Independent

It is Wednesday today and not the last of the month, so it has to be Dac, and indeed it is! I found this towards the tougher end of the Dac spectrum, and … Read more >>

Radian is a regular setter in the Independent (and also the Guardian and Financial Times under different pseudonyms. I note he is in the Guardian today as Crucible).  Radian is keen on themes … Read more >>

After some tough puzzles last week, things were back to normal with a straightforward Quixote. Across 1. Beauty treatment? Female having a cold one gets a line reduced (6) Facial F(emale) = a … Read more >>

An enjoyable puzzle from Hypnos, just nice for a relaxing Sunday.  Thank you to Hypnos.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.  [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links with the puzzzle.]] Across 1 … Read more >>

So it’s a snowy day in January and for those with some time to kill a Saturday puzzle from the enigmatic Bannsider. Quite a work-out it was too. Some wonderfully inventive devices, as … Read more >>

We always look forward to our blog on a Friday. Phi’s puzzles are always a delight to solve with their smooth surface reading and then often something to search for, even when the … Read more >>

I know that when my blog falls on a Thursday there is a good chance that I will cross swords with Nestor, a challenge that I relish. This one, however, almost proved beyond … Read more >>

This is Crosophile’s first weekday outing of the year in the Independent series.  We got our money’s-worth today with 32 clues.  My experience of blogging the Independent is that 32 clues is the … Read more >>

Yes I was right yesterday when I posted and said that I suspected the Raich crossword was easier than whatever I was going to be blogging today,  but although this was on the tricky side all … Read more >>

Always a pleasure to get a Raich to blog, and I enjoyed battling with this one.  A tough solve for a Monday, though, I found.   Not sure whether the setter was deliberately … Read more >>

So, a new setter (I think!). Not sure if Kairos goes by another name elsewhere, but either way, this was a cracking Indy debut. I got a couple of quick anagrams here and … Read more >>

There seem to have been quite a few Saturday Prize puzzles from Tees recently, but this is the first to have fallen on my blogging schedule. An interesting puzzle with a little extra…and … Read more >>

It’s Friday today and Phi is occupying his usual compiling slot. I found that I made swifter progress through this one than is usual for me with a Phi puzzle. I was, however, … Read more >>

Thursdays usually bring a challenging crossword.  I think today’s offering from Klingsor certainly falls into the challenging category.       For those who don’t know the names behind setters pseudonyms, Klingsor is … Read more >>

The usual excellent puzzle from Dac. No problems that I could see — some might object to his use of r = recipe, but that seems to me to be quite OK — … Read more >>