The demise of the Independent crossword
I’m not sure if there has been an official notice yet from The Independent but it appears that they will be discontinuing their cryptic crossword with effect from November 1st.
There is more information in this post: https://fifteensquared.net/2026/09/21/independent-cryptic-crossword-the-future/, which has already attracted 158 comments. Comments are now closed on that post but can be continued below.
Since I happen to have just seen this post go up, it seems sensible to copy eimi’s comment from that thread as the first one here, where it might get more notice. With regard to the possibility of setting up a replacement subscription service, he said:
“The managing editor’s reply seems to offer little hope, so it might be as well to start preparing the lifeboats
I’ve set up an email account merely to gauge interest – no obligation to subscribe if and when such a service is set up having been deemed viable
To register an interest please email trulyindependentcrosswords@gmail.com with the subject line truly
Please don’t include any messages as I won’t be replying individually at this stage”
Thanks to those who have sent emails so far – I can see the comments, but won’t be replying individually at the moment
Currently at about 75, so we will need to get the message out beyond the fifteensquared community to reach viable numbers – hopefully we can reach some of those 28,000 people so far who have watched Simon Anthony’s solve of Sunday’s Filbert puzzle on You Tube
Indeed. I blogged the Filbert on Sunday and there have been just over 500 views. Which is a lot less than 28,000.
Of interest perhaps – The Independent has just announced pre-tax profits up 9% to £3.5m.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/media_business/independent-doubles-revenue-in-six-years-to-reach-55m/
Having contacted the Independent to ask them not to stop publishing the daily cryptic crossword I got the following response which seems to contradict what others are hearing and might mean they’ve changed their plans?
Dear Bill,
Thank you so much for reaching out, and most of all, thank you for being a dedicated reader of The Independent since our very first broadsheet days. Loyalty like yours is incredibly rare and deeply appreciated.
Please rest assured that the daily cryptic crossword is currently still up. It remains a staple of our daily offering. We are currently rolling out important updates to improve our application, which has unfortunately caused some temporary technical disruptions.
We completely understand how frustrating this can be, and we truly appreciate your patience while we work through these upgrades.
We hope you continue to enjoy the puzzles!
Warm regards,
Nosipho
A disturbing decision by the Indy.
I don’t normally do the Indy puzzle, but I’m aware of many of the setters – those who also set for the Graun, where I get my daily fix.
I wonder if a demonstration of the crossword community’s commitment to the puzzle might be worth trying, akin to a 60’s love-in. Call it a solve-in? I would be prepared to do the puzzle on a specific day(s) to support this. Not sure if the Indy powers-that-be would be swayed at all by such a gesture, but that’s my two-cents worth.
Hope the decision is overturned. Myopic, to say the least.
Sorry, lazy of me not to look myself, but has this been shared on some of the other blogs? Guardian / FT etc here on 225?
Just wondering whether it may be the sort of thing that regular visitors need to be fed up of hearing about it for it to gain traction elsewhere?
All the crossword websites are annoying in their peculiar way but one overlooks the irritations because the pleasure occurs in the brain body system. I have to say the independent one was one of the worst and I gave up on it long ago so to me it is no great loss. In these days of super-pluralism there seems to be a virtually infinite supply of puzzles . . .
@7 I’m not sure what you mean.
I have added a bit of code to all posts (except this one) asking people to look.
(I can lead horses to water but I can’t make them drink)
There seems to be some antipathy to the online delivery system of the Indy crossword? Each major paper has its own system of provision, each with some niggles, but none enough to stop me getting involved with the puzzle itself. There is also a level of evolution, which allows improvements to occur if people raise concerns. The Indy uses ads to support the site, it takes less than the advertised 30-seconds to run the ads, often less than 10 seconds. The mute button can be employed also. The convenience of having top-level crosswords available on one’s ever-present phone, far outweighs any inconvenience that I have encountered. I wonder how much revenue is actually generated by such ads? I assume, sadly, it’s not enough to support the provision of the puzzle…
Andy here. Not been online for a few years commenting but Mike / Eimi please do what you can to keep this going . I still solve as often as I can. Thank you for bringing so many young (and old) new setters into this amazing community.
Much like the Daily Telegraph’s poaching of the Alex cartoon, is there not some other outlet that would be pleased to have this fine collection of setters? (preferably the i)
Comment #13
What’s the best email address to contact the Independent about this? When I tried one that I thought was relevant I just received instructions on how to use the app.
