Independent

Themed as usual by the master. Familiar with both books, so it was quite a quick solve, 17 mins. Great clues as always. * = anagram ACROSS 1 CH (from chess) ARLES ref … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def This was an enjoyable puzzle with a good mixture of clues, which I found a little easier than some Monday offerings (possibly because it was … Read more >>

Apologies for the lateness and brevity. Busy day. A fairly stiff challenge today I thought, with the NW corner proving a tough nut to crack. Excellent clueing as always from Phi. Across 1 … Read more >>

First impressions are that this is a funny-looking grid, I'll expect a Nina or two here. Aha, but it's Radian, who favours quality over quantity in clueing if I remember correctly, hence the … Read more >>

Not too difficult a puzzle from Nimrod which I solved in under 30 minutes. However, there are a few clues where I think the answer is right, but I am not entirely sure … Read more >>

Not too hard, I found, solving time 17 mins * = anagram  < = reversed ACROSS 6 ANDREI SAKHAROV   (a risk a handover)*     Nobel Prize winner (1921-1989) 9 S PINE L 10 G … Read more >>

Dac’s weekly crossword always looked forward to as a delight.    This I found quite easy, solving time 16 mins. * = anagram  < = reversed ACROSS 1 GI(GOT)S 4 MI XER TA P   … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. A challenging one, as can be expected from Monk, and Tuesday Independents in general. I’m not quite sure about 17ac, but I think I’m close. … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def An interesting puzzle about a personality of whom I knew very little. I don’t think the compiler can claim too much credit for the anagram … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. I knew that GCSE in Music would come in handy some day. A nicely-themed Friday puzzle that had me sorely tempted to litter this intro … Read more >>

I’m looking very hard but I can’t see a Nina in this one (I completely failed to see the Nina in last Saturday’s). Nevertheless, a pretty tough puzzle which is what we expect … Read more >>

I found this extremely tough, to say the least, setter made tremendous effort to use meanings of words that gave consistent surface readings. Solving time, 73 mins. * = anagram < = reversed … Read more >>

A bit harder than some by Quixote, solving time 35 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 BAR (MA)N 4 FU (SIN)G 8 ANTICOAGULANTS (a nostalgic aunt)* 10 G E (HE)NNA … Read more >>

Nice stuff as always from the mid-week maestro. There are some great clues here. Across 1 HOSTA – S[-een] in HOT,A 4 RELOCATED – CO. rev. in RELATED 9 LOOPINESS – PINE’s in … Read more >>

How Virgilius keeps on thinking up these original ideas I don’t know. This time he is using the numbers of the clues and sometimes also the numbers in their enumerations. Across 1 A … Read more >>