Independent

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. A surprise Thursday Phi, not that I’m complaining, and it seems that many happy returns may be in order, given the Nina across the first … Read more >>

Solving time, 15 mins, so fairly easy. * = anagram ACROSS 1/12 CALL OF THE WILD   Book by the American writer Jack London 4 CU TS OUT    Cu = Copper (stout)* 9 ROUGH-HEWN   … Read more >>

The usual high-class Dac puzzle, with as always a succession of natural and deceptively simple surfaces. Across 1 SNOWDRIFTS — (winds frost)* — frost? I suppose in the sense that snow itself is caused by a … Read more >>

An incredible puzzle – absolutely brilliant.   In line with 14 across EVERY across solution  had the name of a tree within the word as an internal part.   The clues are, as always from … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def I got most of this done fairly quickly, but then got stuck on 1,2,10,17 and 21. Most of these involved obscure or unusual words. There … Read more >>

Before I solved 11ac it was hard to cope with all those clues that referred to it, but fairly soon that was all right, and there were no terribly obscure 11s. Although most … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Nestor’s puzzles are always good, and I doubt that this was an exception, but for some reason I couldn’t really get any momentum going here. … Read more >>

Unusual puzzle. Got almost nothing on first run through. Then with three crossing letters saw what 8 was likely to be. After that made quite good progress, until getting badly stuck on 9. … Read more >>

Solving time, 22 mins * = anagram 1 PAWN BROKE R & lit My last answer and my favourite clue 6 (D)(AVID) 9 ASPIRES Dreaming spires of Oxford 10 TO WARDS 13 DISORDERLINESS … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Top clueing from Dac as always. Perhaps a little tougher than is usual for a Wednesday, but it might be just me being slower than … Read more >>

I struggled with yesterday’s puzzle, so was glad that this was easier to get into and finish. I can’t claim a 100% score though as I plumped for an incorrect guess at 23A. … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def I had a torrid time with this. I missed the pub theme completely because I thought that 23 and 11 related to the answers in … Read more >>

Good Phi puzzle as always, solving time 21 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 MUS(t) I C Definition: notes 4 BAGUETTES (Bet a guest)* 9 S (A RACE) N Sn … Read more >>

This was a Cocker-knee rhyming slang special. I ‘ad t’scratch me old loaf a bit to solve this one. There were a good sprinkling of relatively easy clues for a saturday to get … Read more >>

I found this one a pretty stiff challenge, but that may simply be because when I see that the setter is Scorpion I tend to panic a little. The wordplay is complex, but … Read more >>