Thank you!
@14: this is the one I used and it did generate a reply, albeit the same standardised one most others appear to have received. managingeditor@independent.co.uk
@14
See this comment from earlier post:
https://fifteensquared.net/2026/09/21/independent-cryptic-crossword-the-future/#comment-755736
I have to admit that I don’t do the Indy crossword very often these days although it was my first choice at one time. It’s because I solve on paper and I find the layout of the Indy printout cluttered and confusing in contrast to other sites which are much easier to read. But when I can be bothered to re-format the pdf into something more readable I do usually enjoy solving so I would miss having the Indy available.
I do The Indy Crosswoprd now and again, but that should not stop other fom enjoying this crossword, and Phi on Friday,
I read the Independent right from the start until irritatingly it went online only so I gave it up. I used to enjoy their daily crossword. The consolation prize is that I now do the Grauniad crosswords.
Mind you, the Independent could do with sorting out their subscriptions. A few weeks ago I got a message saying my weekly payment was unsuccessful. The update payment details page seems to be under repair. I reported this and eventually was told they’d gone back to using an old card number. They said they had updated my card details again but I’m still getting the payment unsuccessful message and the payment details page is still down. But I can still read the paper.
I wrote to the Independent and got the following reply
Imraan Khan (The Independent)
Oct 7, 2026, 10:27 GMT+1
Dear Andrew,
Thank you for getting in touch with The Independent and for sharing your concerns.
We have not heard anything to suggest that the cryptic crossword is going to be discontinued. However, if there are any changes in the future, we will be sure to let our readers know.
Andrew @22 – the communication by the Independent around the decision seems rather muddled; people who have emailed the Managing Editor received a reply confirming of the cancellation, but they seem not to have notified support staff internally!
And The Guardian’s crossword blog mentioned it yesterday…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Four things:
1 A relatively low-circulation e-paper may well find a crossword an expensive item. They would have to think differently for a printed paper.
2 The Indy (and I owe something to them taking me on 40 years ago) don’t look after their setters and pay peanuts. Mike H has shown a wonderful spirit doing what he does in spite of this
3) Your head may feel better if you stop banging it against a wall.
4) I wish Mike and setters good luck in moving on. Solvers though are relatively spoilt, notwithstanding the quality of the Indy’s setters.l.
Don Quixote
Don, I agree with you on 1) and 2).
As for 3), even losing causes are worth fighting for, and I’d have hoped you as a veteran setter would have been more sympathetic to any younger setters for whom The Independent’s cryptic is a potential start to a career similar to the one you have enjoyed.
The Independent may well be a “low-circulation e-paper”, but it presents itself as no different from other national papers, with a mix of serious news coverage, opinions, columnists, daily cartoon, TV guide and reviews etc. It isn’t some freebie rag, and it surely should have elevated its historic cryptic crossword above the welter of badly presented frivolous puzzles (and I’m a fan of frivolous puzzles) hosted by Arkadium.
This isn’t simply a sign of the times. It’s a stupid editorial mistake.
Hi everyone. I’m not sure if this is the right conversation for this, but has anyone noticed an error in today’s ipaper crossword (Tees 4890)?
I am sorry to hear that the Independent crossword may be discontinued.
Bedo@26 The blog for the i crosswords is idothei (https://idothei.wordpress.com/)
Comment #27
The o ny reason I subscribed to the Independent in the first place was for the cryptic crossword. Feels like a breach of trust to me, you get a newspaper you get a cryptic crossword ! I will be leaving as soon as the crossword goes.
I stopped doing the Indy crossword a couple of weeks ago (daily fix until then) when it stopped saving what I had completed. I didn’t bother to complain because of the apparently imminent demise. Maybe I will after all.
Same as Jane Penson. Have started doing the Grauniad, which now has a much better online version than it used to. Anyone know how to cancel your subscription to the Indy? Can’t find anything obvious.
The demise of the Independent crossword is presumably because not enough people try and solve and therefore advertising revenues are not adequate to sustain it. There may be other reasons. The crossword yesterday ( 24th October) is a very good example of why I became alienated. Ten out of 30 clues were football related and / or were hostile to Donald Trump. A bit excessive perhaps?
