Independent

Called off the bench again late in the day.  In the interests of getting something out quickish, I’ll be brief. I need help on a couple, please.     Across 1  PLEASANT Nicely … Read more >>

I hadn’t blogged a Scorpion for a while and when I realised that the Tuesday slot had fallen to me, I was hoping it might be one. True to form, Scorpion did not … Read more >>

This puzzle I found was the least difficult Anax Indy puzzle of the year so far – solving time, 20 mins.      Very enjoyable. It’s a themed puzzle –  a theme I tumbled to … Read more >>

My last IoS blog was a Raich, and I bag another here, which I don’t mind at all.  An accessible Sunday Prize Crossword, which I enjoyed. There were a couple of what I … Read more >>

After the usual gulp upon seeing Nimrod at the top of the Prize Puzzle when on blogging duty this turned out to be less evil than many of his puzzles – at least … Read more >>

For some reason I was unusually quick on this crossword, solving over half the clues on an initial read-through, something that doesn’t often happen. So I would say what a nice crossword, wouldn’t … Read more >>

Arachne yesterday in the Guardian transforms to Anarche in the Indy today. Can’t see any themes as such (I missed the Nina by Phi last week) and I had to look up 13a … Read more >>

I was looking forward to a Dac puzzle this Wednesday morning and I was not disappointed: a set of tightly clued entries with fathomable wordplay, yet enough of a challenge to tease the … Read more >>

I often grimace when I see puzzles in which many answers require initially solving a key clue, but this one was cracking stuff. Hard for sure, but very enjoyable, cracking stuff. For no … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism A fairly standard Monday puzzle from Quixote with a nice mixture of clues, mostly on the easy side. As is often the case, there … Read more >>

Crosophile’s Independent on Sunday puzzles seem to me to be pitched just right — fairly straightforward clues, but with some nice little deceptive twists, and plenty of amusing surface reading. Across 1 SNOWY … Read more >>

How lucky am I – A Tyrus puzzle to blog again. Perhaps, it might be time to start possibly cogitating a few answers. So a theme word this week, which is needed to … Read more >>

Well after yesterday’s mauling by Nestor I was quite relieved to see a Phi in normal Friday Indy mode and give me back some belief that I can do cryptic crosswords. This seems … Read more >>

Having enjoyed my last encounter with Nestor a month ago, from which I emerged with my solver’s pride more or less intact, I was relishing the prospect of solving this one when I … Read more >>

Lovely stuff as ever from Dac. I found some of this very tough with a lot of cleverly hidden definitions and struggled with the 2 long cryptic def. clues. I cannot find a … Read more >>