Independent

Apologies for the lkate post – my briadband went down and I couldn’t let anyone know! Thanks to a very patient BT person (and no thanks to half a dozen complete incompetents), I … Read more >>

Got off to a slow start, then raced through most of the puzzle and ground to a halt with 5A and 2D. I also twigged one part of theme before even solving a … Read more >>

Solving time 10:00 + ?? Had most of this done in about 8 mins, but was stuck on 5 and 16 – I had an answer for 16 but as it seemed to … Read more >>

A bit easier than last week’s Nimrod I think but there were still a few I didn’t understand. I’m obviously not tuned in to the Nimrodian frequency at the moment but that didn’t … Read more >>

Solving time: 6:37 Welcome relief after a half-hour struggle with Scorpion yesterday: I much preferred this to the last Phi puzzle I blogged (6288). The antipodean flavour to the top left (OTAGO and … Read more >>

This puzzle reminded me of a year or two back when I thought the Quixote Sunday puzzle was pitched at an easier level than the daily Indy one. Would have been even quicker … Read more >>

Scorpion is, I find, the hardest of the Indy setters and this puzzle was no exception.    There were some novel approaches and some areas I am not entirely sure of all the reasoning.   These … Read more >>

Solving time : 10 minutes or so. The obvious theme of this puzzle made a few of the answers very easy to fill in. This sponsored puzzle is printed on a green background … Read more >>

This had all I’ve come to expect from Dac.   Excellent flowing surface readings, clever misdirection, a very satisfying solve, with all understood in the end.    A bit tougher than usual, maybe partly because … Read more >>

Solving time: 26 minutes  A nautical theme for today’s puzzle with lots of linked answers and clues.  This was very much a puzzle of 10 minutes of staring blankly, followed by 16 of furious … Read more >>

I found this quite tricky after 4 or 5 clues and couldn’t make any impact at all. Maybe that’s what happens when you try to solve a puzzle at 6.20am. Anyway, once I’d … Read more >>

Solving time 25:25 A while after his Countdown puzzle, Nimrod gives us another TV puzzle. 9D’s catchphrase, “I don’t believe it” appears in the unchecked letters on the left and right edges of … Read more >>

I found this quite tough – only one clue solved on first run through. Solving time: 30 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 C (HOO-CH)OO 9 V ENER(v)ATE Curious to add a v … Read more >>

This is my first blog entry for a daily Independent crossword, and I got a nice gentle introduction. This was a comparatively easy crossword (10 minutes to solve) with solid clueing and a … Read more >>

I usually find Monk quite difficult but this wasn’t too tricky. I guessed the phrase that appears in the unchecked letters on the sides of the grid fairly early on so I filled … Read more >>