Independent

An excellent puzzle, as usual, from this top setter. Solving time: 19 mins * = anagram  < = reverse ACROSS 4 H AND M (Clothes shop) AID 11 A LEX (Luthor – Superman’s … Read more >>

A St Andrew’s Day theme in the appropriate week. One or two tricky clues, but I found it fairly easy overall. Solving time: 16 mins. Notes on some clues below – happy to … Read more >>

Across 4 SCHNAPPS – cleverly done. A drunkard might pronounce “snaps” (pictures = shots) as SCHNAPPS. The literal reading works too. 10 D in LANG,RAVE – this was new to me but fairly … Read more >>

The usual brilliant crossword from Virgilius. His clues are consistently excellent, but there is nearly always a very clever theme, which is usually signposted by the fact that the grid is a bit … Read more >>

I found this very tough, although the Milton theme helped a lot if you were at all familiar with his work. My favourite clue was 25 – a superbly hidden anagram. Across 8 … Read more >>

In his blog yesterday, nmsindy was wondering why Phi had been moved from his usual Friday slot; this puzzle might provide an explanation… Across 8 A,(LIFE)* – I was all set to deride … Read more >>

Across 3 A,MB,U,LANCES – I hesitated a bit over this as I didn’t know that LANCE=move quickly but with A,MB,U and a definition of “hospital transport” there’s not much else it can be. … Read more >>

(For those that missed it, this is the completed grid of Independent 6582 by Virgilius. Thanks to Eimi for supplying the image)

Phi usually appears on Friday rather than today (Thursday).      Wondered if there was a date-specific reason for this, but cannot see a theme.    Quite an easy puzzle, I found.   Solving time, 15 mins … Read more >>

Tougher than usual, I thought. Solving time: 31 mins Notes on some clues below, happy to explain others if asked. ACROSS 6 A PLACE IN THE SUN “An opportunity for the high life? … Read more >>

As usual Dac’s clues are consistently excellent. Few stand out (except for 14D), but they are always sound and have clear good surfaces. It’s a bit like Mozart (although Dac might feel a … Read more >>

A couple of weeks ago I had an email from someone – let’s call him E – advising me to make sure I was blogging today’s puzzle. “How intriguing”, I thought at the … Read more >>

Across 9 Capo: Truman Capote (US writer) – TE (note from doh, re..) 10 Metalloidal: (made a lot ill)*. Tricky word. 13 Octopod: Initial letters running backwards. Also some & lit because the … Read more >>

Solving time : 35 minutes. As he does every week, Phi manages to produce a crossword that is full of clever stuff with which it’s apparently almost impossible to find fault. Across 1 MOP IS … Read more >>

I’d be interested to know how everyone else got on with this as I found it very easy – solved in just over 11 minutes, far and away my quickest ever time for … Read more >>