Independent

I know many Tyrus puzzles that I’ve tackled were heavily themed or contained a Nina.   Sometimes the theme was football which I did not fully appreciate and missed half the references.   This grid … Read more >>

This Friday brings us the latest offering from Phi, who is occupying his customary slot. I made steady progress through this (in my view, medium-difficulty) Phi puzzle, only to come unstuck at the … Read more >>

Tees is a regular contributor the Independent daily puzzle series.  I usually enjoy his offerings and today was no exception.       Although I enjoyed the puzzle, I don’t think it was … Read more >>

What can one say? As we get on most Wednesdays, a perfectly-formed creation. The structure of the clues is always deceptively simple, which leaves little room for argument. There are one or two here … Read more >>

We hadn’t realised until we checked that it is over a year since we blogged a Raich puzzle. This was good fun and when we started finding double and then treble instances of … Read more >>

Lots of the usual inventive and frequently suggestive cluing from Punk. Some of the surfaces were a bit jerky but there were a lot of clever devices. I particularly liked 1 and 18. … Read more >>

Another fine puzzle from Hypnos, which seemed neither too hard or too easy. I briefly wondered if a theme was in the offing, centred around the actor at 20ac, who has recently passed … Read more >>

5 weeks on and another duel with Klingsor. And what a pleasure it was. Well this was full of quirky clues, the type I’ve come to expect from Klingsor and so, so enjoyable. It wasn’t … Read more >>

This was, as usual, a good quality puzzle from Phi.       There was a small theme in four of the across clues.  The gateway clue at 24 led to ARTISTS, three … Read more >>

Yesterday someone commented on the new kids on the block and said how well they are all doing, something with which I agree, and Donk is at the forefront of this group. Today’s … Read more >>

Rorschach’s first puzzle was published in the Indy just over a year ago on July 5th and since then there have only been four others. Some of his offerings have been devilish to … Read more >>

It is Tuesday today and it falls to me to bog Hob’s latest puzzle, my second opportunity to do so in the last two months. I found this a quirky and thoroughly entertaining … Read more >>

Another sound as a pound Quixote Monday offering.  When I’m trying to persuade friends to get beyond the ‘Oh, I can’t do cryptics’ stage and have a go, I always recommend Quixote on … Read more >>

It’s the first time I’ve blogged a Commoner puzzle, although I think he has had a few published in the IoS before.  I really enjoyed this one: there was some quite complicated wordplay, … Read more >>

The rota has given me a second Bannsider Saturday Prize puzzle in a row and, while not quite as intractable as Indy 8345, it was another tough mental workout…as one might expect. No particular themes … Read more >>