As always with Phi, everything perfectly simple and sound once it’s done, but not before, when there seem to be so many possibilities. Enjoyable.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators (not that there are many) underlined.
John
Independent 9,759 by Serpent
My heart sank a bit when I saw that I was blogging a Serpent: he’s dreadfully hard, isn’t he? Well no, not actually: there were some easy ones so that the start was OK; then I got rather stuck and was slow to complete. But the clues (apart from 28ac possibly: no doubt I shall be corrected — yes I was, by baerchen, many thanks, I thought that would happen) were sound and good. Nice crossword.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Independent 9,754 by Hoskins
Hoskins seems to appear practically every week nowadays and he has certainly had his fill of me, since we frequently coincide. But I haven’t had my fill of him, since he always produces good crosswords where everything is properly explained; as ever, this crossword contains some very good clues.
Definitions underlined and in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Independent 9,749 by Crosophile
Apart from one or two little grumbles, referred to below, this was a pleasant crossword with some good clues. I was delayed for ages in the SE corner, resulting in an eventual resort to aids.
It strangely seems to be the case that in an awful lot of crosswords the first few clues (in this case four) have the definition at the beginning.
Definitions underlined in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Independent 9,744 by Phi
Sorry, rather late again. I spent too much time in the small hours listening to the cricket and as a result it was suddenly 8.25.
The usual nice crossword from Phi. Uncontroversial I think, and all seemed to be easy enough, at any rate in retrospect (although I realised afterwards that I’d forgotten to do that nine holes answer, which is what it almost certainly was although I’d never heard of it). But this is not to say that at the time of solving it wasn’t as much of a challenge as it always is.
Independent 9,735 by Hoskins
Sorry about the lateness of this blog. But it is Christmas, after all.
Hoskins referred to this puzzle the other day, suggesting that it wasn’t going to be easy; I was very concerned, remembering how difficult he can be: I am one of the slower solvers around but I hardly ever fail to solve crosswords eventually, although the time taken can be embarrassing. However, shortly after Hoskins started to set for the Sunday Times he inflicted on us what was the hardest crossword I have ever done and I had to admit defeat. (But it was football-themed, so that’s my excuse.)
But this one was not in the same league, ho-ho. It was a very pleasant crossword, easily accessible, and with a whole lot of excellent clues. Over the years there must have been a vast number of Christmas-themed crosswords, but without my looking back at them all, I’d say confidently that many of these clues used ideas that have never been used before.
Definitions underlined in maroon; anagram indicators in italics.
Independent 9,731 by Hoskins
I was under the impression that Hoskins always gets me as the blogger, but a Search on fifteensquared shows that this is not the case at all: he is a remarkably prolific setter and seems to have been blogged by an assortment of people. In any case, it is always a pleasure to be faced with one of his, because all the clues are sound, some are very good, and one is never left with a feeling that something is missing. My only criticism is of the slight overuse of exclams (as in 28ac and 2dn) but this is really just a matter of taste; however, I would suggest that he looks at what Ximenes had to say on the subject in his book, although no doubt he already knows and I’m missing something.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. I’ve introduced something someone now does in blogging The Times: putting anagram indicators in bold italic. Actually I haven’t, because the font is such that it appears rather large, so I’ve omitted the bold bit.
Independent 9,726 by Klingsor
It is always a delight when one of Klingsor’s puzzles is to be blogged. On his website a while ago, before he had become an Independent setter, he was bemoaning the fact that despite trying for ages he hadn’t got into the dailies. Thank goodness someone has seen the light, for he is one of the very best setters around. This crossword is up to the usual standard: plenty of lovely surfaces, some excellent clues, and a level of difficulty that means the setter loses graciously but not before quite some effort from the solver: all just as it should be.
Definitions in maroon, underlined.
Independent 9,721 by Phi
As always with Phi everything is pretty obvious once it’s done, but to begin with things were often difficult: he writes clues that are open to a number of different promising approaches. I was delayed for a long time by 21dn; I think my parsing is correct, but in this and one or two other cases no doubt I shall be corrected.
Independent 9,712 by Knut
I enjoyed this. Not too desperately difficult but there were some tricky bits. For example I only just realised about 26ac and was searching vainly on Google for some song that she performed.
Independent 9,707 by Hoskins
Hoskins hasn’t yet really decided how difficult he wants to be: some of his offerings, as in The Sunday Times, and also here, take (me at any rate) a very long time, while others are comparatively gentle. But that is no criticism: there were many good clues here, with convincing and misleading surfaces.
Independent 9,702 by Morph
This, one of Morph’s two-monthly (by which I mean every two months, whether or not that word exists) appearances, was as usual difficult. But fair, and good, with some nice clues.
Independent 9,697 by Phi
When is a Phi crossword anything but workmanlike and pleasantly sound? At my iu3a group the other day I gave everyone a Phi to do and it was much appreciated.
Independent 9,688 by Wiglaf
This crossword from Wiglaf caused some difficulty, partly no doubt as a result of my lack of familiarity with its theme, but apart from one or two niggles everything seemed to be sound enough and generally I enjoyed it.
Independent 9,683 by Dac
Sorry to be a bit late. Out on the toot last night, which at my age doesn’t really mean much, but I didn’t get to bed at the hour usual when blogging the next day.
As always with Dac, all very smooth and little to be said. Perhaps an unusually large number of double-definitions.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.