Bertandjoyce

There was a tradition in both our families of solving Telegraph concise and cryptic crosswords. During our student days we moved on to the Observer. When we could afford a daily, we enjoyed the Guardian cryptics until the Indy arrived on the scene. Nowadays, Saturdays are not complete without the Inquisitor in the i paper. We never time ourselves but we do feel cheated if we finish quickly and really enjoy seeking out themes and ninas etc. We are now retired and when time allows, we supplement the daily Indy solve with the on-line Guardian cryptic, Genius and the occasional Quiptic. Finding fifteensquared was a revelation – we realised we are not alone in our attempts to stave off Alzheimer’s!

Independent 7958 / Scorpion

Tue April 17, 2012 at 3:38 pmTue April 17, 2012 at 8:24 am by Bertandjoyce

A bit of a mixed bag today we feel from Scorpion. We deduced the theme fairly early on and thought that we would have to resort to the internet to work out some … Read more >>

Independent 7,950 / Morph (Saturday Prize Crossword 7/04/12)

Sat April 14, 2012 at 9:47 amSat April 14, 2012 at 8:30 am by Bertandjoyce

Someone once asked us if being a blogger took the pleasure out of completing the puzzles. Our answer was a resounding …. “No!” Today was definitely one of the occasions when our faces … Read more >>

Independent 7953 / Dac

Wed April 11, 2012 at 8:30 am by Bertandjoyce

An enjoyable but not spectacular puzzle from Dac. As usual the clues were well composed with some clever use of adjectives, nouns and verbs changing usage which some people may not like…. but … Read more >>

Independent 7948 / Nimrod

Thu April 5, 2012 at 8:12 am by Bertandjoyce

Nimrod never fails to impress us. His latest Inquisitor took us a while to finish but provided much enjoyable head-scratching until the puzzle eventually fell into place. We wondered what we would have … Read more >>

Independent 7943 / Phi

Fri March 30, 2012 at 8:18 am by Bertandjoyce

We were pleased to have another Phi to blog but for some reason this wasn’t as much fun as some of his more recent ones. There’s nothing to complain about, all the clues … Read more >>

Independent 7934 / Scorpion

Tue March 20, 2012 at 1:51 pmTue March 20, 2012 at 8:20 am by Bertandjoyce

A good Tuesday work-out – all fairly and cleverly clued with good surface readings and an unusual theme. We also have another ‘trade name’ appearing which caused some debate recently on 225. Are … Read more >>

Independent 7929 / Dac

Wed March 14, 2012 at 10:14 amWed March 14, 2012 at 9:23 am by Bertandjoyce

Good surface reading again from Dac. All fairly straightforward and in our opinion a good introductory puzzle for new solvers. We don’t time ourselves but this seemed to over and done with fairly … Read more >>

Independent 7,920 by Nestor (Saturday Prize Puzzle 03/03/12)

Sat March 10, 2012 at 9:44 am by Bertandjoyce

It took a little while to get started on this one. The first one to go in was 26d and the last one was 16a. We were half expecting a NINA with the … Read more >>

Independent 7924 / Klingsor

Thu March 8, 2012 at 10:14 amThu March 8, 2012 at 9:29 am by Bertandjoyce

Our first Thursday blog! We’re new to blogging and were somewhat apprehensive given the reputation of Thursday puzzles. Recent Indy puzzles have generated quite a bit of activity – almost as much as … Read more >>

Independent 7919 / Phi

Fri March 2, 2012 at 9:17 am by Bertandjoyce

The usual good clueing that you come to expect from Phi. One of us struggled with the anagram for 1a, which was very strange given that this is the real name of the … Read more >>

Independent 7910 by Crosophile

Tue February 21, 2012 at 4:56 pmTue February 21, 2012 at 9:28 am by Bertandjoyce

We wonder whether we are missing something here! An enjoyable, fairly tricky puzzle with a number of unusual words that you could parse from the cryptic part but needed checking with a dictionary. … Read more >>

Independent 7905 by Dac

Wed February 15, 2012 at 2:06 pmWed February 15, 2012 at 9:35 am by Bertandjoyce

A well constructed puzzle as we have come to expect from Dac. There are good surface readings, something that we really appreciate in crosswords and all the clues are very fair. No ninas … Read more >>

Independent 7901/Radian

Fri February 10, 2012 at 12:05 am by Bertandjoyce

A fairly tricky themed puzzle for our first weekday blog. It seems only a short time ago that we were lurkers. We used to complete the Indy late in the evening and by … Read more >>

Independent 7,890 by Phi (Saturday Prize Puzzle 28/01/12)

Sat February 4, 2012 at 12:15 am by Bertandjoyce

We like Phi so we were really pleased that our first blog was one of his. When we saw the number of themed clues however, we wondered what we were taking on. It … Read more >>