Independent

Dac’s back after a week away. 1ac is a new term for me but a quick internet search confirmed it. Some nice long anagrams to get yer teeth into. Indicates Anagram = * … Read more >>

Raich gave me a good workout this morning, offering me enough easy clues to get started and enough of a challenge to keep me scratching my head for quite a while. Of all … Read more >>

A wealth of wit, a soupçon of smut, and a cracking cruciverbal Monday morning.  Mr Halpern’s moseyed into town. After the trauma of finding that I had to blog Anax a few weeks … Read more >>

Sunday afternoon means a pint (or two!) and the IOS crossword. So here’s Glow-worm from last week. Can anyone help with the wordplay for 14a ? thanks Sil I see we have a … Read more >>

  I started off at a canter with this one from the bottom right, but slowed to a stop after 30 mins with just over half in place. A re-start saw 1A fall … Read more >>

The usual very neat offering from Phi. Many of the clues are simple in construction, but nevertheless are efficiently done and of a high standard; and they are not immediately obvious. Because of … Read more >>

I was rather hoping Nimrod’s new job as editor for the Saturday magazine Inquisitor crossword would keep him too busy to set the Thursday toughie, alas not…   We almost have a Nina here, … Read more >>

Crosophile had the edge over me this morning, I have to say. Having only blogged one of his puzzles until today, I have not yet fully fathomed how this setter’s mind works. Perhaps … Read more >>

I had a certain sense of deja-vu with this one. Much like Phi’s recent pasta puzzle, I solved the key clue (22A) fairly early on and managed to get a fair few of … Read more >>

I found this was an extremely easy puzzle in the Quixote style familiar from the IoS before he moved back to the main paper.    One of my fastest solves of the year so … Read more >>

Abject apologies again for the delay — knowing all the other pressures on my time over the past week, I should really have organised a swap for this one; but I thought I’d … Read more >>

What has Tyrus in store for us? A very topical puzzle indeed considering the antics of the gutter press and those who inhabit the gutters that the general public seem to find so … Read more >>

It’s Friday so it must be Phi. Usual good stuff and for me a pretty quick solve certainly under 20 minutes without really trying. No obvious (to me at least!) theme here. As … Read more >>

A double first for me today: this was the first time that it has fallen to me to solve and blog a Nestor puzzle AND I think that it is the first time … Read more >>

Maybe I was a bit out of sorts today, but this seemed pretty tough for Dac. The first answer I entered was 18A, and even then I didn’t know quite why (still not … Read more >>