Independent

This was a good example of a daily puzzle.  The entries are everyday words and the clues conjured up plenty of mental images, many involving enjoyable misdirection.  I struggled a bit deconstructing the … Read more >>

An excellent offering from Anax today. It seems that he is making his crosswords a bit more accessible, without the devilish twists of wordplay that have characterised his puzzles in the past. Although, … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism Slightly unusual for Mordred to crop up on a Monday, but this was a slightly easier puzzle that he sometimes sets. There were still … Read more >>

Having moved from blogging the daily puzzle to the Sunday one, I seem to be landing all the setters I rarely saw during the week. No complaints though, as this was good stuff … Read more >>

Well – a treat for me – a Nimrod puzzle to blog. I’d better reach for the medication! As I would expect from Nimrod – some very original clues. Also a theme connecting … Read more >>

Plenty to get one’s teeth into this morning, since this grid, new to me, accommodates a large number of words, including a noticeably high proportion of short entries of 3-5 letters. There were … Read more >>

The Independent provides a varied diet of crosswords with an interesting mix of difficulty, types of clues, themes and ninas.       On the face of it, today’s offering was a good … Read more >>

As always a smooth solving experience from Dac. His surfaces are quite outstanding: without apparently trying he manages one that is suited perfectly to the clue and he does this time and again. Across 1 PICNIC … Read more >>

A good Tuesday work-out – all fairly and cleverly clued with good surface readings and an unusual theme. We also have another ‘trade name’ appearing which caused some debate recently on 225. Are … Read more >>

After celebrating his twenty-fifth anniversary with the Indy two Fridays ago, Quixote is back in his usual Monday slot with another clearly-clued and enjoyable puzzle.  John, the blogger for the Don’s puzzle that … Read more >>

Looks like Raich has drawn me again this week. No complaints from me though, as this was an enjoyable solve. Relatively rarely for a Sunday, we have a theme here, being the films … Read more >>

Nothing fancy (that I could see, anyway) from Anax here, in terms of thematics, ninas, etc. – which is quite rare in a Saturday prize Indy, recently. Just a nice, enjoyable cryptic workout. There … Read more >>

The Independent crossword that I blogged last week – the one by Hypnos with the whistleblower theme – generated a good deal of comment and controversy.  I feel sure that this one will … Read more >>

As expected Monk has produced a good crossword with a nice range of clue-types. And also as expected I have failed to understand some of them, so what seems to be his brilliance … Read more >>

Good surface reading again from Dac. All fairly straightforward and in our opinion a good introductory puzzle for new solvers. We don’t time ourselves but this seemed to over and done with fairly … Read more >>