Independent

The usual excellence from Dac today. Such smooth surfaces, and he clues everything so seamlessly and neatly. A couple I don’t understand, but they will no doubt be explained. Across 1 VOCALISTS — (cov{e})rev. … Read more >>

A unusual grid today, and a puzzle consisting of a relatively small number of clues, often for fairly long entries. The reason for this would appear to be the theme, that of the … Read more >>

A pseudonym that I do not recall seeing before.       A pleasing puzzle that I found was very easy by Indy standards, solving time, 13 mins. * = anagram ACROSS 1 SPECTRES     hidden 9 … Read more >>

My first blog against any of Don’s crosswords I believe. He’s said his Quixote persona tries not to be too hard. I do remember a Duck(?) in the saturday magazine involving Pi which … Read more >>

Solving time: 17:13 It was fairly obvious from the grid that a theme was likely here – the puzzle is about Civil Rights in its US meaning, with CIVIL RIGHTS and four associated … Read more >>

The usual excellent crossword from Dac (Phi actually. I’m so used to making statements like this that when it’s 2.30 a.m. and both setters have three letters in their names one slips. But … Read more >>

To borrow a phrase from Anax this was for me a monster. I found bits of this at times beyond me and I’ve still got some gaps in the wordplay for you lucky … Read more >>

I thought this was rather good. This was certainly quite challenging, at least for me. Many clues took a lot of working out, and also a lot of discipline not be be misled … Read more >>

A quick scan of the 3 most recent blogs on Scorpion puzzles reveals ‘perfectly all right, ‘a remarkably quick solve’ and ‘a bit easier’. Today’s offering – which I found really hard – … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism Enjoyable puzzle by Mordred of middling difficulty. It was probably a better puzzle for more experienced solvers because it had a few old staples … Read more >>

As far as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve tried an Independent on Sunday crossword, and I found it surprisingly easy for a prize puzzle. *(••••) indicates an anagram Across … Read more >>

I would normally panic at seeing Nimrod’s name appear on a blogging day, but with a two hour train journey ahead of me, this was a welcome challenge. I’d filled about two thirds … Read more >>

I don’t know about you guys, but I found this remarkably hard, and I struggled to get anywhere today. This is not least due to the quantity of unfamiliar vocabulary in there. This … Read more >>

Eimi takes the stage today, and some suspicious minds might look at the date and think Armistice  Day. They’d be wrong as this appears to be a vanilla crossword, even if bits do … Read more >>

Great stufff as ever from Dac, who can make even the simplest double definition clue effortlessly elegant. There were one or two trickier clues in here I thought, but every one of them … Read more >>