Independent

Some tricky clues – solving time 22 mins.    Hope setters are not paid by clue, just 24 in the puzzle. ACROSS 5  GRIN AND BEAR IT  anagram of “Britain – danger” with the … Read more >>

Something of a bruising encounter for me and I’m still licking the wounds. I find Mass puzzles very tough – enjoyable, but tough. Matters weren’t helped by getting 19A and 22a wrong and … Read more >>

Independent 6272/Dac – easy but nice Solved in 5:05.  Got a reasonable start with 5A and then the easy anag at 5D. Should really have had 1A first time for a sub-5 clocking, … Read more >>

Solving Time: 18 minutes After yesterday’s enjoyable Tees puzzle, the momentum of the excellence of the recent Indy puzzles continued with today’s puzzle by Virgilius, although the brilliance of most of the puzzle … Read more >>

Solving time: 7:45 I really liked this puzzle on the theme of 11s (coincidentally the first clue I solved), though I wonder if I have missed some of the thematic references. A very … Read more >>

I got confused about who was writing what and wrote stuff on both of last Saturday’s puzzles.  So this one is a duplicate… another excuse for putting it up is that I referred to links … Read more >>

Solving Time:  23 minutes  An enjoyable Saturday romp from Nimrod with a topical theme given the recently announced departure of Des from Countdown.  If the puzzle had a weakness, it was that Countdown … Read more >>

Solving time: 11:05 Not the easiest, but I think I made a bit of a meal of some of this, although there were a few difficult words. Nimrod continues a recent theme of … Read more >>

I found this very easy, solved in 13 mins. Typical Quixote style, light in cultural references, homing in on the everyday experience of the solver.Simple constructions with, I think, just three complete anagrams. … Read more >>

Everything perfectly  constructed, wording to set you off on the wrong track at first in some cases. Solved in 18  mins – about average for me for a Phi Indy. ACROSS 7 PRINT … Read more >>

Across 1 PAD,U,A – accomodation=”pad” 4 CHE in BUT, RED – Nice clue for beginners: Che (Guevara) is the crossword solver’s favourite revolutionary and a communist is almost always “red”. 9 CH, APTER … Read more >>

Solving time : yonks, bits of two 40 minute bus journeys with interruptions This is a delayed post due to problems uploading the review last night, Neil stepping in when I didn’t appear. … Read more >>

Solving time: 11:30 First step: have a look at the grid. Notice that starting at the black cross next to 12, and emerging at the other side in the one next to 22, … Read more >>

A superb offering from Monk, one of my favourite setters. This was fairly easy in parts (I did half of it in about 15 minutes) but the NE corner was fiendishly difficult. Tough … Read more >>

Solving time 15:40 I like to see Scorpion puzzles, and I’m pleased to be writing the first Scorpion posting here on “225” – here’s why. From time to time, would-be setters send me … Read more >>