The usual thing: every clue has a silky-smooth surface that never compromises the parsing. I thought this was on the hard side for a Dac and it took me some while to understand one or two, particularly 23ac, which I almost gave up on, but my parsing is I think what he intended, although perhaps it is on the edge compared with Dac’s usual.
John
Independent 8,887 by Radian
A very nice Radian puzzle of I think a nice level of difficulty. I say ‘I think’ because I only have an impression, my actual time not meaning much. At the moment I have a strange pain in my right thumb when I try to write, which forces me to write left-handed, which is wonderful, like being a small child again, but incredibly slow, and when I have to write the letters down to get an anagram it takes ages.
Independent 8,882 by Phi
Every Friday we have the same thing, a very satisfactory and pleasant crossword from Phi, with few if any points of controversy. Initially, when I saw the answer ‘raindrop’ I thought Phi was balancing out all those rock music Ninas we so often have, by having nicknames of pieces of music, possibly just by Chopin, but either he is, and I am ignorant, or this was a false lead.
As usual with Phi for some reason, I was slow to start but then made steady progress.
Azed 2233
My apologies: I had intended to do this blog today, using the nice software that gives you the clues, but when I came to do so I found that this week’s puzzle was already … Read more >>
Independent 8,873 by Hob
A medium-difficulty puzzle from Hob today; indeed for a Tuesday this was perhaps a quite easy one. Apart from my very minor quibble in 23dn the clues are good, particularly 16ac, 6dn, 11dn and 14dn. Basil Fawlty told the American in ‘Waldorf Salad’ that he was always talking about bottoms; in the same vein I might say that there is rather a lot of sex here.
Independent 8,868 by Dac
There is never anything new to say about Dac. As usual this is a thoroughly neat and satisfactory crossword. I found it a little harder than Dac usually is, although when I look back at the clues there seems to be no reason for this.
Definitions underlined.
Independent 8,863 by Donk
What has Donk inflicted on us? This was probably the most difficult crossword I’ve ever done, although many of the clues were very neat. It was completely filled in eventually but I got four answers wrong, and the fact that four of the clues begin “One left” and five of them begin “One right” didn’t help the solving.
Independent 8,858 by Phi
The usual from Phi: a very pleasant and sound crossword that maintains the high standard. And as usual I am a bit lost on one or two, but these will I’m sure be explained.
As I say below, I had thought there might be an astronomical theme, but failing that, and this theory does I think fail, I can’t see anything else.
Definitions underlined.
Independent 8,849 by Knut
Knut made his debut only the other day. Now he appears again, and much of this continues the good start he made. There is a lot I don’t understand; my temptation is to say that some of the clues are a bit weak or unsound, but I don’t dare to because it’s far more likely that I’m missing things.
It’s a very strange grid — perfectly OK and no solecisms with the checking. Was this, together with the large number of clues, done in order to fit in some theme? If it was then I can’t see it.
Definitions underlined.
Independent 8,844 by Dac
What new is there to say about Dac? Every clue tells a little story. I have misgivings about ‘provided’ as an anagram indicator in 4dn, and I suspect that there might be a typo in 12dn, since my suggestion is so simple that I can’t see why Dac didn’t do it that way (although now that I look more closely he may be right all along, the two words necessitating a verb without s; not sure about this — perhaps someone who knows about these things could drop in and tell us); but a small price to pay for a day of Dac.
Definitions underlined.
AZED 2,227
As usual everything (with the possible exception of 25dn) is quite simple but very complicated since the words are so difficult. Hence many of these clues can be explained in one short statement.
Definitions underlined
Independent 8,839 by Monk
Rather a difficult Monk today I thought, but as usual very enjoyable. There are one or two loose ends which, thanks to the wisdom of those reading this blog, should be tied up before the end of the day.
And of course there’s the Nina, which I half saw and then forgot, to be reminded by Herb @1, who saw rather more than I did. The bottom row is a clear statement, so I looked at the top and couldn’t understand what was happening. All explained below. Very good. I can’t see why Herb thinks he hasn’t got it, for it clearly refers to the Russian novel.
Definitions underlined.
Independent 8,834 by Phi
As I said when posting last week, I am always slow to begin Phi’s crosswords, but then everything becomes clear and you wonder why there were any difficulties, because it all fits together fine and one is left wondering what the problem ever was. Perhaps that’s the mark of a good setter.
I have given up having more than a cursory glance (which of course failed to find anything here) to see if Phi has given us a Nina, since his — if they exist at all — are always so difficult to see. No doubt …
Definitions underlined.
Independent 8,825 by Eimi
A pleasant crossword from Eimi. Of course there are references to football and pop music, but I was expecting those. If there is a Nina I can’t see it; it all seems quite straightforward.
Definitions underlined where appropriate.
Independent 8,820 by Dac
What new is there to say about Dac? This was one of his easiest, many of the clues not really very different from those in The Times Quick Cryptic, but the surfaces were as always perfect. I wondered if Dac was amusing himself by having all clues with their definition at the beginning — certainly this seemed to be the case at first — but it soon became clear that he wasn’t.
Definitions underlined.