Independent

A characteristically challenging and inventive Tees puzzle, that was far too hard for me to complete in the time available. It feels like there’s a theme here, goddesses perhaps, though I can’t quite … Read more >>

There’s never a chance of a bad (or even average) puzzle with Dac, but he does like to throw in the occasional tricky one. I came completely unstuck on the NW corner here, … Read more >>

All sorts of slightly odd things have occurred recently: Quite often Phi hasn’t been as usual on Fridays, although that is explicable because of the various anniversaries; Virgilius hasn’t appeared on Tuesday for … Read more >>

Pleasing puzzle with some nice humorous  touches from Quaiteaux.   I found parts of it very easy, but then struggled a bit with the NW corner, tho my last two entries were 13A and … Read more >>

Morning all, and welcome to our new Sunday slot. This was the usual mixture of clue types and for the most part went in fairly quickly. However, 1dn has defeated us – I’m … Read more >>

This was another challenging crossword from Bannsider. If there was a theme, it was centred on television programmes and catchphrases from television programmes.  We had STUPID BOY (Dad’s Army), I DON’T BELIEVE IT … Read more >>

Aha. And there I was fully expecting a “Friday the Thirteenth”-themed Virgilius. Instead we have an Eimi puzzle themed around 1ac 10c, today being the one hundredth anniversary of her death. I found … Read more >>

I got nowhere fast with Nimrod’s recent wedding day puzzle, and I didn’t fair much better with this one, eventually resorting to the cheat button with about 60% done. As ever from Nimrod, … Read more >>

The usual tightly-constructed crossword from Dac, with all the clues very simple once they’re got, but not always so easy beforehand. Across 1 BASTIA — asti in (AB)rev. 5 FACE MASK — f … Read more >>

Tyrus today a relatively gentle introduction for me. Nina today from Father Ted with quite a few references in the answers too, including their Eurovision song. 7 Anastasia – Hidden backawards in Australi(a … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism I started looking at this when it appeared on the web site last night and did a double take when I saw it was … Read more >>

A somewhat unusual puzzle this week with one very long answer filling many of the across spaces. We didn’t know the saying, so had to work it out from the anagram, which was … Read more >>

Nother non-numerical Nestor novelty to nonplus us. In fact this was again not as hard as many a midweek puzzle, with firm wordplay once seen. Why do compilers end up picking words and … Read more >>

A nice puzzle from Phi to finish off the week. There was nothing too tricky here, but equally absolutely nothing to complain about, just a batch of very neat, very elegantly written clues. … Read more >>

My impression is that we haven’t seen Punk for a while and if so he makes a welcome return. Some of these clues are memorable, if one could remember them, and my only … Read more >>