Independent

Eccles makes his regular fortnightly appearance today       One of the features of  Eccles crosswords is the smoothness of the surface of his clues and the misdirection generated by some of … Read more >>

That was a workout. Really hard work at times, and with 34 clues, some of which were uncomfortably long and took ages to parse, the whole thing took me a good while. But … Read more >>

A pleasing puzzle from Vigo this morning in the ‘doesn’t have to be hard to be enjoyable’ category. Brava.   The only other thing to add before I hand over to you is … Read more >>

Thank you to Tees. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1. Direction of take-off in this plane! (8) VERTICAL : Cryptic defn: Reference to a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft/plane which … Read more >>

Where does the time go when you are not busy? Once again we have a Saturday puzzle to blog – it only seems a few weeks ago when we blogged the last one. … Read more >>

In familiar fashion, Phi brings this week’s suite of mid-week puzzles to a close. I found this crossword harder than a standard Phi, in part due to the grid and that fact that … Read more >>

We have a puzzle by Serpent on Thursday this week.       If I see Serpent as a setter, I know I’m in for a tricky time.  That’s what I found in … Read more >>

Rodriguez hasn’t appeared since April 2017 and I’d never heard of him or her — must have forgotten. I was expecting a newcomer who was possibly very easy (it being Wednesday), something that … Read more >>

We tend to think of Kairos as an Independent on Sunday setter, but he has appeared more recently in weekday slots, and here he is on a Tuesday – with a theme? Our … Read more >>

This is the first time I’ve blogged a Nitsy puzzle: an enjoyable experience that I hope to repeat. Several clues here remind me of the recent US political impasse, though this may just … Read more >>

Enjoyable as always. A nicely varied selection of words (for those of us that like that sort of thing) but not gratuitously obscure. Thank you Tees.   ACROSS 1 DERONDA Loved returning to … Read more >>

The puzzle can be found here.   Hi all.  A Morph puzzle is always a treat and I thought this was as fun and as elegantly done as usual.  A lovely way to … Read more >>

As ever, we have a puzzle from Phi on a Friday.       A good crossword today, even with a few words that are not that common in everyday vocabulary. QUIETUS (11a) … Read more >>

Hard work, but on the whole very pleasing. There were lots of nice clues, but I came unstuck in the SE corner; some of the clues there were terribly hard. Otherwise I enjoyed … Read more >>

We look forward to blogging on a Wednesday as we often have an Eccles puzzle. Joyce laughed as she entered the solution for 3d because it reminded her of her childhood. She used … Read more >>