Friday, October 30, 2026 Robyn Weintraub & Rafael Musa’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap Always nice to see a Robyn themeless with more bite than her Wednesday New Yorker puzzles (which I can finish around 3 minutes flat), always nice to see a Rafael … Continue reading → https://crosswordfiend.com/2026/10/29/friday-october-30-2026/ #yorktimes #robynweintraub #newyork #rafaelmusa #wednesdaynew #amy #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

MGWCC #960 hello, and welcome to episode #960 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, a week 4 puzzle called “Sound Logic”. matt tells us that for the second week in a row, we’re looking for a well-known scary movie. what are the … Continue reading → https://crosswordfiend.com/2026/10/28/mgwcc-960/ #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Thursday, October 29, 2026 Alex Eaton-Salners’s Fireball Crossword “End Arounds” – Jenni’s write-up OK, I give up. I solved the puzzle yesterday and couldn’t grok the theme so I set it aside. Just looked at it again and then asked my husband to help … Continue reading → https://crosswordfiend.com/2026/10/29/thursday-october-29-2026/ #endarounds #fireballcrossword #jenni #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Guardian 30150 / Tramp We have a puzzle from Tramp in the Guardian today. Parsing POTPOURRI (10 across) was a bit of a struggle for me, until I decided TEEM, a homonym of TEAM, could mean POUR, as in TEEM or POUR with rain. I wonder if I was the only solver who couldn’t understand for a while why ‘dark green’ might relate to IVORY (a creamy white colour) at 12 across, before realising that ‘ dark green’ actually went with IVY as part of the wordplay. I liked the definition for ASTROLOGY (2 down), relating it to horoscopes mainly printed in tabloid newspapers. Tramp delved into his toolbox a few times to come up with terms to describe the outer letters of words used as part of the wordplay. I counted three: ‘boundaries on CrickeT‘, ‘on both sides of PenaltieS‘ and ‘skirt for ModestY‘. Many selections of first or last letters of words in clues also contributed to the wordplay throughout the puzzle. I foolishly banged in MAIDENS at 5 down, but, not surprisingly, it clashed with obviously correct crossing answers. A closer look at the clue showed there couldn’t be an M in the answer, so I changed it to NAIADES after checking it was a valid plural of NAIAD. No doubt Tramp will not be the only setter who chooses ‘Reform’ as an anagram indicator when faced with the possibility of an anagram of NIGEL! This puzzle was an entertaining challenge, especially so with the four thirteen-letter entries around the outside of the grid and the hints of sauciness throughout. No Detail Across 1 To Marilyn, A Miller not half struggling in marriage (13) MATRIMONIALLY (relating to [in] marriage) Anagram of (struggling) TO MARILYN A and MILler excluding (not) LER the second 3 of 6 (half) letters MATRIMONIALLY 10 Medley in pool – team caught with sprint in the middle (9) POTPOURRI (miscellany; mingled and confused mass; medley) POT (pool) + POUR (teem [with rain, for example], sounds like [caught] TEAM) + RI (central letters of [in the middle] spRIng POT POUR RI 11 England’s opener concerned with boundaries on cricket pitch (5) ERECT (pitch, as in ERECT or pitch a tent) E (first letter of [opener] England) + RE (with reference to; concerned with) + CT (outer letters of [boundaries of] CrickeT) E RE CT 12 Soldiers hiding in plant of dark green colour (5) IVORY (a colour) OR (other ranks) contained in (hiding in) IVY (a dark green plant) IV (OR) Y 13 Individuals entering country for another (9) INDONESIA ([another] country) ONES (individuals) contained in (entering) INDIA (a country) IND (ONES) IA 14 Did have to follow doctor that’s inundated (7) DROWNED (inundated) DR (doctor) + OWNED (did have) DR OWNED 16 Son with appropriate way to provide barrier (7) SANDBAG (a bag of sand or earth, used especially to protect against bomb blasts, floods etc.; a barrier) S (son) + AND (with) + BAG (seize; steal; appropriate) S AND BAG 18 Pass your piece of chicken back – getting space in freezer (7) CRYOGEN (a substance used for obtaining low temperatures; a freezer) (GO [pass [from one place to another] + YR [textspeak for your] + C [first letter of {piece of} Chicken]) reversed (back) + EN (a printing term denoting a space the size of a letter n) (C RY OG)< EN 20 President – idiot making American flyer (4,3) BUSH TIT (a small long-tailed bird of Western America) BUSH (surname of one of two Presidents of the United States, George H W BUSH [1924 – 2018] and George W BUSH [born 1946]) + TIT (idiot) BUSH TIT 21 Keep going south: what rag and bone man wants around east (7,2) SOLDIER ON (continue doggedly in the face of difficulty; keep going) S (South) + (OLD IRON [what a rag and bone man wants] containing [around] E [East]) S OLD I (E) RON 23 Live sound close to record at first (5) DWELL (reside; live) D (last letter of [close to] recorD) + WELL (in good condition; sound) D WELL 24 Odd route when travelling (5) OUTRÉ (beyond what is customary or proper; extravagant; odd) Anagram of (when travelling) ROUTE OUTRE* 25 Examples of batting positions (9) INSTANCES (examples) IN (batting, if a cricket team is IN, it is batting rather than bowling) + STANCES (positions) IN STANCES 26 Past teams go out: penalties on both sides which are often stuck in the top corner (7,6) POSTAGE STAMPS (items that are often stuck in the top corner of an envelope) Anagram of (out) PAST TEAMS GO + PS (outer letters of [on both sides] PenaltieS) POSTAGE STAM* PS Down 2 Movement of stars described in tabloids got royals in trouble (9) ASTROLOGY (study of the supposed influences of the movements and positions of stars and planets on human and terrestrial affairs, basically scientific tosh but beloved by some newspapers; movement of stars described in tabloids) Anagram of (in trouble) GOT ROYALS ASTROLOGY* 3 Large jumper over skirt for modesty (5) ROOMY (spacious; large) ROO (kangaROO, a large jumper) + MY (outer letters of [skirt] ModestY) ROO MY 4 Male came, no Viagra initially taken (7) MARRIED (taken) M (male) + ARRIvED (came) excluding (no) V (first letter of [initially] Viagra) M ARRIED 5 Horrible ladies man primarily ignored beautiful women (7) NAIADES (river or spring nymphs, described as beautiful women. NAIADES is given in Chambers as one of the plural forms of NAIAD) Anagram of (horrible) lADIES and mAN excluding (ignored) the first letters [primarily], L and M, of each word NAIADES* 6 American coins term for gun going inside range (9) APPENINES (1200 kilometre range of mountains running down the spine of peninsular Italy) A (American) + (N [last letter of [terminal letter [term] of guN] contained in [going inside] PENNIES [coins]) A PENNI (N) ES 7 Escorts picked up in city (5) LEEDS (city in England) LEEDS (sounds like [picked up] LEADS [escorts]) LEEDS 8 Boxing result when cut second – one twice knocked out (5,8) SPLIT DECISION (a DECISION that is not unanimous but is arrived at by a majority, especially in awarding victory in a boxing match) SPLIT (cut) + an anagram of (knocked out) SECOND and (I [Roman numeral for one] + I [and again, to give one twice]) SPLIT DECISION* 9 It will probably take poker money fair and square (8,5) STRAIGHT FLUSH (a sequence of five cards of the same suit [royal flush, if headed by the ace]; a hand that will probably win and take the money in a game of poker) STRAIGHT (fair) + FLUSH (having the surface in the same plane as the adjacent surface; square with) STRAIGHT FLUSH 15 Thoughtless man supporting Nigel for Reform (9) NEGLIGENT (careless; irresponsible; thoughtless) Anagram of (for reform) NIGEL + GENT (man) NEGLI* GENT 17 Flatter borders start to constrict plant (9) BUTTERCUP (plant) BUTTER UP (flatter) containing (borders) C (first letter of [start to] Constrict) BUTTER (C) UP 19 Tending to go over grass (7) NURSING (looking after; tending) RUN (go) reversed (over) + SING (cheat; grass) NUR< SING 20 Benefits paid for by cutting public transport (7) BONUSES (extra payments; benefits paid) ON (by) contained in (cutting) BUSES (examples of public transport) B (ON) USES 22 Free rent on leave (3,2) LET GO (free) LET (rent) + GO (leave) LET GO 23 Tot and adult play (5) DRAMA (play) DRAM (a tot of whisky) + A (adult) DRAM A https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/29/guardian-30150-tramp/ #tramp #pour #guardian #teem #bag #anagram #ivory #ones #ivy #cricket #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Enigmatic Variations 1769 Day Job by Artix Quite a complex preamble to re-enact a day job. Three cells need to accept multiple letters, five more need to be initially blank. There is an unclued perimeter and a change to be applied at the end to fill the blanks and remove 8 out of nine mebers of the set. That makes no sense until clues are solved. The three cells that needed extra letters started from the end of 20 up to the end of 17 and down to the second cell of 22ac (spelling out PYRAMIDE) in a triangular pattern PY RAM IDE The French word for Pyramid and the most famous French version is at the Louvre. The further emphasis of a French theme came from 8 dn TUILERIES (the gardens next to the Louvre) 1ac became RUE DE RIVOLI (to the north of the Louvre) COURONNES (far right column) meaning crowns and RIVER SEINE At the base of the grid. (to the south of the Louvre) The title alludes to a recent robbery there involving a LADDER that is to occupy the blank cells from the second last cell of 23dn to the R in COURONNES. To complete the theft the letters in COURONNES (barring the R need to be removed) Thanks Artix – very topical and a nice execution too Key * anagram – underline definition Rev reversed DD double definition Across 8 Fish for all to see in nets at sea (7) (innets)* around u (for all to see) = TUNNIES 12 Uncle Sam, endlessly flying, departs as Virgin peaks (8) (uncle sa)* + d (departs) = UNSCALED 13 Green area local embraces (5) Hidden aREA LOcal = REALO 14 E.g. Nvidia chips Chinese desire (4) IT (e.g. Nvidia) + ch (Chinese) = ITCH 16 Sue over mousy manure (6) beg (sue) around dun (mousy) = BEDUNG 17 Put middle of fork into pickle bowl (3) or (middle of fork) in jam (pickle) = JORAM 18 Frost makes right by kid (4) hoar swapping r (right) for x (by) = HOAX 19 Bring up booty (4) DD REAR 20 Clock Eastern curtain-twitcher? (3) e(eastern) + spy (curtain twitcher) = ESPY 22 They choose party drinks reportedly (4) Homophone of Ciders (party drinks) = SIDERS 23 Tramps over millet (6) pros (tramps) + o (over) = PROSO – enter PROSEO 25 Under 20 or roughly 30(4) (eten)* = TEEN 27 Ruskin’s source and these, his misfortunes, could generate thrills (6) (thrills – r)* = ILLTHS 29 Maybe McGregor banishes Welsh on-stage whelp (4) ewan (maybe McGregor) – w (welsh) = EAN – enter DEAN 30 Retired giant from Waltham Forest? (4) E 10 (Waltham forest) = ETEN 31 Ruin Ferrari’s monocoque? (8) car (Ferrari) + case(monocoque) = CARCASE enter CARACASE 32 Scale up popular protein (7) (scale)* + in = SECALIN 33 Rackets where Roy principally overrides odds in sports? (5) swap r for sp (odds) in sports = RORTS Down 1 Race Ten initially for smallest dog? (4) run (race) + t (ten initially) = RUNT 2 Nurse and surgeon prepare for old-timer’s entrance (5) en (nurse) + ch (surgeon) + arm (prepare for) = ENCHARM 3 Not in country, source of long face (4) India (country) – in + l (source of long) = DIAL 4 Clumsy shrew-mole