Independent crossword online
Colin Blackburn
http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/crosswords/cryptic/
I don't know if this is the start of a permanent online puzzle or
whether it will remain free to access. However, Virgilius is one of the
finest setters around at the moment and so it is certainly worth a look.
Colin
Colin Blackburn
Just heard that for the time being it will always be yesterday's puzzle
or, in the case of the competition puzzle, last week's. It's definitely
worth looking at this puzzle series if you want consistently high
quality UK cryptics. If you are a regular reader of fifteensquared
you'll need to avoid the Indy blog for a day though!
Colin
Dave Baker
"Colin Blackburn" <ne...@ximenes.org.uk> wrote in message
news:5vokstF...@mid.individual.net...
That seemed to be a similar level of difficulty to the Glasgow Herald
crosswords i.e fairly straightforward. I presume that means it's quite a bit
easier than the Times and some others?
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines
Colin Blackburn
Far from it. The Independent, like the Guardian, has a range of named
setters. They vary as much as the Guardian but generally exclude the
more Araucarian style of puzzle. The Independent is much more likely to
use references from pop culture or living people. There is often a
hidden theme: the Virgilius puzzle was an extreme example and Virgilius
is particularly noted for his themes---in fact on one occasion when
there appeared to be no theme there was a hidden message saying that
there was no theme!---but many puzzles will contain hidden messages or
thematic elements. This can sometimes make them easy but you'll also
find some very tough puzzles.
Colin
henri
solving crosswords on-screen).
henri
Flying Tortoise
I think they'd be somewhat justified in suggesting that you buy the
paper in that case. As long as they're prepared to do it for nowt they
can set it any way they want.
henri
> I think they'd be somewhat justified in suggesting that you buy the
> paper in that case. As long as they're prepared to do it for nowt they
> can set it any way they want.
Of course.
henri
Dave Baker
> Dave Baker wrote:
>> That seemed to be a similar level of difficulty to the Glasgow Herald
>> crosswords i.e fairly straightforward. I presume that means it's quite a
>> bit easier than the Times and some others?
>
> Far from it. The Independent, like the Guardian, has a range of named
> setters. They vary as much as the Guardian but generally exclude the more
> Araucarian style of puzzle. The Independent is much more likely to use
> references from pop culture or living people. There is often a hidden
> theme: the Virgilius puzzle was an extreme example and Virgilius is
> particularly noted for his themes---in fact on one occasion when there
> appeared to be no theme there was a hidden message saying that there was
> no theme!---but many puzzles will contain hidden messages or thematic
> elements. This can sometimes make them easy but you'll also find some very
> tough puzzles.
Clearly I spoke too soon. After 5 minutes all I'd got from today's was
Florida. Thank god I'm old enough to remember Andy Cap. Gradually though
they fell into place but it took a lot of help from Onelook. Is that what
you "professional" chaps call a proper crossword?
That was very different from the Herald. The clues were very tough (for me
anyway) but also quite logical in the main so you could solve them with real
attention to the exact wording of the clue. Apart from Doyennes maybe which
I still don't quite see. I was also stumped for a bit with 23a which I
thought was an anagram when it wasn't.
I do however begin to see the difference between what I suppose you could
call higher and lower level crossword clues though. The Herald's are a bit
rough and ready and these were very precise but also quite hard. Still, I
didn't have to resort to Crossword Maestro for help which I sometimes have
to do for tough Herald ones. It's therefore a bit strange because in one
sense they were very hard and in another quite easy once you got the hang of
it.
Is any of the above making sense?
Colin Blackburn
> Clearly I spoke too soon. After 5 minutes all I'd got from today's was
> Florida. Thank god I'm old enough to remember Andy Cap. Gradually though
> they fell into place but it took a lot of help from Onelook. Is that what
> you "professional" chaps call a proper crossword?
>
> That was very different from the Herald. The clues were very tough (for me
> anyway) but also quite logical in the main so you could solve them with real
> attention to the exact wording of the clue. Apart from Doyennes maybe which
> I still don't quite see. I was also stumped for a bit with 23a which I
> thought was an anagram when it wasn't.
>
> I do however begin to see the difference between what I suppose you could
> call higher and lower level crossword clues though. The Herald's are a bit
> rough and ready and these were very precise but also quite hard. Still, I
> didn't have to resort to Crossword Maestro for help which I sometimes have
> to do for tough Herald ones. It's therefore a bit strange because in one
> sense they were very hard and in another quite easy once you got the hang of
> it.
>
> Is any of the above making sense?
Yes.
The setter of today's online puzzle is Dac. Dac normally apears in print
on Wednesday so you can expect similar most Thursdays
online---occasionally thematics cause days to be shuffled. Dac can be
very tough but also scrupulously fair. Fairness makes things easier once
you read the clue right.
If you need help after grinding to a halt then remember that the puzzle
will usually have been blogged at fifteensqured but that you need to
look at yesterday's and avoid looking at today's---not easy sometimes.
Colin
Peter Biddlecombe
There's always a way ...
The puzzle number is nearly always in the title of the
fifteensquared posting. So if you use the puzzle number in a
Google blog search, along with the URL for fifteensquared's
home page, you should get a single hit which you can then
follow without spoiling any other puzzles.
Here's the appopriate search for this Dac puzzle:
http://blogsearch.google.co.uk/blogsearch?hl=en&num=10&c2coff=1&lr=&safe=active&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&q=Independent+6636+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Ffifteensquared.net%2F&btnG=Search+Blogs
(be warned that the Google hit will often show the first few
answers in the blog posting).
Independent and Independent on Sunday puzzles use
different numbering sequences, so the Indie ones increase
by 6 each week.
Peter B
Colin Blackburn
>
> There's always a way ...
>
> The puzzle number is nearly always in the title of the
> fifteensquared posting. So if you use the puzzle number in a
> Google blog search, along with the URL for fifteensquared's
> home page, you should get a single hit which you can then
> follow without spoiling any other puzzles.
The problem for the more casual visitor is that the online puzzle
doesn't have a number (nor a setter's name).
> Independent and Independent on Sunday puzzles use
> different numbering sequences, so the Indie ones increase
> by 6 each week.
Even for me it would mean having a note of the current puzzle handy so
that I could keep track of what was what.
Colin
Peter Biddlecombe
Apparently there has been a change of system. Weekday
puzzles now appear online and in the paper on the same day.
Saturday ones are still a week behind.
Peter B
Colin Blackburn
Excellent news. My prototype PHP script will now never see the light of day.
Colin