Independent

Something of a novelty for me, this – a Nimrod puzzle where I understood everything (almost).  Original choice of theme too; it’s not National Anteater Day or something is it? Across 9 EMANATE … Read more >>

Solving time: 14 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 DOGS BODY 5 AV Authorised Version (of the Bible) EST (“is” in French) A. Texts from Zoroastrianism (or had you moved on to the … Read more >>

An excellent and thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Math. There’s a theme too, but you don’t need to know anything about The Simpsons in order to complete the grid as all of the thematic … Read more >>

Apologies for the lateness.  Trip to Manchester that turned into a nightmare and nearly resulted in an overnight hospital stay. Solving time: 23 minutes Like Phi, Dac always produces solid dependable puzzles that always … Read more >>

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 >>