drops hot little parasites (8) (shrew mole – h)* = EELWORMS 5 In the name of God, direct from R&J prologue (5) ind (in the name of god) + ex (direct from) = INDEX 6 Green composer snubbed practice once (7) Verdi (composer) – I + ure (practice once) = VERDURE 7 They climb and, after climbing, secure French art (6) Rev. nail (secure) + es )French art) = LIANES 9 Name port in Senegal (not the same in Othello) (9) bastia (port) in sen (Senegal – egal(same)) = SEBASTIAN 10 Gas overwhelms middle of pure cell (6) Neon around ur (middle of pure) = NEURON 11 Neighbours across pond and what might be found there (4) Alabama(Al) and Georgia(Ga) = ALGA 15 Shy towards ceiling overturned rodent (4) coy (shy) + Rev. up(towards ceiling) = COYPU 18 Welcome governor opening Alaskan haven (7) hi (welcome) + dey (governor) + hole (opening) = HIDEYHOLE 21 Sons change dye trader (6) s (sons) + alter (change) = SALTER 22 What guides idiot savant? (6) (savant)* = SATNAV 23 Fruit to pierce top-to-bottom (6) spear (to pierce) swapping s to end = PEARS enter PEARLS 24 In a stew you may see noxious offal (6) (a stew)* = WASTE enter E-WASTE 26 Get serious after losing tricky set (5) earnest(serious) – (set)* = EARN enter DEARN 28 Prior to long for rector to leave preacher (4) preacher – ache(long) + r (rector) = PRE enter PARE https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/29/enigmatic-variations-1769-day-job-by-artix/ #dayjob #artix #thanksartix #louvre #couronnes #walthamforest #french #nvidia #chinese #ferrari #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Financial Times 18,518 by NEO Apologies for the late blog. I woke up this morning and looked at the FT website and thought today’s puzzle had not been posted, so got up and got ready for work. Once I checked again, I noted that the puzzle was actually there but had been loaded yesterday, so I had mistakenly assumed that this was yesterday’s puzzle. Anyway, it is done now. This was a slightly tougher puzzle than I have become used to on a Thursday. It relied on knowing GARTH is a courtyard and MACON is smoked mutton. I don’t think I’ve come across either before (or if I have, I’ve forgotten them). None of the general knowledge was too challenging, as HOGARTH, NORMA and REICHSTAG aren’t overly obscure, and it makes a change to see “president” referring to somewhere other than the US. I’m not 100% sure I’ve parsed FEMME FATALE correctly (thanks Hovis for putting me right) and Hovis also put me right on the parsing of RED GUARDS. Thanks, Neo. ACROSS 1 PROBATIONER Novice morphed into a penetrating examiner (11) *(into a) [anag:morphed] penetrating PROBER (“examiner”) 7 FOG Obscure hawk avoiding lake (3) F(l)OG (“hawk”) avoiding L (lake) 9 RAGED Boss on tabloid had a meltdown? (5) A RAG ED. (editor of a rag would be a “tabloid boss”) 10 PANTIHOSE God one wearing the specified tights (9) PAN (“god”) + I (one) wearing THOSE (“the specified”) 11 MINT SAUCE Dressing thrown at us going into chopped lamb? (4,5) *(at us) [anag:thrown] going into MINCE (“chopped lamb?”) 12 HAD ON Tricked where subatomic particle has no radius (3,2) HAD(r)ON (“subatomic particle”) has no R (radius) 13 UNSOUND Blue Berets report not reliable (7) UN (United Nations, so “Blue Berets”) + SOUND (“report”) 15 YETI Himalayan legend still current (4) YET (“still”) + I (symbol for electric current in physics) 18 ETNA Smoker new among old Basque separatists (4) N (new) among ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, a former “Basque separatist” organisation) 20 HOGARTH Satirical artist in house with courtyard (7) Ho. (house) with GARTH (“courtyard”) Refers to William Hogarth (1697-1764), best known for his The Rake’s Progress. 