Independent

Obvious from looking at the clues that this was a golf-based puzzle, timed to coincide with the start of the US Masters.     Made a lot of quick early progress but then it got … Read more >>

This was much more straightforward than last week and included one mention of the date (Easter Sunday). The grid suggested the possibility of a perimeter nina, but we couldn’t find anything. Perhaps rereading … Read more >>

Apologies for a bit of a late posting due to illness. As a result the post is a little rushed and mistakes may well have crept in. This seemed fairly tough in places … Read more >>

Nice to get a chance to blog a puzzle set by one of our own at last. This is Raich/Niall’s 3rd daily outing (I think) and continues his excellent form to date. There … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism As a fan of horror films, this was right up my street. Having said that, I wasn’t completely convinced by the cryptic def for … Read more >>

Themed puzzle, based on 6 across, solving time 23 mins.    A few words unfamiliar to me that I was able to work out from the clear and fair wordplay. * = anagram   < … Read more >>

Another solve of two halves for me, racing away to start with, then grinding to a halt on the last few. The SE gave me the most grief, with 22 and 24 defeating … Read more >>

One doesn’t tend to expect a Nimrod to be easy, but this was perhaps tougher than usual. Fortunately, the Nina on the top and bottom rows made itself evident fairly early on, and … Read more >>

Very much a game of two halves this one: figuratively, in that we completed most of it within twenty minutes, but then spent as long again on the remainder; and also literally, in … Read more >>

More brilliance from Dac. As good a set of clues as I’ve seen in a long while, although he’s stumped me on 15D! Across 1 SEPTET – PT. in SEE + T(enor) 4 … Read more >>

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 >>