Independent

Some of the surface readings in this puzzle were truly superb, 1 down shone out. I was beaten by 8 down and Dac has been beaten by 25 down which has two possible … Read more >>

Another wonderful themed puzzle from Virgilius. All the across answers from French and quite a few references in the down clues too. As it happens, this blogger is very familiar with French so … Read more >>

Now I know how one of regular commenters felt when we had a puzzle themed around Elvis. According to his Wikipedia entry, Terry 13A was the best-selling UK author in the 1990s and … Read more >>

Solving time:  29 mins      I spotted a theme, I think, mentioned under the relevant clues. < = reversed   * = anagram ACROSS 1 DUN MOW FLIT CH     This is the theme, … Read more >>

Quite a few long answers in this which made it a fairly quick solve. Naturally, there are a couple of answers which I don’t really understand: 13 and 15A. Oh, and 16D. Across … Read more >>

A mixed bag for me today. A couple of non-dictionary phrases for a start, an answer I simply can’t get and some word play that I just don’t follow. There were some clever … Read more >>

I found this puzzle on the easy side.     Solving time:  14 mins Will concentrate on a small number of what seemed to me the trickier clues, but happy to explain others if asked. … Read more >>

Some easy clues and some very tricky clues in the usual excellent offering from Dac. Solving time: 22 mins * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 WHO OPS I remember these two … Read more >>

A typically good Virgilius puzzle with a few tough clues. I made one significant error early on which left me flummoxed over the last two entries. Across 7 TICKET COLLECTOR — double def. … Read more >>

Superb puzzle but tricky in places and a reminder that Monday is not always easy-day in the Independent. There’s a lot to admire in this but I thought that 1A,10A,20A and 4D were … Read more >>

I found this fairly straightforward. Solving time: 15 mins. (LATER: there is a Nina here that I missed though I did look, but another has pointed it out.   I refer to it … Read more >>

Across 1 (PTA I CURB SCHOOL)* – CLAUSTROPHOBIC. Easy anagram to spot; it’s always nice to get a long answer quickly as it gives you lots of Down clues to work on. 10 … Read more >>

Very tough, as we’ve come to expect from Scorpion. I actually managed to fill the grid pretty quickly – about 30 mins – but, as you’ll see from the blog, there was a … Read more >>

Solving time:  21 mins.       Held up for some time by thinking a very well-known actress had a U in her name though there was none in the anagram fodder (6 across). In line … Read more >>

A quickish pleasurable solve with a couple of tricky clues and new words (for me). Once I’d found some of his well-hidden definitions, Dac’s cluing left no doubts for even the toughest of … Read more >>