Never knowingly undersolved
Giving away no secrets with that. “Poet” appears as full or partial definition in twelve clues, and another two as part of wordplay. Impressed that, despite these constraints, (a) the other words in the puzzle were normal … Read more >>
Quite a bit of complex wordplay in this puzzle. A couple of obscure allusions but nonetheless accessible. Across 1 COM(PUT)E – A tour de force pushing the cryptic envelope: here’s the clue: “Number … Read more >>
Solving time: 12:37, held up by two pairs at the end; one mistake (1dn), or perhaps two (19dn). I think this is Mordred’s second puzzle in the Independent. Like his first, this contained … Read more >>
Standard fair Rufus. A couple of containment issues below. Curious what people think about their soundness. Across 10 (victo)R+OUGH – Last letter of Victor followed by (Hugo)*. “Poorly” is the definition 11 NEED(L)ED … Read more >>
Solved this when it was published last week, wrote up my notes and then promptly misplaced them which I just discovered. Turns out that solving a puzzle the 2nd time round, when you … Read more >>
A puzzle with a cricketing theme, appropriately enough for a time when the Ashes are being decided. Not sure how much fun this would have been for those with no interest or knowledge … Read more >>
This puzzle was obviously something out of the ordinary as soon as I looked at the grid and saw the ‘extended H’ shape made by black squares in the middle. Sure enough, 1/2/6/7 … Read more >>
Solving time: 14:20, of which 5 mins on 8ac and 1dn. Nimrod continues his recent theme of epic constructions today: just 22 clues in this puzzle, which includes six crossing 15-letter words and … Read more >>
Is it just me, or have the crosswords been getting harder since we started reviewing them? This one took a good half-hour, with half a dozen or so clues coming quickly, then a … Read more >>
Some very clever misdirection and puns in this puzzle. Solving time, 23 mins * = anagram ACROSS 10 C(h)OPPER Busy = slang for policeman 12 f(ACTOR)y Workplace “not taking sides” 14 PHILATELISTS late … Read more >>
Solving time: 34 minutes Life is full of worries and paradoxes. Mrs Dale (for those of us of an age) always worried about Jim. Me? I worry about Simon McStraphanger. Who he, I … Read more >>
Solving time: 13:59, with one careless mistake (22dn) plus another I’m not sure of (1d). Some very clever clues today with largely convincing surfaces, and just a couple of Guardianisms (25ac, 7d), by … Read more >>
Solving time : 20 minutes A good quality puzzle, as usual, from Dac. The puzzle had what felt like a preponderance of proper names in the answers, the wordplay and a few clues: … Read more >>
Solving time: 20 mins (1 missing) I found the bottom left half harder than the top right, but had almost finished after 10 mins. I then spent another 10 trying unsuccessfully to make … Read more >>
Around 20 minutes. A fairly straightforward puzzle for me with a few long anagrams providing a good start and very fair clues. Across 1 SINGLE FIGURES — This got me for a while … Read more >>