which I always think is a bit of a devious trick, especially 21A!
Across
- 1
- How mask is designed for punk styles (7)
MOHAWKS — anagram (designed) of HOW MASK - 5
- Olympic colours conceal instrument (7)
PICCOLO …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-09
Smooth and fairly nicely written. Good stuff!
Across
- 1
- Artificial marshland maintained by American (5)
BOGUS — BOG (marshland) US (American) - 4
- Military headquarters are keeping my tax form (4,4)
ARMY BASE — ARE outside MY BAS (tax form) - 9
- Surge in irregular income cost beautician (8,7)
COSMETIC SURGEON — SURGE …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-08
I don't mind an easy LR Tuesday. Lots of first/last letter clues mixed with anagrams.
Across
- 1
- Rebellious giant beheaded after three consecutive letters (7)
DEFIANT — DEF (three consecutive letters) gIANT (without first letter) - 5
- Cleans dials of several clocks on usual roster schedule (6)
SCOURS — first letters of …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-07
Cruisy Monday morning. I wasn't sure how to classify 18D, but other than that some fun clues and nothing particularly controversial!
Across
- 1
- Got by with crazy English coif (4,2)
MADE DO — MAD (crazy) E (English) DO (coif) - 4
- Increase rhetoric regarding sheepdog? (4,2)
RAMP UP — RAM (sheep …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-06
Tough one! Much nicer cluing than last week, but that made it more satisfying to get the harder words that were there.
Across
- 1
- Feed newspaper's cleaner (4-3)
DISH-RAG — DISH (feed) RAG (newspaper) - 5
- The Italian copper has no Scottish blanks (7)
LACUNAE — LA (the Italian) CU (copper) NAE (no …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-05
Enjoyable start to the weekend! Only question for me is the parse of HARD in 16A, but otherwise fairly smooth.
Across
- 9
- Leads on lines give out (9)
INVEIGLES — anagram (out) of LINES GIVE - 10
- Tastes decaf, regularly baffled (2,3)
AT SEA — even letters of tAsTeS dEcAf - 11
- Copper …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-04
Late blog, but the puzzle wasn't that hard (I was just busy). Usual DA trickiness.
Across
- 1
- Copper, maybe one who faces the music? (9)
CONDUCTOR — double def. - 6
- Grouse job baffled nurses on reflection (5)
FABBO — hidden (nurses) in reversal (on reflection) of jOB BAFfled - 9
- Hopeful to knock …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-03
A little bit clumsy. Lots of unindicated anagrams, superfluous clue text, and possible double-up between clue and definition. 24A was interesting with a double wordplay! Not sure about the definition of 14D, I feel like it should be measurers, not to mention it's one of the unindicated anagrams.
Across
- 1 …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-02
Back to breezy and anagram-filled from D&LS. Some nice variation in words, and all fairly clued. Lovely!
Across
- 1
- Medicine each registered doctor required before operations (8)
EARDROPS — EA (each) R (registered) DR (doctor) OPS (operations) - 5
- Reporter rode around carrying it (6)
EDITOR — reversal (around) of RODE with …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-07-01
Pretty easy as LR tends to be, but a pretty pleasant solve for a rainy lunchtime. Some fun use of symbols and numbers as clues.
Across
- 6
- Nodding along to beats in reggae (8)
AGREEING — anagram (beats) of IN REGGAE - 9
- Vocally abstinent, yet had second drink? (6)
CHASED — homophone …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-30
Pretty easy one to start the week! 4D is a fun clue, and some nice words in 15D and 25A that were clued very fairly.
Across
- 1
- Odds and ends related to overhauling pesticide bans (4,3,6)
BITS AND PIECES — anagram (overhauling) of PESTICIDE BANS - 8
- Brief detail regarding …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-29
Another RJ with some tricky words. I wasn't particularly jazzed with some of the clues. 20D and 26A were particularly weird parses. The definition mechanism for 28A felt a bit unfair. Never heard of 13A, 21A, 26A or BRAW as part of 1D. Anyway, we got there...
Across
- 1
- Quickly …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-28
All pretty fair, but some clumsy cluing here and there. Lots of superfluous words, and 6D in particular is a bit strange. "Plan" as an anagram indicator is new to me, too.
Across
- 1
- Justified rage is tougher (9)
RIGHTEOUS — anagram (rage) of IS TOUGHER - 6
- Puts one through torture …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-27
Hard! Half the clues went in pretty easily, then a little flurry of mostly-sure answers which gave me enough letters to struggle through the final stretch. Being forced to actually work out the wordplay was a good exercise.
Across
- 1
- Hearing aid to leave back on shelf if pinched? (7 …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-26
Lots of anagrams, but all very smooth!
Across
- 1
- Unfortunately hotel is very unfriendly (7)
HOSTILE — anagram (unfortunately) of HOTEL IS - 5
- Bad pirates trudge (7)
TRAIPSE — anagram (bad) of PIRATES - 9
- Aussie singer and model talk inside (5)
DELTA — hidden inside moDEL TAlk - 10
- Tiny measurement meant reno was …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-25
Actually kind of harder than I am used to from this pair! Got a bit stumped here and there, but there was probably some element of luck involved.
Across
- 1
- Give away large amount of red meat (6)
REVEAL — REd (large amount of red) VEAL (meat) - 5
- Sulphur in septic …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-24
A nice smooth LR. Some pretty cute clues, and nothing overly controversial. Good way to start a miserable Tuesday!
Across
- 8
- Cross had admin assistant, historically (8)
HANDMAID — anagram (cross) of HAD ADMIN - 9
- Flaked almond for dad (3,3)
OLD MAN — anagram (flaked) of ALMOND - 11
- Republican First Lady …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-23
Honestly RM is a little hit-and-miss for me. Some clues are beautiful, but others just feel clumsy. It also consistently seems like anagram indicators are unconventional or just missed, same with removals. Minor gripes aside, fairly straightforward.
For 11A and 14D, The Clue Clinic lists "up" as an "advanced" indicator …
read moreSydney Morning Herald 2025-06-22
Lots of words I hadn't heard of before (or maybe I had, but they didn't stick)! Even so, good clues and a bit of intuition got them in.
I struggled (and still struggle) with the parse of 3D. I'm also not sure about the implicit pluralisation of ecstasy in 18D …
read moreSydney Morning Herald 2025-06-21
I find the cluing of these puzzles just slightly unconventional. Bit tricky, but fair and fun!
Across
- 1
- Co-ordinate scheme that defines breadth and display of information (6,5)
NOTICE BOARD — anagram of CO-ORDINATE with B (breadth) - 7
- Half size up halfwit (3)
ASS — half of ASSESS (size up) - 9 …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-20
I usually avoid DA puzzles because they're scary! A few clues that I haven't quite parsed, and one lookup. There were a couple of two-layered clues, which I thought was an interesting (if rather fiendish) mechanism.
Across
- 7
- Chocolate truffle centre gets stray cheer - twice - or frolic (7,6)
FERRERO …
Sydney Morning Herald 2025-06-19
Here we go with the first one! A slightly meaty one, but all very nice clues!
Across
- 1 & 26 across
- Lose an opportunity to mess habit around (4,3,4)
MISS THE BOAT — anagram of TO MESS HABIT - 3
- One Oscar: 'Greatest embodiment of English animal' (10)
WILDEBEEST — WILDE (Oscar …