Independent

I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, very tough and very satisfying to finish, with all understood, and some very well constructed clues, as one expects from Phi.   Solving time, 40 mins. * = … Read more >>

This is the first puzzle by Dac that I have blogged.  I didn’t find anything too difficult.  I’m not sure how long this took as I did it whilst watching Saturday afternoon football … Read more >>

We haven’t had many Tyrus puzzles, but he is for my money by far the hardest setter on the Indy team. I spent an hour tackling this online last night and managed to … Read more >>

Something to look out for here,  referred to after the clue explanations.     Solving time, 21 mins. * = anagram     < = reversed ACROSS 6 PRECIS   LecturE 7 ORRIS    Hidden 9 (Guar)DIAN THUS    R … Read more >>

The usual lovely thing from Dac. There’s really very little to say because everything fits so well and the clues are almost all clearly-constructed and faultless. Across 1 CO(MIC)OPER A 6 PEER — … Read more >>

This was fun – a very thoroughly-themed and enjoyable puzzle from Virgilius. Whilst not unduly taxing on the whole, I imagine this one will be popular with readers. For my own part, I’ll … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism A delightful and very solvable puzzle from Tees. The clues were always fair, with the only obscure phrases (27 and 14) having straightforward clues. … Read more >>

It’s been a good week of puzzles in the Indy and a pretty tough one too. I got on fine with this one as Phi rarely puts a foot wrong with his clueing, … Read more >>

With his trademark 15-letter answers you certainly get your money’s worth from Nimrod.  This took me ages, of course, and couldn’t have finished without a bit of dictionary-bashing etc.  I found the bottom … Read more >>

Very inventive and satisfying puzzle from Nestor, quite hard, solving time 45 mins. * = anagram   < = reversed ACROSS 1 A  NDROMEDA GALAXY    (Gary Oldman  axed)* 10 LEANEST     “Art showing tendency that’s … Read more >>

Solving time, 22 mins.    Lower half harder than top half, I found * = anagram    < = reversed ACROSS 1 LAPP    (p pal)< 4 SUBJECT   S 9 SCAR(C)E 10 PEA (CO C)KS 11 … Read more >>

A rare weekday outing for Mass, with whom I’m most familiar via the concise crossword that shares a page with Beelzebub in the Independent on Sunday, and a particularly challenging and very thoroughly … Read more >>

Mordred’s crosswords are for some reason unfamiliar to me, but this one contains plenty of very nice clues, one or two of which I found difficult.  There must be some sort of a Nina here, with the … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism An excellent offering from Math with some great clues. I particularly liked 12 across and the 4/13 combination was very amusing. The NINA, which … Read more >>

I found this puzzle very difficult, and gave up unaided solving after 35 minutes with 6 and 18 remaining – I got 6 from a Chambers hunt, but needed a wildcard search for … Read more >>