Dan Davison

This was a really lovely puzzle, thanks. Amongst many likes, my favourites were probably 10a, 14a and 18a. Cheers!

The Independent's Cryptic Crossword | Play Online for Free | Independent Play The Independent's Cryptic Crossword instantly online. The Independent's Cryptic Crossword is a fun and engaging Online game from The Independent. Play it and other games from The Independent.

I set today’s cryptic crossword in the Independent.

Sample clue:
What’s close to eight, closer to nine, and closer to eleven too? (3)

Solve it FOR FREE at puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent

Great fun, thanks! Loved 7&8d, 17d very clever, 12a and 27a, of course!

For me a letter indicator ought to be a noun to make it unambiguously clear, so maybe I’d be more comfortable with “only starts”… but as I said in a separate post, I’m probably being dim!

I’m not sure I see the comparison at 1. I don’t think there is any ambiguity with “starts late” as starts as a verb gives the solver the instruction; with begin, I see there is no clear way to know that you only mean the first letter, as opposed to say begin as an indication of positioning synonyms.

I don’t see how begin suggests only take the first letter (I’m probably being dim). With flips, presumably all fodder is reversed?

Catching up… enjoyed this, thanks. Really liked 3a, 12a, 13a, 23a, 7d and 17d. Cheers

People who are interested in #cryptic #crosswords - LOOK! 👀

Exciting 🥳

360 minutes of knockout football in this tournament. England have been in the lead for 1 minute. #Champions

Enjoyed this, especially Meat Loaf and the prof!

Quick cryptic crossword No 69 Quick cryptic crossword No 69

Anagrams, Reversals, Alternate letters and Dropping letters today…

Eagle in out-of-control descent (7)

Short, fat professor on the board? (4)

Dropping the odds at sign of jovial Meat Loaf cover? (7)

#cryptic #crossword #guardian #quick

www.theguardian.com/crosswords/q...

Pitch-perfect quiptic - great introduction to cryptic crosswords… recommended!

Ha, yes, though I’d have some sympathy!

Thanks, Henri… it’s all a bit of fun!

Mini crossword No 74 · MyCrossword Solve Mini crossword No 74 on MyCrossword. 7x7 grid with 6 clues by Guava. Published Thu 24 Jul 2025. Features annotated solutions. Free to solve online.

Made a little crossword to experiment with the new mini-grids on Raider’s superb @mycrossword.co.uk and have thrown in some of one-word clues, in a playful response to @henriwords.com’s latest trend-setting. Hope it’s fun and just about fair.

www.mycrossword.co.uk/mini/74

🥂

Clue contest No 31 · MyCrossword Clue contest No 31 hosted by EssBee is now OPEN on MyCrossword. Submit your best cryptic clue for WINTER. Published Tue 1 Jul 2025. Free to enter online.

🏆 Clue contest No 31 🏆

Submit your best cryptic clue for WINTER using the link below.

www.mycrossword.co.uk/contests/31

The Independent's Cryptic Crossword | Play Online for Free | Independent Play The Independent's Cryptic Crossword instantly online. The Independent's Cryptic Crossword is a fun and engaging Online game from The Independent. Play it and other games from The Independent.

I set today’s puzzle in the Independent, featuring:

He thought he was mad, asserted leader of council (9)

Check statement of one chasing after lecturer (5)

Lubed up Greek scored no problem (4)

#cryptic #crossword

puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/crypti...

Very nice! Very much enjoyed this. Lots of lovely clues, with favourites being 1a 4a 11a and 16d.

The Independent's Cryptic Crossword | Play Online for Free | Independent Play The Independent's Cryptic Crossword instantly online. The Independent's Cryptic Crossword is a fun and engaging Online game from The Independent. Play it and other games from The Independent.

I set today’s cryptic crossword for the Independent.

Sample clue:
The tips of leaves and branches are blended for infusion (6,3)

Solve it FOR FREE at puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent

23d Delight in a bit of wind with love (5)
Niche knowledge… fartal attraction

New "your clues" page showing the filter dialog

Wish you could search through every clue you've ever written on MyCrossword? Now you can…
www.mycrossword.co.uk/clues

CC @petermoorefuller.bsky.social

Wow. Thanks so much for all the time and effort you put into creating and maintaining such a wonderful site and community

Then the same thing happens. And each time I find a new unicorn, I gift the aftercomers a unicorn! I’m like come on guys - there are still nearly 4,000 unicorns about there. Leave mine alone!

There’s logic here. I am a bit unimpressed by the etiquette of the unicorn killers. I found a unicorn on the easy ones (eg middle right) and then I check later and someone has turned me into a horse… so I find another unicorn.

… I went back to the original and was told I’d taken someone’s unicorn, but was personally horseless!

Another slightly interesting thing, to me at least, is you can lose your horse (or more accurately your original unicorn status). I had a unicorn, which became a horse. While searching for an upgrade word, the unicorn was transferred to the other user, so having failed to find a better word…

Quite an interesting one today. I’ve had unicorns everywhere apart from bottom middle, which I am finding HARD! But it’s the odds that are interesting: I currently have 4 unicorns and 4 horses but it’s still producing quite a high rarity value. I guess that means not that many have played…

What makes it fun, for me at least, as someone with a limited vocabulary of obscure words, is that you can score pretty well with such simple stuff. I was delighted to pluck a unicorn out with some nostalgic snogging terminology from my youth: pash! My grids have been paeans to mediocrity!

To be honest, all of my unicorns have been ordinary words imo. That’s my limit! 🤣
Don’t know how you lot managed it! I’m out!
WordGrid #367
🌌🦄🌌
🌌🌌🌌
🌌🌌🌌
Rarity: 0.18
wordgrid.clevergoat.com 🐐