Independent

Solving time: 30 minutes More ingenious clues from Nestor here, making a puzzle I found very hard – I suspect others who struggled more than me on other Nestors will have beaten me … Read more >>

As with my last review of a Nimrod puzzle there were a few clues in this that I didn’t understand so I’m obviously still having problems tuning in. To be fair, I don’t … Read more >>

I found this one fairly straightforward. Solving time: 14 mins * = anagram ACROSS 5 TEMP O RISE 7 CROW D Murder is a collective word for crows. 10 ANNE LI (51) DAN … Read more >>

This is Punk’s third puzzle in the Indy.     He’s Paul in the Guardian, who I’ve heard praised a lot, but he’s said to be hard, and he also sets in the Times.      So I approached … Read more >>

We’re looking for another Independent crossword solver to join our team. You’ll need to be able to post once a week (on any weekday as we have a rota which changes each week) … Read more >>

Solving time: 7:35 A fairly standard offering from Dac today: mostly straightforward clue constructions with a couple of more obscure answers/names and a bit of licence with link words. Is there a political … Read more >>

Apologies for the lkate post – my briadband went down and I couldn’t let anyone know! Thanks to a very patient BT person (and no thanks to half a dozen complete incompetents), I … Read more >>

Got off to a slow start, then raced through most of the puzzle and ground to a halt with 5A and 2D. I also twigged one part of theme before even solving a … Read more >>

Solving time 10:00 + ?? Had most of this done in about 8 mins, but was stuck on 5 and 16 – I had an answer for 16 but as it seemed to … Read more >>

A bit easier than last week’s Nimrod I think but there were still a few I didn’t understand. I’m obviously not tuned in to the Nimrodian frequency at the moment but that didn’t … Read more >>

Solving time: 6:37 Welcome relief after a half-hour struggle with Scorpion yesterday: I much preferred this to the last Phi puzzle I blogged (6288). The antipodean flavour to the top left (OTAGO and … Read more >>

This puzzle reminded me of a year or two back when I thought the Quixote Sunday puzzle was pitched at an easier level than the daily Indy one. Would have been even quicker … Read more >>

Scorpion is, I find, the hardest of the Indy setters and this puzzle was no exception.    There were some novel approaches and some areas I am not entirely sure of all the reasoning.   These … Read more >>

Solving time : 10 minutes or so. The obvious theme of this puzzle made a few of the answers very easy to fill in. This sponsored puzzle is printed on a green background … Read more >>

This had all I’ve come to expect from Dac.   Excellent flowing surface readings, clever misdirection, a very satisfying solve, with all understood in the end.    A bit tougher than usual, maybe partly because … Read more >>