Independent

Independent 8800 by Punk

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An unusually restrained puzzle from Punk, surprisingly free of any salacious references (even with an open goal like 24d). There was however the usual range of pop culture references, including some football and … Read more >>

Independent 8,797 by Hieroglyph

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All the time that I was doing this the answers seemed to be clear enough, all of a piece with 9ac, and I was telling myself that the meaning of CA would eventually appear. But it wasn’t until quite long after finishing that I realised that CA was 100 Acres, 100 Acre Wood, the place where Pooh and his friends live. I’m not an expert on W-the-P, having unfortunately missed out on it in my childhood, but over the years all the names have become familiar — except for 6dn.

I’ve only just realised (after writing a long paragraph saying that I couldn’t understand ‘would say’) that ‘CA would, say’ is a homophone of ‘CA wood’. Why 6dn has commas but the others don’t is a mystery, though.

But I still can’t see the connection with today. It doesn’t seem to be any significant Pooh anniversary. Is it a non-Christmas crossword? Or, which is far more likely, am I missing something?

A nice crossword from Hieroglyph. Perhaps there are rather a lot of letters indicated by the first or last letters of words, but then perhaps that is the devilish intention.

Definitions underlined.

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Independent 8796 / Phi

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Thanks Phi for an unexpected enjoyable crossword. We say ‘unexpected’ because we normally get to solve your puzzles on Friday – not unexpected because they are not usually enjoyable! While writing up the … Read more >>

Independent 8795/Dac

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It’s Wednesday, so it’s Dac.  Hang on …  What’s occurring?  Well, I guess Wednesday is The Night Before Christmas, so the editor may have something appropriate up his sleeve.  Frankly, my dear, I … Read more >>

Independent 8793 / Phi

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Phi has given us a fairly standard crossword today       There is however a slight nod towards the season with entries including the words CHRISTMAS (3/8/20), SEASON (9 across), SWEET (17 … Read more >>

Independent 8,792 by Crosophile

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Initially I felt ill-disposed towards this, because of my obsession (some would call it a hang-up) with less than 50% checking, something that appears several times in the grid. But actually this is a perfectly pleasant crossword with some nice clues.

The inadequate (in my opinion) checking is sometimes excusable if there is a Nina and the setter is trying to get normal words into the grid. But in this case the Nina (which for once I’ve seen, although perhaps there is more) is fairly simple: look at the seven-letter words going diagonally from top to left, top to right, etc in the grid. They are all of a kind, and, further, the shape of the words surrounds something that may also be regarded as one of these.

Definitions underlined.

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