23 ARIES Tooth decay shows no initial sign (5) (c)ARIES (“tooth decay”, showing no initial) 24 ARLINGTON Departs from Durham town for cemetery (9) D (departs) from (d)ARLINGTON (“town” in County “Durham”) 26 RED GUARDS Maoists argued about blocking road south (3,6) *(argued) [anag:about] blocking Rd. (road) + S (south) 27 RURAL Country sport — run length around area (5) RU (rugby union, so “sport”) + R (run) + L (length) around A (area) 28 NEE Born in Cambridge alongside Backs (3) Backs of (i)N (cambridg)E (alongsid)E 29 FEMME FATALE Woman captivating fellow in the flesh? (5,6) FEMALE (“woman”) capturing F (“fellow”) in MEAT (“flesh”) My original parsing was wrong, but Hovis@1 put me right. DOWN 1 PARAMOUR Lover for Parisian entertaining alpha male? (8) POUR (“for” in French, so “for Parisian”) entertaining A (alpha, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + RAM (“male”) 2 ORGANISM Maybe spleen is beginning to motivate creature (8) ORGAN (“maybe spleen”) + IS + [beginning to] M(otivate) 3 ANDES Chain in patrician descent not complete (5) Hidden in [in…not complete] “patriciAN DEScent” 4 IMPOUND Commandeer one penny bank invests (7) I (one) + P (penny) invested in MOUND (“bank”) 5 NUNNERY Fugitive losing head in New York convent (7) (r)UNNER (“fugitive”, losing head) in NY (New York) 6 REICHSTAG Monied speculator acquiring East German house (9) RICH (“monied”) + STAG (“speculator”) acquiring E (East) 7 FRONDS Leaves father and daughter among statisticians (6) Fr. (Father) + D (daughter) among ONS (Office for National Statistics, so “statisticians”) 8 GREENS Environmentalists putting on these vegetables (6) Triple definition (for the second, think of putting on a green in golf) 14 UP TO SNUFF In good order until put out (2,2,5) UP TO (“until”) + SNUFF (“put out”) 16 PRETORIA City airport redeveloped covers Spain (8) *(airport) [anag:redeveloped] covers E (IVR code for “Spain”) 17 CHENILLE Church charged by female over evil material (8) CE (“Church” of England) charged by HEN (“female”) over ILL (“evil”) 19 ANAGRAM Dish a man chews is one of ham sandwiches (7) *(dish a man chews) is one (an ANAGRAM) of *(ham sandwiches) 20 HOLY SEE Vatican report altogether groundless? (4,3) Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [report] of WHOLLY (“altogether”) + SEA (“groundless”), i.e. all water, no ground 21 MACRON President right into smoked mutton (6) R (right) into MACON (“smoke mutton”) 22 GIRDLE Belt held right over trousers (6) Hidden backwards in [over trousers] “hELD RIGht” 25 NORMA Line excised from standard opera (5) L (line) excised from NORMA(l) (“standard”) Norma is an opera by Bellini, first performed in 1831. https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/29/financial-times-18518-by-neo/ #financialtimes #neo #blueberets #hovis #hogarth #guards #red #fatale #aries #arlington #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Independent 12,499 by Kairos Oh Dear! Not many days left but we are fortunate that we have two puzzles to blog before the demise of the Independent cryptic. We were more than pleased to have this offering from Kairos. Funnily enough, it wasn’t until the very end that we noticed the theme. We have ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ featuring Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect plus ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’. Lots of fun throughout too. Thanks Kairos for this puzzle and all the others in the Indy. ACROSS 1. Dance in revolutionary period is futile (2-4) NO-HOPE HOP (dance) in a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of EON (period) 4. Picture of legendary king (6) ARTHUR We guessed this from ‘Legendary King’ and once we had the theme we realised we were correct. We think that it is a double definition with ‘picture’ referring to the film ‘Arthur’ starring Dudley Moore. 