Bertandjoyce

There was a tradition in both our families of solving Telegraph concise and cryptic crosswords. During our student days we moved on to the Observer. When we could afford a daily, we enjoyed the Guardian cryptics until the Indy arrived on the scene. Nowadays, Saturdays are not complete without the Inquisitor in the i paper. We never time ourselves but we do feel cheated if we finish quickly and really enjoy seeking out themes and ninas etc. We are now retired and when time allows, we supplement the daily Indy solve with the on-line Guardian cryptic, Genius and the occasional Quiptic. Finding fifteensquared was a revelation – we realised we are not alone in our attempts to stave off Alzheimer’s!

Independent 10,347 by Eccles

Wed December 11, 2019 at 8:05 am by Bertandjoyce

Eccles seems to have become a worthy replacement for Dac’s former role as our regular midweek setter As usual, this was a really enjoyable solve – no unusual words, and consistently good clueing, … Read more >>

Independent 10,344 by Klingsor

Sat December 7, 2019 at 8:07 am by Bertandjoyce

An enjoyable solve today with a couple of definitions which needed checking. There were a couple which had us scratching our head due to clever misdirections until we suddenly realised that A = … Read more >>

Independent 10,342 by Serpent

Thu December 5, 2019 at 8:03 am by Bertandjoyce

Serpent fills the Thursday spot this week. Overall, we found much of this rather less challenging than we have come to expect from Serpent, but one or two clues did cause some head-scratching … Read more >>

Independent 10,337 by Phi

Fri November 29, 2019 at 9:10 amFri November 29, 2019 at 8:03 am by Bertandjoyce

It’s Phi-day again! We found this a bit tougher than average for a Phi, but it all came together in the end. We are however slightly puzzled by 24d. We have looked for … Read more >>

Independent 10,328 by Crosophile

Tue November 19, 2019 at 8:10 am by Bertandjoyce

It’s Joyce this week – solving and blogging the puzzle on her own while Bert is trekking in Nepal. It’s been a very strange experience as we always solve and blog puzzles together. … Read more >>

Independent 10,323 by Eccles

Wed November 13, 2019 at 8:05 am by Bertandjoyce

Another fun puzzle to start the day – we always know that we will have some great wordplay in an Eccles puzzle. Eccles seems to be have been given a regular Wednesday slot … Read more >>

Independent 10,318 by Loglady

Thu November 7, 2019 at 8:06 am by Bertandjoyce

We’ve enjoyed Loglady’s previous puzzles, several of which were in the Independent on Sunday, but we haven’t had the pleasure of blogging a Loglady puzzle before, so this was an interesting first for … Read more >>

Independent 10,314 by Klingsor

Sat November 2, 2019 at 8:02 am by Bertandjoyce

Another well crafted puzzle from Klingsor for the weekend.

Independent 10,313 by Phi

Fri November 1, 2019 at 8:01 am by Bertandjoyce

It’s Phi-day again. For once, we tumbled to the theme, but not until we had completed the puzzle and looked long and hard at the solutions. We found this to … Read more >>