Independent

The usual wonderful Virgilius themed around one of our favourite activities. Every one (although perhaps 30 is stretching it a bit) of the across answers is in some way connected with crosswords. I … Read more >>

I found this quite hard as birds, along with trees, are not a strong point with me. I’d never heard of a 13, a 14 or a 16 but eventually got them from … Read more >>

All but three or four seemed to be the usual pleasant accessible Phi crossword, but then I became totally stuck on 11dn, 21dn perhaps, 22dn perhaps and 25ac, and eventually I had to use various … Read more >>

Great puzzle from this highly consistent setter with a mini-theme I would never have spotted if fellow blogger nmsindy hadn’t sent me the following: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/7380607.stm 6 and 12 aren’t blogged but are part … Read more >>

I found this very tough, despite a quick start. Still not sure about 8 and 11 though. Across 1 MUGGLE in S,D – in the Harry Potter books, a MUGGLE is someone who … Read more >>

Solving time, 17 mins * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 8 CHAT EAU (water in French) 9 A (GAIN) ST ST = saint = good person 10 O N ICE 11 DISFAVOUR … Read more >>

Solving time:  15 mins A nice enjoyable puzzle from one of the Indy’s stable of fine setters.  Several really excellent clues including 14 across, 17 down (hope he doesn’t sue!) and 23 across. … Read more >>

This was the first time I’ve encountered Merlin, and I found it a stiff (but satisfying) challenge. There were some easy ones which got me started, but I then needed to make a … Read more >>

I found this a very unusual crossword, much tougher than usual (perhaps scheduled because of the Bank Holiday).    I spent 47 mins at it, but did not solve it, not getting 23 ac … Read more >>

One of the things that struck me when I was solving this entertaining puzzle is how heavily my solving “technique” (if that’s not too poncey) involves working off of definitions and checking letters, … Read more >>

A fairly gentle end to the week I thought. The grid seemed quite heavy on the black squares, and there are a number of long answers (most notably 7/3/16/11) which fill a fair … Read more >>

I found this reasonably easy (for a Nimrod) although I couldn’t get 26 and didn’t fancy guessing it either. I spotted the Nina with the grid half full though so filling in the … Read more >>

I found this very easy, solving time 12 mins * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 POLISH Double definition 4 ACC R EDIT 9 ERR AND S 11 (C) UMBRIAN 12 GO … Read more >>

Although there are one or two I’m not sure about, this was not one of Dac’s most difficult. Which doesn’t prevent it from being well up to his usual standard. Is there some … Read more >>

Another excellent themed puzzle from Virgilius, the theme becoming apparent to me only quite late on. The middle row is PARTS OF SPEECH and every row, sometimes in one word, sometimes reading across … Read more >>