Independent

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.

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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.

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A traditional Sunday puzzle from Poins.  Thank you.

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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.

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