Spectator 1869

[Tichfield]

This week's offering:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_assets/arti cledir_1567/783626/crossword.pdf

[kayakamina]

Thanks Tichfield.

The anagram solver is going to be busy and fortunately the two long starters can be slotted in right away.

Cheers K

[novalis]

Thanks -- It'll give me something to think about while I'm waiting for the postman to bring me a pile of work.

[Mampara]

I have worked out most of the anagrams but am staring at the grid not knowing where they fit.

How do I decide what goes where? Are there any secrets?

Glad for any help.

[kayakamina]

Mampara you could start in the top left corner which has a common letter or, as I did, note that there are only two 3 letter words DEN & ARM.
Following that there is only one 9 letter word where the fourth letter is D and only one 9 letter word where the 7th letter is M.
You can therefore fit in two 9 letter words which will give you a good start.

Cheers K

[kayakamina]

Sorry that should have read 10 letter words not 9!

[Tichfield]

I have RAM, not ARM.

I started by working out where the two 10 letter words must go by fitting them with the two 3 letter words.

Then most of the others fell into place, except a couple of 6 letter words for which there were possible alternatives.

[Aquagility]

Don't doubt you, K. But surely ARM is the clue, and RAM the solution.
And are there not three 3-letter words, COD, DEN, and RAM?

[Tichfield]

There are only two 3 letter words in the grid.

[Aquagility]

Thanks, Tichfield. Forget COD!

[rabet]

Some of the clues are deft and amusing, but overall I thought the puzzle was far too easy. Anyone agree?

[kayakamina]

Sorry folks not having a good day clearly. Of course it is RAM as the clue was 'broken arm'. TUT

[Tichfield]

It only took me about 40 minutes to complete it. But having Chambers dictionary on my PC did help a lot - using the anagram feature.

[mad max]

many thanks for link, looks easy but probably also a little boring/monotonous

[greyfox]

Around the same time for me as Tichfield, using Chambers too. Not the most challenging of puzzles, but enjoyable nonetheless.

[rabet]

I thought that actually filling in the grid when you had solved the clues was about as exciting as doing a Wordsearch puzzle, i.e. not at all.

[rabet]

Apologies; my last post sounds rather ungrateful. Thanks for the link, Tichfield. Let's hope it's more interesting next week.

[shaneystar2]

Haha ..me too ...not exactly one of the best Spectator crosswords ...it took me about half an hour and I am a dizzy dame at the best of times .I've had better puzzles in my monthly Puzzle Magazine .

[Rapparee]

Belated thanks to Tichfield for the link.

An easy week for solvers, yes but also for the setter too, who presumably didn't have to put too much effort into composing his clues.

[midazolam]

got round to this today - thanks for the link

lucky for me it only took less than half an hour with an anagram solver!

[jamesah]

This type of crossword is too easy now with so many anagram solvers available. Unfortunately it's too tempting to use them!