Independent 8,801 by Tees

Tees does sometimes test us to the limits (all right, he did here for me with 16dn, although that was just my fault) but in this enjoyable crossword, with clues that are all so far as I can see good and interesting despite my misgivings about 24dn, he has been fairly gentle to us.

The simple theme uses the unches at the top and bottom and near the sides. In these types of Nina we usually see the unches at the very left and right, not as here, but perhaps it’s easier to fill a more conventional grid.

Definitions underlined

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Beelzebub 1,294

Followers of Phi’s blog will have known to expect a slightly Christmas-themed Beelzebub this week. The extra challenge was that we have six unclued entries which could be arranged to form a seasonal … Read more >>

Independent 8800 by Punk

An unusually restrained puzzle from Punk, surprisingly free of any salacious references (even with an open goal like 24d). There was however the usual range of pop culture references, including some football and … Read more >>

Everyman 3559

Another excellent entry-level puzzle from Everyman, but with a few unusual features, none of which were Christmas-related.       Abbreviations cd  cryptic definition dd  double definition (xxxx)*  anagram anagrind = anagram indicator … Read more >>

Independent 8,797 by Hieroglyph

All the time that I was doing this the answers seemed to be clear enough, all of a piece with 9ac, and I was telling myself that the meaning of CA would eventually appear. But it wasn’t until quite long after finishing that I realised that CA was 100 Acres, 100 Acre Wood, the place where Pooh and his friends live. I’m not an expert on W-the-P, having unfortunately missed out on it in my childhood, but over the years all the names have become familiar — except for 6dn.

I’ve only just realised (after writing a long paragraph saying that I couldn’t understand ‘would say’) that ‘CA would, say’ is a homophone of ‘CA wood’. Why 6dn has commas but the others don’t is a mystery, though.

But I still can’t see the connection with today. It doesn’t seem to be any significant Pooh anniversary. Is it a non-Christmas crossword? Or, which is far more likely, am I missing something?

A nice crossword from Hieroglyph. Perhaps there are rather a lot of letters indicated by the first or last letters of words, but then perhaps that is the devilish intention.

Definitions underlined.

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