Independent

For some reason I didn’t really enjoy this a lot, although I can’t explain why: it is all reasonably sound and there are some quite good clues. It just seems a little clunky: few of the surfaces read very well; indeed, it is hard to think what some of them mean. And the clues are on the long side.

Perhaps it was just that it was rather difficult.

Apologies for the delay: as you may be aware, the site was inaccessible earlier this morning.

Definitions underlined and in maroon. (Something seems to have gone wrong: that was the intention, but in fact the definitions are in black and the answers are in maroon.)

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An enjoyable puzzle from one of the few remaining Indy regulars from before the paper’s decline.   There seemed to be a bit of theme in the clues with lots of words which rhyme with Punk e.g. hunk, spunk, trunk.   Not sure if there is anything beyond that.

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This is the first time that it has fallen to me to blog a crossword by Daedalus. The crossword Who’s Who says that his or her debut puzzle appeared only recently in the Independent. I looked back at what people had said and the reception seemed to be less than totally enthusiastic, but either Daedalus is learning or my standards are low (surely not!) because I found this to be a very pleasant solve with nothing there to encourage my Zoilist tendencies. Not totally easy — I see that I took rather a long time to solve it, but that’s just me I think.

Definitions underlined and in maroon.

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Unusual definitions and plentiful misdirection made this tricky.  A sting in the tail without a doubt.  Thanks Scorpion.

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When I saw that this was by Vigo I thought that something similar to what happened recently was going to take place: I was going to be blogging a crossword about which I was less than enthusiastic, while the great body of opinion was largely in favour. But no, on the first count, anyway. I’m very enthusiastic about this crossword, which seems to be to be just right for a daily cryptic: not too hard but not a gimme either, with some good clues and the whole thing a pleasant experience. Whether the great body of opinion will be largely in favour we have yet to see, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it is.

Definitions underlined and in maroon.

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