Independent

Across 7/25/4 NINE TILL FIVE – “when on duty” is the def, and “Norma Bolton” is a reference to the clue numbers of those answers – 9d and 5d respectively. 8 (I FOUND … Read more >>

This was a marvellous crossword, many thanks, Mordred. Great clues all through, very difficult (solving time, 53 mins) but very satisfying to finish. There’s also quite a subtle Nina (hidden message not necessary … Read more >>

I find Quixote the easiest of the Indy setters – I solved this in 11 mins.    I recommend it, along with Everyman in the Observer, to those thinking of first dipping their toes … Read more >>

Tougher than usual for Dac I thought, but the fact that I had to solve this whilst standing up on a bus and trying not to fall into people probably didn’t help my … Read more >>

It was with a sinking heart that I embarked on this. Despite what it says at the top of this page under SETTERS, Tees is not medium in difficulty. In fact in my … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def An enjoyable puzzle with nothing too difficult or controversial. I couldn’t see any obvious NINA. Across 9 Orchestra: I think this is just a CD relating to … Read more >>

I found this unusually difficult — the two-word clues were a problem and one or two short answers are even now not totally clear. But apart from one or two quibbles, a typically … Read more >>

Scorpion has a reputation as one of the tougher Indie setters but I found this pretty easy. Good fun to solve too, which is the most important thing after all. Just two queries … Read more >>

A mixed week for me here. A handful of very good clues, some others (especially the dds) which I could take or leave, and a few I can’t fully explain. There’s a “cattle” … Read more >>

Solving time, 19 mins * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 8 LAP IDA TED  pal< Archaic word meaning ‘pelted with stones’ that I worked out from the wordplay, verifying after. 9 D(rum)ROLL … Read more >>

Excellent puzzle from Dac, as usual, solving time 14 mins * = anagram  < = reversed ACROSS 1 HALV(e) AH   Pleased to work out a new word from the clear wordplay.  Turkish sweetmeat … Read more >>

A typically nice themed puzzle from Virgilius, with the 6 outermost across and down answers linking to the 2 centre answers WATER and WATCH. I found most of this quite easy, but there … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def The combination of cryptic definitions and very long anagrams meant I found this quite hard going, although it was quite satisfying to get through.   It seemed to … Read more >>

Busy half-day for me today, so I’ll need to be brief. A tougher-than-usual Phi I thought, with impressive use of multiple grid entries for double-word clues intersecting in the grid. I fell down … Read more >>

Probably the toughest puzzle I’ve attempted in a while, which explains my dismal performance: two answers missing and a whole load more that I filled in but can’t explain. Great puzzle though, as always … Read more >>