A few months’ ago there was a similarly politically hostile crossword. I pointed out that it would never have been published in The Times. The setter, who sets for The Times quick cryptic, agreed.
Whilst the Independent cryptic can rightly be lauded for its introduction of new setters I would guess that I am not the only one to have been deterred by too many themed crosswords and too many with political bias. My opinion is that the current crossword editor should at least take some blame for what is happening.
Oxoma @33, if the Indy crossword isn’t to your taste, fair enough, but I reckon there are far fewer anti-Trump etc references than there are in The Guardian’s cryptics, which continue to be hugely popular.
At the risk of repeating what others have said, The Indy’s puzzle has been hidden away with a cumbersome interface and zero promotion when it should have been elevated and nurtured, instead of being blithely accepted as online-only collateral damage by the paper’s management.
Well I enjoy the Independent reprints in the i Paper and am pleased to know that they will be continuing until approximately July 2030 (if I’ve calculated correctly).
What they’ll do after that I don’t know, but it wouldn’t particularly bother me if they went back to the beginning and started reprinting them all over again. I don’t normally remember crosswords for years on end.
Too much compiler-slagging creeping in here. It is certainly not the compilers’ fault that the crossword is to be binned!
When you bring on as many new setters as Mike has, then of course there will on occasion be differences of style — and The Indy has never aspired to mimic the consistency seen in The Times, as any trawl through the 225 site, or indeed the ancient tomes, as made available by a penguin, comprehensively reveals — but as far as I’m aware, this has been a boon for Indy solvers rather than a burden.
The Guardian, as should be obvious, is remarkably similar in this respect, with a panel comprised of some of the most revered writers around, and some new people of whom you may not yet have heard, as is The FT. The X and The DT use style sheets whose aim is to maintain, and perhaps foster the development of, a desired MO.
I think we should march through Fleet Street, taking care which placards to carry, of course.
Well said, paul b. Plenty of room for both types of puzzle.
GuyBarry @35, I’m afraid not. They last as long as the current contract with the Independent to buy its old puzzles lasts. I don’t think that will be renewed so the iPaper will need to get its from cryptics from somewhere if it is to continue with them.
@36 Why would the i Paper not renew its contract with the Independent? There are still nearly four years of puzzles to get through (they’ve recently started the 2023 reprints).
One of the very many excellent things about fifteensquared is that it is searchable
I have seen no suggestion, either in the i Paper itself or on the idothei crossword blog, that the reprints are to stop. Nor can I find any such suggestion anywhere on Fifteensquared. I can’t think of any good reason why they should stop before they run out in 2030, unless the i Paper is so hard up that it can’t afford to pay for them any more. Have I missed something somewhere?
I don’t think so, but there has been nothing announced in the Independent that their cryptics will stop, either. Solvers will just find there isn’t a new cryptic there. (A couple of people have wondered if an old one will just appear).
How did people find out that they were stopping then?
@42 GuyBarry, the crossword editor told the setters who let us know
Might be fun if the indy could run some of the really early puzzles, see if Mass was really as tough as I remember
Seems entirely practical to me. The fact that the puzzles I attempt in the i Paper every day are nearly four years old in no way detracts from my enjoyment in attempting them. The only issue arises when there are references that were topical at the time which haven’t been adjusted by the crossword editor (sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t).
I wouldn’t mind seeing more old puzzles reprinted in different places. The setter goes to all that trouble of putting the puzzle together and then it’s forgotten the next day, never to be revisited. However I understand that there are no “repeat fees” for setters (unlike on TV), so I can understand why setters might not be happy with such an arrangement.
Wrong, isn’t it? As is not getting any remuneration for puzzles, published in a paper, that subsequently reappear in a book. Even record companies don’t treat their artistes quite that badly.
I don’t remember signing anything to this effect, what with being absolutely rapt every time I managed to wriggle my way into a publication, but for now it is what it is.
Well, eimi’s excellent offering today has left me in no doubt that this really is the end.
What a shame.
Yes indeed, Rog @46 – we thought it was all over, and it is now.
So long and thanks, indeed.
? https://pressgazette.co.uk/media_business/independent-doubles-revenue-in-six-years-to-reach-55m/
Today’s Independent puzzle on the (free) American website is Atrica from Oct 31 2023. No 11,561. Blog on 15×15 by duncan. Tuesday, so theme day.
