Independent

Quite a tough and enjoyable puzzle from Mordred, some quite easy clues to start with but then it got much harder with the lower half of the grid especially quite difficult.    Solving time, … Read more >>

The usual collection from Quixote here, with the three long answers all anagrams, as often seems to be the case. 14 and 18 down were both new words to us. ACROSS 5. VEGETABLE … Read more >>

Punk (Paul really) is promised at a gathering in a few weeks: Nov 30: Secrets of the setters. In this crossword I felt he did not push the boundaries of his “libertarian” tag. … Read more >>

Another excellent puzzle from Phi. I seemed to get through this fairly swiftly, despite a few unfamiliar terms. One or two in the SW corner held me up a little though. *=anag, []=dropped, … Read more >>

Bannsider today, not sure I’ve seen him other than Saturday before. If there are any Nina type things I’ve completely missed it. Pretty tough I thought. There’s one I can’t see at all … Read more >>

One runs out of words of praise for Dac’s crosswords: as always this is full of smooth clues with elegant surfaces.  Often they need no explanation after the answers have been broken into their … Read more >>

Looking back over the year, this seems to be only the 4th Math puzzle we’ve had in 2010. If last year’s stats are anything to go by, we should be due two more … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism The online version had the compiler as Anaz this morning, but the printed version says Anax. I found the puzzle a bit of a … Read more >>

We were very happy that Quixote went easy on us this week, as we completed this one with considerable hangovers after the joy of the Azed 2,000 lunch. Nothing too taxing here, but … Read more >>

I’m sorry that you are stuck with two Saturday puzzle blogs in a row from me, but thanks to the other Saturday Independent bloggers for letting me do some swaps to overcome periods when … Read more >>

The usual excellent puzzle from Phi. Definitely some tough words in here I thought and I needed a bit of help to finish it off. Lovely clueing as always though. Across 1 SCHEDULE … Read more >>

An excellent crossword from Morph today. There are still some that I can’t see but I’m sure they will be explained by someone. As for a Nina, I suspect there is one since … Read more >>

A lot of double definitions today it seems. Usual good stuff from Dac but I don’t get the wordplay for 21d Across 1 Booth – DD 4 Maquisard – QUI in (DRAMAS)* ; … Read more >>

Always nice to see a Raich puzzle. This one seemed really quite straighforward, though the NE corner held me up for a bit while the final few entries fell into place. *=anag, []=dropped, … Read more >>

Nice puzzle by Nitsy which varied from quite easy in places to quite tricky, solving time 32 mins. * = anagram ACROSS 1 LAMP   M (master) in LAP (drink)   lamp = punch (hit)    … Read more >>