Independent

I think I have solved all the clues correctly, but I can’t quite explain the parsing/wordplay in all cases. And although I could detect an underlying theme-ette, there were a couple of ‘almost-nina’s … Read more >>

Phi has a theme running through today’s puzzle.       Literature is not my strong point, but I managed to dredge up all the relevant Shakespeare CHARACTERs [9 across] from The TEMPEST … Read more >>

A rather difficult but enjoyable and so far as I can see utterly sound crossword from Tees (except perhaps for 1dn, about which I shall no doubt be corrected). He has achieved a … Read more >>

Last Wednesday we had a special May Day offering from Donk but we are now back to normal with a lovely puzzle from Dac It’s difficult to know what to say about Dac’s … Read more >>

Tuesday today, so you take pot luck in terms of the setter. Today offered me a rare opportunity to blog a puzzle by Jambazi. I made quite swift progress through this crossword, thanks … Read more >>

Klingsor starts the week, he seems to have gone for a &lit record attempt it felt like today. Can’t see any theme or Nina beyond that however. Second time lucky my first attempt … Read more >>

A pleasing puzzle from Hypnos in the usual IoS style – not too challenging, but with plenty of good clues to enjoy.  This one fell out nicely – it was a solver-friendly grid … Read more >>

As expected, this was a somewhat challenging Saturday puzzle from Nimrod. Several of the clues were deceptively straightforward, but there were quite a few that were fiendishly constructed, really stirring up the grey … Read more >>

It isn’t giving anything away to the casual reader of this blog to say that all the across clues are of two words. I found it rather hard to get started on this, … Read more >>

A lovely offering from Nestor today with nothing to complain about!   Hopefully, if you haven’t spotted the theme/nina the opening sentence will give you something to think about! Across 8   Opening … Read more >>

It is Wednesday today, and yet we are not crossing swords with either Dac or Crosophile? How can this be? Have I slept right through Wednesday and missed my blogging slot altogether? There … Read more >>

Alchemi is one of the newer setters on the Independent block.  This was a pleasant solve without too many pitfalls.       I had to think a bit about the parsing of … Read more >>

Lots of neat, well-written clues as ever from Quixote. I particularly liked the &lit of 6 and and the apposite surface reading of 22. Across 1. Bill had a meal eating dog? True! … Read more >>

I believe this is only the second IoS from Commoner.  Many interesting surfaces.  The last answer that I parsed took a bit longer than the others.  Thanks to Commoner.  Definitions are underlined in … Read more >>

A challenging puzzle, as one tends to expect from a Bannsider, but I got there. It took almost the entire week, but I did manage to finish unaided, though one or two took … Read more >>