Independent

We had an Eimi a few weeks ago, but apart from that we haven’t seen a great deal of him in the past few months.  He has emerged from the woodwork today, however, … Read more >>

A fair puzzle that a family can enjoy together on a Sunday. Comparing this with the IOS puzzle a month ago when I last blogged, this lacks the sparkle that Eimi manages to … Read more >>

Six pairs of linked clues, all with a common reference to ’20 in 5’…we’re off into thematic territory – and there is something here that rings a bell… The logical thing to do … Read more >>

I found that I raced through most of this one before grinding to a standstill when just one or two clues from the end. Bizarrely, 1 kept me guessing till the very end, … Read more >>

A rare weekday appearance from Monk. Not sure I’ve ever blogged one of his puzzles before, but I have to say I found this pretty tricky. There were a lot of very well … Read more >>

Dac is presumably going to appear on Saturday, and instead of a fairly easy task I found that we have a setter with whom I usually have some trouble. But either I’m getting … Read more >>

I had a good chat with Anax on Saturday night at the Derby Sloggers &Betters so it was a surprise that he didn’t say he was the setter for today (let alone give … Read more >>

Gentle, pleasing, puzzle from Quixote, solved very fast for me, 16 mins.     A few words that I did not know or had forgotten but was able to get them quite quickly from the … Read more >>

I find Hypnos tends to be one of the tougher of the IoS setters, but thankfully – from a blogger’s point of view, at least – this one was quite manageable. The North-East … Read more >>

If there is a theme in this puzzle, I can’t spot it.  The puzzle is not a pangram.  This was simply a soundly constructed crossword with only a couple of  words or phrases … Read more >>

For anyone who has navigated here directly and/or solved this online, your attention is drawn to this note on the main page. I had no idea that this puzzle was used for the … Read more >>

A good crossword from Mordred today, although there was in my opinion too much checking of less than 50%, including two of the dreaded 2 out of 5s. Otherwise nothing very controversial I … Read more >>

Half expected Crosophile as I’ve got him a few months running on Wednesdays, but always a pleasure to get a Dac as ever little contentious with a couple of &lits. Few anagrams and … Read more >>

This was a puzzle to be savoured, a treasure trove for word lovers, and so perhaps not the ideal puzzle to have to zip through to write a blog. Nor was it the … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism I’m not entirely sure I follow this one. I think the theme is words said in a Northern accent, although I’d never thought of … Read more >>