Independent

I found this very easy, solving time 11 mins. * = anagram    < = reversed ACROSS 4 FIRE D  RILL 7 DEL(p)HI       Definition/wordplay splits at capital/city 9 RE(A)CTOR 10 NOT HALF 11 SEE … Read more >>

Seamless clueing as always. Mostly straightforward, but there were a few terms, or at least definitions, I wasn’t familiar with. Still, everything came together nicely as expected. I was particularly taken with one … Read more >>

A themed puzzle on the punk group  SEX PISTOLS (2 down).   The associated answers are titles of some of their best-known hits.   I found it very tough indeed.    Solving time, … Read more >>

I am standing in today for a regular blogger who is on holiday.  I am not a regular Independent solver and my dictionary of choice tends to be Chambers.  It is clear however that The … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Top quality as always from Phi. There’s something of a cricket theme going on, for obvious reasons, and “RE” comes up a lot – I’m … Read more >>

I haven’t blogged an Anax puzzle before – in fact I’m not sure that I’ve even seen one in the Independent. That said, the name is of course more than a little familiar … Read more >>

This was one of the hardest Indy puzzles I’ve ever tackled.   Only one answer entered on first run through as a tentative guess which, as the rest of the puzzle was solved, turned … Read more >>

Solving time, 24 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 S (AU CE) PAN 6 BU(i)CK 9 Shed NAILS 10 RE PR IS AL 11 BUSINESS LETTER 12 FA(C)T O TUM 13 (ma)LICE 16 … Read more >>

Apologies for the late posting. Lousy workload! Nowt lousy about this offering from the mid-week maestro though. Elegant stuff from Dac, who never fails to impress. Across 1 LIBIDO – I in LIB … Read more >>

Whenever ones sees several answers that are not ‘properly’ checked (in other words which have more unchecked than checked letters) one is alerted to the fact that there is some theme; although I … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def This was a brilliant piece of work by Morph. I don’t know if the idea has been used before or not – it’s such a … Read more >>

A nice end to the week from Phi. Started this as I got on the bus to work, and finished just before I needed to get off. Perfect. Across 1 SUPERCHARGED – PERCH … Read more >>

I struggled with this puzzle having to return to it a number of times.  With hindsight I think that the wordplay was clever but very fair.  The definitions were well disguised which made … Read more >>

An enjoyable crossword from Scorpion. As you might expect there was some tricky wordplay — in many of these its explanation needs to be separate from the answer. Across 1 SILICON VALLEY — 2 defs, … Read more >>

Solving time, 19 mins, so not too difficult. * = anagram  < = reversed ACROSS 1 NAT HAN(d)   tan< 4 S (PORT) ING 9 B (EAR) OUT 11 UP P (SAL)A 12 SONS … Read more >>