Independent

Even by Virgilius’ exalted standards, I thought this was really special – famous names reversed being a big part of it.    The theme revealed itself gradually as the grid filled up. Solving … Read more >>

Across 1 LOTHARIO – T + HARI in LOO 10 COMIC – COSMIC minus S (close to tears) 11 SEA URCHIN – SEA(U)RCH + IN 16 DONKEY – DON + KEY 26 ENNUI … Read more >>

Solving Time: 19 minutes Another reliable enjoyable puzzle from Phi.  Nothing too taxing today, although 4 across held me up for a little while.  Not too many anagrams today, either. ACROSS  * = ANAGRAM    … Read more >>

The first thing you noticed about this puzzle was that some of the clues were prefixed and suffixed with “(see [another clue number])…” – one clue referred to another and that one to … Read more >>

No two ways about it, Scorpion’s tricky. Thursday is also the day of the week I have least time for solving and blogging so apologies that this is a little late. I cracked … Read more >>

Some difficulties, with this – any help appreciated – all covered below. (thanks Neildubya for explaining it) Solving time (if I’m right about the doubtful one): 24 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 … Read more >>

A really good puzzle from Dac today with skilful misdirection, great variety and invention, and all clear in the end. Solving time: 27 mins * = anagram < =reversal ACROSS 5 B(AY R)UM … Read more >>

According to the A-Z of Crosswords by Jonathan Crowther, Virgilius (in real-life) studied Maths at Cambridge and is an academic specializing in the “cultural and political aspects of mathematics education” so I suppose … Read more >>

Across 1 O,A,FISH,NESS – “o” is a short form of “of”. Good clue to get us going. 10 (ACTIONS IN A LAB IN)* – CANNIBALISATION has a few meanings, apart from the obvious … Read more >>

Solving time: 20 mins < = reversal  * = anagram ACROSS 5 STR (I P LIGHT) ING 8 SECOND S LIP 9 TR(O)Y 10 TE (A PART) Y   YET< 12 A GREED … Read more >>

I thought this was a fantastic puzzle, maybe my favourite of the year so far. Not easy though – I got the first few across clues and one or two downs fairly quickly … Read more >>

I think Quixote commented on this site some time ago that the aim was to keep the puzzle fairly easy, but that he would put a more difficult one in from time to … Read more >>

A challenging puzzle in parts with some superb charade clues that inventively stitch together the component parts and at the same time have very good surfaces. One word was new to me and … Read more >>

Across 1 IT in A,GATES – I wasted some time thinking that “a software giant” was A,MS (Microsoft) rather than A,(Bill) GATES. 9 ISLA – “I’ll”,A 12/13 ITCHY AND SCRATCHY – I’d like … Read more >>

I always enjoy crosswords from Virgilius and this was no exception. I can’t see a theme which is unusual for Virgilius but maybe I haven’t looked long enough! Across 1 GREATA GARBO – (RAGE … Read more >>