Independent

As 2026 begins Eccles supplies the first Saturday savoury of the year.

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Phi’s first Independent puzzle of 2026 appears on his usual publication day of Friday, so all’s well with the world.

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Happy New Year from Raich, and from me – best wishes for 2026.

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That was fun!

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Today sees me posting my last blog of 2025 rather later than expected, but here it is. This Tuesday sees the latest puzzle by Kairos, whose work I have rarely blogged as it has tended to appear at the beginning of the week.

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Hubble provides a gentle start to the week.

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The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.

Hi everyone – I hope this festive season finds you well and happy.  Filbert remains one of my favourite setters, and this crossword is full of reasons why. 

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Good morning cruciverbalists. A very Merry Xmas to you all, whether celebrating or not.

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Nimrod provides our Boxing Day challenge.

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Santa’s given us a Phi on Christmas Day!

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Our Christmas Eve cryptic challenge has been set by eimi, perhaps better known to many for his general knowledge puzzles in the i at the weekend. It has been a while since I have solved one of his cryptics, and I am wondering if there is any significance in his name being spelt with a lower-case “e”, both alongside the puzzle and in the clue at 6.

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An Atrica puzzle concludes my Independent blogs for 2025.

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I've not done many Bard puzzles before, so it took me a while to get into the mindset. The grid was unusual with 4 longer double word clues around the perimeter.

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Firstly, thanks to Duncan and miserableoldhack for standing in for us recently. We now have a puzzle by Quince to blog.

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