Independent

Mostly fairly straightforward, I found, but some tricky clues.   Solving time: 18 mins. Notes on some clues below – happy to explain others if asked. ACROSS 11 RED EEM    Definition is ‘deliver’ … Read more >>

Solving Time: 15 minutes Dear Diary Woke up to doorbell ringing, stumbled downstairs and found delivery man with nice box of goodies from Amazon.  New Bradford’s plus the new set of Guardian compilers’ … Read more >>

The theme for today’s Virgilius is lies, tall tales and shaggy dog stories. All the across answers are thematic and with the constraints imposed on the grid by the long themed answers there … Read more >>

Across 1 K in (PEARLS)*,R – SPARKLER. Got this straight off, and all of the other thematic answers followed soon after. 10/5 (LAND)* in ROMANCE – ROMAN CANDLE. The last thematic answer I … Read more >>

Across 1 hidden reversed in “BritiSH CASt” – Hans SACHS is a character in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and, I was surprised to discover, an actual real life person. 4 KEW,IS in … Read more >>

Across 8 PEN,PUS,HER – I don’t understand what “Caribbean estate” is and how it links to PEN, if at all. 9 NO,TED – “observed” is the definition, the rest of the clue is … Read more >>

Solving Time: 20 minutes The usual clever puzzle from Nimrod that was ejoyable to solve with some good laugh-out-loud clues. ACROSS  (* = ANAG  /   (cd) =  Cryptic definition  /  (R) = Reversal) … Read more >>

I found this easier than usual.   Solving time: 14 mins. Notes on some clues below – happy to explain others if asked. * = anagram ACROSS 11 TOAST    Double definition 13 APPLE … Read more >>

Usual high quality fare from Dac: excellent surfaces, good clear wordplay, and at least one I have failed to get. Across 1 FLIGHT CREW — F+LIGHT+CREW(e) — “Those serving in air” is an … Read more >>

More thematic wizardry from my favourite compiler: spot the colours in 6 across clues. Across 1 BROWN-NOSED – little bit of politics from Virgilius there. 6 PS,ST 10 TOT in LIES – LITOTES … Read more >>

I found this very tough indeed.   Usually where there is a theme with interlinked answers, it’s slower but I thought this might be different when I found 16 across etc after just 12 … Read more >>

Solving Time:  26 minutes Lots of F’s around in today’s Phi puzzle (including four block shapes in the corners of the grid).  The usual mix of cryptic defs and good sound clue construction … Read more >>

I think I made very heavy weather of this as, looking back at the answers now, there’s not too much there that should have given me problems; the notable exceptions being 12A and … Read more >>

Solving time : well over an hour. Lots of difficult clues, as one would expect with Scorpion, but some lovely ones and most of them could eventually be explained. I think. Across 1 … Read more >>

A pleasing offering from Quixote – will comment on a small number of what I found the trickier or best clues, but happy to explain others if asked. Solving time: 21 mins * … Read more >>