Independent

Superb themed fun puzzle from Virgilius with some really clever clues.   All the acrosses are pairs in one form or another.     Solving time, 20 mins. * = anagram 1 BOO-BOO      Boo twice 4 … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism Obviously, this was written a few weeks ago when the ash cloud debacle was at its height. Inexplicably, though, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano doesn’t seem … Read more >>

Much as I usually love drawing the Friday blog and finishing the working week with a nice piece of Phi, I was hoping that the start of the World Cup would mean that … Read more >>

Another Saturday Prize Indy that was surprisingly easy compared to previous experience of both Nestor and  Saturdays.  There has been a run of easier Saturday crosswords lately. After first getting one of the … Read more >>

You’d never have had a blog were it not for the ability to cheat on the Indy website. This crossword wasn’t there at five past midnight, so I did it from the paper … Read more >>

An easier offering this week than last, with the usual good mixture of clue types. Our favourite was 20 across, which gave us a lovely penny-dropping moment on this hungover Sunday. ACROSS 1. … Read more >>

Another really top-quality puzzle from Dac, with some excellent &lit type constructions.   Not too difficult, 26 mins. * = anagram 1 SOCIALIST    SO (thus) CIA (US agency) LIST (index of names)     Great surface … Read more >>

One of my favourite ever crosswords that I’ve had the pleasure of blogging was Radian’s classical music-themed Saturday prize puzzle 7,148, back in September. So I was very pleased to find that today … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism An elegant puzzle with some very good clues, although very much on the easy side. 24 was my favourite clue, although I quite liked … Read more >>

The usual nice cryptic from Phi, with some very good clues as always. One which utterly defeats me, but which people will I’m sure fall over themselves to explain. As for a Nina, the … Read more >>

Quite a hard puzzle as one expects from Tyrus, with a theme exemplified by 8 down (an answer I worked out only quite late on) and some other entries and wording used in … Read more >>

This puzzle made a nice coincidental side dish for Stephen Fry’s excellent program (3 days to watch as I write this, if you missed it) on Wagner. Klingsor is an evil magician in … Read more >>

Blimmin’ ‘eck this were tough. We limped to just short of the finishing line, failing to get 12 across and 11 down – comments welcome as ever. Didn’t enjoy this as much as … Read more >>

I found this one really quite challenging for a Wednesday, but there were some very good clues in there, and some impressive anagrams. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across 1 … Read more >>

A typically brilliant puzzle from the master of the themed daily, cleverly using the idea of multiple word ‘see x‘ grid entries as the basis for some diocesan double definition deception. This exposed … Read more >>