Having clicked on the link #49 and having skimmed through the article, one has to wonder about the logic behind the decision. We presumed it was financial but if the revenue has increased over the last 6 years, why have they chosen to axe the cryptic?
Someone’s year-end bonus depended on “cutting costs” and they managed it. Of course if the paper really needed to save this minuscule amount of money they would be in real trouble.
sofamore @ 50, that might be automatic when the system is missing a puzzle? I hope it’s that rather than someone deliberately re-using setters’ work for free and giving users and paying subscribers old content
Charlie @53 Well, no-one has paid me for the re-run! I had no idea it had been re-published.
Atrica @ 54 Yes, the effect would of course be the same but it might not be a deliberate decision. Either way they should want to rectify it to avoid ripping off contributors and users
It’s Sunday 1 November and I have just finished the Indy crossword online, where it apeared as usual…
Justigator @ 56, the puzzle you solved is a recycled puzzle. See comment @ 50. The question is whether this is a deliberate policy or an accident (when there is no new puzzle, the software automatically pulls an old puzzle to fill the blank).
#47 miserableoldhack. I can’t read that without hearing the words which preceded it 60 years ago: ‘Some people are running onto the pitch…’
I think it’s deliberate Dan@57. Every now and again I do the 13×13 Easy Cryptic while I’m having dinner. Even since Michael Curl passed away and they ran out of new puzzles they have been reusing one from exactly two years previous every day..
In the daily edition (subscription version of the Independent that mimics a newspaper) there is no cryptic today. No notification either so if I wasn’t on fifteensquared I would think it was an oversight and be very disappointed tomorrow.
The cryptic has occasionally been missing from the daily edition before I think. After finding this thread a few weeks ago, I emailed the Independent, who replied saying that the cryptic crossword was definitely not being discontinued, so I am not sure what to think now.
For the avoidance of doubt, there are no new puzzles in the pipeline.
And for further avoidance of doubt, many of us wrote to the Independent a few weeks ago. I got an answer from Richard Best as follows:
“I can confirm that we plan to end the daily cryptic crossword later this year. The main reason for this is that they are not financially viable – we can see the numbers who start the crossword and know what they cost us, and I’m afraid the sums simply do not add up. ”
This was followed by guff about other puzzles being available etc.
So is it a good idea or a bad idea to keep solving the recycled puzzles? It might be a good idea if it convinces them that there’s still a market. It would be a bad idea if it convinces them that they don’t need to commission new ones. Thoughts?
@ mrpenney 64 Personally I’ll be contacting the Independent tomorrow to say that I have no interest in solving puzzles I’ve already done, and that it’s not on to re-use setters’ work without further payment anyway. If the republishing is unintentional/automatic then the Indy will hopefully be willing to disable it in order to avoid any appearance of ripping off contributors/users. If it’s intentional then continuing to solve just gives them new unearned ad revenue.
If, as would appear to be the case, the Independent plans to continue providing cryptics by simply republishing older ones in order to squeeze more advertising revenue from their £100 investment, then maybe setters should consider whether such reuse (as well as the historic syndication to the i) constitutes a copyright infringement.
My understanding is that, under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, an uncontracted freelance submission effectively provides a non-exclusive license for First UK Serial Rights only (the right to be the first to print it) and does not grant rights to resell or reuse it. The copyright remains with the creator. When newspapers syndicate a freelancer’s work, I believe the industry standard is an agency split, typically splitting the secondary syndication fees 50/50 with the creator.
If anyone out there has any experience or knowledge of copyright law or newspaper industry standard practice perhaps they could confirm if any of the above is correct.
However, if the Independent was no longer able to republish or resell old puzzles at zero cost then perhaps they would be forced to review their plans. Of course, a likely possible alternative plan would be that they could just stop publishing cryptic crosswords altogether (neither old nor new ones). But at least it would act as a warning to other papers not to try such cynical penny-pinching measures and not play so fast and loose with setters’ intellectual property.
Unfortunately, although setters retain our copyright, the standard terms to which we agree when having a puzzle published state that Independent Digital News and Media has perpetual (though non-exclusive after a year) rights to publish the crossword in all present and future media and formats. They can also provide it to third parties. This republishing with no acknowledgement of what they’re doing feels very wrong, but legally it’s probably fine 🙁