Independent 8,787 by Phi

As usual with Phi I was a little slow to get started as few answers seemed to be obvious, but once going it all seemed clear enough. And then I came to a long halt with the last three, 21ac, 19dn and 22dn, which wouldn’t budge. The somewhat unusual sense of ‘clipped’ is my excuse; although it isn’t perhaps all that unusual, being the first item in the second Chambers definition.

In the end it was the usual very pleasant Phi experience. Lots of single-letter abbreviations here: is this a theme? (l = league, d = depth, f = farthing, n = note, E = European, r = runs, h = hard, n = name, m = millions, o = old, s = son, again n = note, and perhaps others I’ve missed.)

The unches at the top and the bottom spell out two words which no doubt send us to some series of books that escape my experience.

Definitions underlined.

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Independent 8783 by Kairos

I found this ultimately a little unsatisfactory because 16 and 15 across were rather obscure and your only recourse, if you didn’t know the words, was to guess. Apart from those two, it … Read more >>

Independent 9,778 by Radian

Three checked letters in a seven-letter answer is bad enough; two in a five-letter answer is even worse. Unless, some say, Radian has been constrained by a Nina and has been forced to use answers of this type. If he has (and of course I can’t see it) then perhaps this is justified. And anyway it’s only my view (but also that of some eminent others, I might add).

Pity, because much of this crossword is good, and there are some excellent clues. I particularly enjoyed 1dn.

Definitions underlined.

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