Independent

Typical brilliance from Virgilius. At first I thought, after predicting confidently that the long word across was going to be SYMMETRICAL, what’s the big deal? All crosswords are symmetrical. Then I saw it … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism Pleasant Monday crossword from Morph with some cracking clues. It wasn’t too difficult, although it took me a while to get going with it … Read more >>

It’s a while since I blogged a Friday Phi, so either I’m a little rusty or this was quite a tough one. Not having heard of the relevant trilogy didn’t help, although it … Read more >>

I found this hard and took a good afternoon to solve it.  There were a couple of words or phrases I had not come across before, namely CACOETHES SCRIBENDI and PULQUE.  I knew … Read more >>

Apologies, I’ll need to be brief today, so won’t be able to give this the full treatment it deserves. I found this to be a tough but very enjoyable puzzle from Nestor. I … Read more >>

The usual enjoyable bag of tricks from Quixote. A couple of inventive clues stood out for us: 6 down and 17 across. ACROSS 1. KOPECK ‘ok’ backwards, followed by peck ‘a little kiss’ … Read more >>

Not the easiest Dac puzzle, I thought. The explanation of two or three answers still eludes me, but no doubt someone will explain. The two symmetrical pairs of eight-letter answers look significant, but … Read more >>

Enjoyable, themed, puzzle from Tees, solving time 38 mins.       Very impressed with how much themed material was in the grid, without sign of strain with other answers. * = anagram    < = reversed … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism This was one of those puzzles where I spent more time working out the logic behind some of the answers than I did filling … Read more >>

I found this to be one of the hardest Phi puzzles we’ve had in a while, eventually having to give up with 4 clues unsolved. There are a few obscure words in here … Read more >>

How do you refer to your Significant Other? Tyrus reminds us of a few choice expressions with perhaps the notable omission of “She Who Must Be Obeyed”. Across 6 SPOT-ON T[ime] inside SPOON … Read more >>

Another enjoyable, well clued puzzle from Quixote. The south-west corner took longest, for no good reason – just couldn’t think of the right words for a while. H was pleased to see ‘demotic’ … Read more >>

An unusual Thursday appearance for Dac, caused by the jiggling necessary to fit in Virgilius’s St Patrick’s Day crossword on Wednesday, so this must be one of the gentler Thursday offerings; but surely … Read more >>

A special puzzle on the Irish national day, St Patrick’s Day, by Virgilius who hails from there.        Impressive that so much thematic material was packed into clues and answers.    Great stuff as always … Read more >>

A pretty tough but enjoyable themed puzzle from a Fifteensquared regular. The theme is spelled out in a Nina across the top row, and fans of prison-based sitcoms, or perhaps just those of … Read more >>