Independent

I have a number of crossword wishes waiting to be carried out by the crossword genie and one of them is for Scorpion puzzles to appear more often. Yes, they are very tough … Read more >>

Solving time: 25 minutes.  Quite devious from young Nimrod today with a couple of ambiguous solutions until you get the intersecting answers.  Very enjoyable with a couple of forehead slapping moments.  ACROSS  (*) = … Read more >>

The usual pleasing puzzle from Quixote. Quite easy, I found, solving time, 14 mins. Would recommend these puzzles to beginners, clues self-contained with little cultural knowledge required (either classical or modern) to solve. … Read more >>

A very, satisfying, toughish, puzzle with the puzzle number used thematically. Solving time, 29 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 4 KEBA BS (bake)* bs = US abbrev for ‘bullshit’ 9 … Read more >>

Rather harder than usual for Dac, I thought, but as usual it’s full of very nice clues. Across 1 TOSH – 2 mngs, not helped by the fact that the mate meaning is … Read more >>

* = anag, < = reversed, () = dropped letter A good mixture of clues, with some quite tough ones (like 8 across) and some fairly easy. I quite enjoyed it, but it … Read more >>

Nothing very controversial I think – the usual excellent crossword from Phi. Across 1 (a)UNTY PIC AL(l) 6 ONC(U [=for all to see])E 9 EV(OK)E 10 ARM STRONG. I think this is it: … Read more >>

A puzzle of two halves for me; the Downs were all pretty easy but the Acrosses less so. All good fun though. No Nina or theme that I can see but I might … Read more >>

Some very good and varied material here – quick progress early on, but slow to finish. Solving time: 28 mins * = anagram ACROSS 7/19 CAPE FEAR (A preface)* 8 (St)ALL (THE SAME) … Read more >>

I found this a little harder than usual from Quixote. Solving time: 27 mins. Notes on some clues below – happy to explain others if asked. < = reversed * = anagram ACROSS … Read more >>

Apologies for the lateness of posting, but some intravenous drugs managed to lay me low for a little while longer than expected today.  Solving time: 19 minutes. Always a joy to solve Dac’s … Read more >>

Make the most of this puzzle, we might not see a Virgilius next week, unless he has a few puzzles in the pipeline. Not sure if this constitutes a theme but lots of … Read more >>

* = anag, < = reversed Another very tough Monday puzzle by Tees with a slight theme of political party leaders (although Nick Clegg was either overlooked or just couldn’t be fitted into … Read more >>

Good news for those of you wanting to try the Independent cryptic – puzzles are now available online on the same day as they appear in the newspaper (Saturday puzzles are still a … Read more >>

Solving time: 12 minutes After yesterday’s tough Nimrod, and a generally tricky week all round in most papers, this made a nice change with a straightforward Phi challenge. 4ac was a bit of  a tease … Read more >>