NealH

I've been doing crosswords off and on since university back in the 1980s. I used to do the Guardian, but defected to the Independent a year ago. My solving standard is still not what I'd like. I'd love to be able to knock off a crossword in 10 minutes, but find I'm still getting stuck for long periods when the inspiration doesn't quite arrive. I once had a go at compiling crosswords but, after a very rude rejection for the editor of the Telegraph, I didn't bother any further.

Independent 11,332 by Vigo

Mon February 6, 2023 at 9:00 am by NealH

A mostly easy puzzle with a couple of clues that required some thought.

Independent 11,314 by Filbert

Mon January 16, 2023 at 9:00 am by NealH

Another absorbing puzzle from Filbert.

Independent 11,278 by Filbert

Mon December 5, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

Another excellent puzzle from Filbert with some excellent surfaces.

Independent 11,260 by Vernon

Mon November 14, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

I've not seen Vernon on a Monday before, although there have been previous puzzles by the compiler.

Independent 11,242 by Bluth

Mon October 24, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

An enjoyable and absorbing puzzle.

Independent 11,224 by Phi

Mon October 3, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

It's unusual to see Phi on a Monday, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Independent 11,206 by Filbert

Mon September 12, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

Another very enjoyable puzzle from Filbert with a nice mixture of clues.

Independent 11,188 by Italicus

Mon August 22, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

A nice entertaining puzzle with very good surface definitions.

Independent 11,170 by Filbert

Mon August 1, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

I found this a fairly challenging puzzle with a few clues that needed quite a lot of crossing letters before I could solve them.

Independent 11,152 by Knut

Mon July 11, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

This wasn't the most difficult Monday puzzle, but that wasn't really the point. The point was to poke a bit of fun at the now departing government of Boris Johnson.

Independent 11,134 by Filbert

Mon June 20, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

This was certainly the toughest Monday puzzle I've done in a long time. Had I not been blogging, I might well have given up half way through and in the end it took me three longish sessions to finish it.

Independent 11,116 by Angel

Mon May 30, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

This was mostly on the easy side, but a few required some thinking to work out the correct parsing.

Independent 11,098 by Alchemi

Mon May 9, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

An enjoyable puzzle where the bottom half seemed a little harder than the top.

Independent 11,080 by Tees

Mon April 18, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

An entertaining puzzle with a few that were tricky to parse.

Independent 11,062 by Italicus

Mon March 28, 2022 at 10:14 amMon March 28, 2022 at 9:00 am by NealH

The advance copy I received had a strange lack of spacing in some of the clues. I don't think that was deliberate, but one can never be sure with crossword setters.