Independent

I found this very difficult, I think – I didn’t manage to record my solving time. The grid has 6 15-letter answers, and most of these were used for phrases that you don’t … Read more >>

I think after Phi popped up on Tuesday, it was anybody’s guess who we’d be doing battle with today. In the end it was Punk, who we haven’t seen for a little while. … Read more >>

Always a pleasure to get a Morph puzzle, and I don’t say that just because I know he’ll be reading this. There’s always a good dose of humour in his puzzles and some … Read more >>

The usual excellent crossword from Dac. There is absolutely nothing (apart perhaps from 20dn) that I have any problem with, and all the clues have a deceptively simple and elegant surface. Across 1 HOPELESS … Read more >>

Well, what have we here, Phi on a Tuesday, unusual. Still a mostly gentle ride today. 1 Repapered, REP + APE + RED 6 Sugar, Sweet. Don’t get the wordplay here, it’s probably … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism I think this was mostly up to the usual Independent standard and had a nice mixture of clues with some well-concealed definitions. A couple … Read more >>

This week’s IoS was of average difficulty we reckoned, taking just under half an hour. A number of enjoyable surfaces and a couple of words that were new to us. Only 19dn remains … Read more >>

I can’t spell Tiananmen. I had it as Tiannamen for ages which held me up on the SW corner and 15D in particular of course. In fact, I would’ve spelt it Tianamen except … Read more >>

This is the first puzzle I’ve had chance to do this week and, looking at the blogs, it looks as if I’ve landed on my feet drawing the Friday slot. Nothing too tricky … Read more >>

All this was far too difficult for me and if it hadn’t been for the reveal function I’m sure I’d never have finished, because there are still several that I can’t understand. The … Read more >>

Pretty easy and straightforward DAC today. This was a bit rushed so there may a few typos. 1 Tapestery – Apes + T(itian) in TRY 5 Rabbit – Rabbi + T(time) 10 Arson … Read more >>

I’m a big fan of Radian’s puzzles, so was happy to see the name come up today. This was an enjoyable challenge, themed around 1ac. This was a bit of trawl (pun intended?) … Read more >>

An excellent puzzle from Mordred. It is themed on the TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine (hereinafter LSW) which, after a record-breaking 37 years is coming to an end with the last … Read more >>

Morning all. An impressive grid this week with no fewer than eight 15-letter answers. These long answers were mostly presented as anagrams, and unpicking them all took some time. Our pick of the … Read more >>

Solving time: About 38 minutes says my copy, but I think this includes an arbitrary penalty for running out of patience and looking up the posssibilities for 5D, which was a bit poor … Read more >>