neildubya

Great puzzle. I can’t believe how long it took me to spot what was going on at 1a and 29a. Across 1 (NOTA BENE I MOVED)* – ABOVE-MENTIONED. A self-referential clue as it … Read more >>

An enjoyable solve, this – very tough in places, easier in others. Not sure about the wordplay in 14 and I’m not confident I’ve got the right answer at 19 either. The grid … Read more >>

There’s a partial “12 Days of Christmas” theme, here with 7, 26,27, 3, and 6 appearing in the grid. It seems a bit odd to have an incomplete theme like this, which makes … Read more >>

Nice puzzle with an amusing mini-theme. I couldn’t get 10 and I don’t understand all of the wordplay in 5. Not completely convinced about 14d either, although I can’t see what else the … Read more >>

Brilliant puzzle. Rock-solid cluing with some excellent surface readings and very clever definitions. 18 and 20 will no doubt annoy those who don’t like too much pop culture in their puzzles and I’m … Read more >>

It’s been a while since we last saw Monk in the Indy so this was, for this solver at least, a welcome return. Just one query at 3. Across 1 POST,P ONE – … Read more >>

Excellent as ever from Dac but I’m not sure about 1d and 21. Across 1 (TEACHER TRACKS)*,CH – CHARACTER SKETCH. 9 MOO’S,E 10 M,OMEN,TO,US 11 (TIES USA)* – AT ISSUE. 12 DR,OP’S,IN 13 … Read more >>

It’s not often we see a preamble in an Indy puzzle, and I’m not really sure we needed one here. If the X in the thematic clues was replaced by 7 then surely … Read more >>

A very good puzzle from Mordred – tricky, but not impenetrably so, and good fun to solve. There’s a Nina too, in the 8th row of the grid, although I’m not sure what … Read more >>

A rare treat: Virgilius on a Saturday. About the same level of difficulty as we’ve come to expect from Virgilius and a theme of course: this time, it’s centred around two well-known phrases … Read more >>

A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle with some great clues and a mini-theme. Two or three potentially tricky words (5, 11 and 25) but I thought these were all fairly clued and very gettable from … Read more >>

There’s a Nina here which I spotted during solving but only just worked out what it’s about. From the top left-hand corner we have GABRIELLE, BREE, SUSAN, LYNETTE and EDIE (the first E … Read more >>

Across 1 (TIE FOR)*,PA’S,SAGE – RITE OF PASSAGE. 8 MAC’S (reversed) 9 SOMERSAULT – sounds like “summer salt”, which are both types of “season”. Not sure about “pouring out” as the homophone indicator … Read more >>