Independent 8,600 by Monk

Monk is always good. There are some excellent clues here and one or two where I’d be grateful for a little explanation. We differ over the matter of CDs, but Monk isn’t the only setter who uses them. However, if there were no well-known setters who dislike them I’d keep quiet.

Surprise surprise — I’ve seen the Nina, or at any rate as much of it as I’m likely to see: look at the horizontal unchecked letters in the middle followed by the vertical unchecked letters in the middle, but quite where the climax of it all is I can’t see.

Definitions in italics.

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Independent 8,595 by Phi

The usual excellent crossword from Phi, who never seems to miss a Friday. Apparently there’s nothing about which I’m uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t misinterpreted something somewhere.

The unchecked letters at the top and bottom suggest a Nina, but evidently not. Anyway Phi’s Ninas are always far more obscure than this and will probably refer to some work of literature that I’ve never heard of, so there’s no point in looking. I’ll leave that to the hunters.

Definitions in italics.

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