Independent

So now we know why Phi was ousted from his usual Friday slot. Today sees the release of the much-advertised new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, and the completed grid here has a … Read more >>

Spot the Nina time: the top and bottom rows of unchecked letters have SHOPPING PRECINCT. Inside the grid, there’s MARKS and SPENCER, along with BOOTS and BORDERS (although I guess one or both … Read more >>

This was a very clever themed puzzle, the theme of which became clear to me only at the very end.   Solving time, 51 mins * = anagram  < = reversed 1 L EADERLESS … Read more >>

A good deal harder than usual, I thought – solving time, 32 mins. * = anagram < = reversal ACROSS 1 GRIT This was my last entry – a tricky double definition. 4 … Read more >>

After the surprise of Phi on a Tuesday, order is restored to crossword universe today. As ever with Dac this was mostly easy, completely fair and a pleasure to solve. I don’t understand … Read more >>

Phi on a Tuesday: what’s going on? Must be something special. All I can see is that he has been incredibly clever and managed to get T’s into all the unches around the … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed Some excellent clues from Tees on a grid that concentrated on shorter words rather than having the usual couple of 14 or 15 letter entries. No obvious nina that I … Read more >>

Nimrod has an individual style and I enjoyed working my way through this and finally getting there. Solving time, 51 mins. I found the definitions is what mainly led me there. There are … Read more >>

Brilliant puzzle. Very tough, but completely worth the effort it took to solve. I could have said something complimentary about almost every clue but I was afraid that might give the impression that … Read more >>

After the recent US Open puzzle, here we have another crossword themed around one of golf’s 4 majors. For the non sporty amongst you, The British 3/4 starts today at 16/8, with the … Read more >>

Mixture of some very easy clues and some much trickier ones, I thought – solving time, 20 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 JACK AND JILL The well being where … Read more >>

One runs out of superlatives. Every clue here is pithy, elegant and utterly fair, and my slowness in completing some of the clues in the bottom half of the grid is only the … Read more >>

Easy, enjoyable and cleverly constructed puzzle from Virgilius with a theme explained in the three across answers in the middle of the grid, all of which are homophones of Ts. Every answer has … Read more >>

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed A Zimbabwe themed puzzle from Eimi, with the definition for Robert Mugabe (“one destroying his country”) only controversial if you’re one of Mugabe’s ruling circle. There was a fair amount … Read more >>

This was the best prize puzzle I’ve done in some time. That’s not to say the others weren’t any good, just that this one was really good. Lots of great clues and invention, … Read more >>