9. This is the result of prang? Not half! (4) DENT A sort of clue as definition – DENT (result of accident) which is half of acciDENT 10. The Works, say, stocks pretty light (10) EVERYTHING EG (say) around VERY (pretty) THIN (light) 11. Chilli cheeseburger contains exotic item (6) LICHEE Hidden (‘contained by’) in chilLI CHEEseburger 12. Actor covers revolutionary singer (4,4) FILM STAR FILMS (covers) + a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of RAT (‘singer’) 13. European worker probes row about German growth (9) EGLANTINE E (European) + ANT (worker) inside (‘probing’) LINE (row) around G (German) 15. Sentence in biography (4) LIFE Double definition 17. Cross and brazen after losing series of battles? (4) FORD FORwarD (brazen) ‘losing’ ‘war’ (series of battles) 18. Damp lawns turned into quagmire (9) SWAMPLAND An anagram (‘turned into’) of DAMP LAWNS 21. Creation of place to study poetry (8) UNIVERSE UNI (place to study) VERSE (poetry) – we had to check the definition 24. Stand next to soldiers? (6) EGGCUP A play on the fact that the pieces of toast for dipping into a boiled egg are often called ‘soldiers’ 26. Small lamp in aircraft (10) MICROLIGHT MICRO (small) LIGHT (lamp) 27. News report of small child cycling (4) ITEM MITE (small child) with the first letter moved to the back (‘cycling’) 28. Happy to eat soft chocolate bar (6) GALAXY GAY (happy) around (‘eating’) LAX (soft) 29. Walkers and motorcyclists heading off after hours (6) HIKERS bIKERS (motorcyclists) missing initial letter (‘heading off’) after H (hours) DOWN 1. Wanting Mark to underpin articulated joint (7) NEEDING DING (mark) underneath (‘underpinning’) a homophone (‘articulated’) of KNEE (joint). We checked that DING and MARK were synonyms – apparently they are when they are nouns describing small physical damage or a negative penalty. 2. Problem couple (5) HITCH Double definition 3. Official‘s totally right to drop first point (7) PREFECT PERFECT (totally right) with the first ‘e’ (east – ‘point) ‘dropping’ 5. Sovereign‘s upset amateur soldiers (5) ROYAL A reversal (‘upset’) of LAY (amateur) OR (other ranks – ‘soldiers’) 6. Area of land holds landscape features (2-3) HA-HAS HA (area of land – hectare) HAS (holds) 7. Work and other things arising to be behind schedule (3,4) RUN LATE RUN (work) and a reversal (‘arising’) of ET AL (other things) 8. One’s perception of folk legends we translated (4-9) SELF-KNOWLEDGE An anagram (‘translated’) of FOLK LEGENDS WE 14. Cockney’s shock broadcast (3) AIR hAIR (shock) but as it is a Cockney word we drop the ‘h’ 16. Evil state (3) ILL Double definition – the second being Illinois 17. Getting nothing out of establishing sponsorship (7) FUNDING FoUNDING (establishing) missing ‘o’ (nothing) 19. Heartless men regularly turn in wizards (7) MAESTRI MAlES (men) missing middle letter (‘heartless’) and alternate (‘regular’) letters in TuRn In 20. Removes nuts from broken tureens! (7) NEUTERS An anagram (‘broken’) of TUREENS 22. Trending Roman sex god’s close to brothel (5) VIRAL VI (Roman numeral for sex – six in Latin) RA (god) L (last letter or ‘close’ to brothel) 23. Ease of king touring American city (5) RELAX REX (king) around (‘touring’) LA (American city) 25. Loudly made fun of Sherpa? (5) GUIDE A homophone (‘loudly’) of GUYED (made fun of) https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/29/independent-12499-by-kairos/ #kairos #independent #small #dent #double #light #thankskairos #mark #german #film #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Wednesday, October 28, 2026 Daniel Grinberg’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap We’ve got a horror movie quotes theme for this Halloween week. “HERE’S JOHNNY!” from The Shining, “IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIVE!” from Frankenstein, “BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID” from The Fly, and “I WANT … Continue reading → https://crosswordfiend.com/2026/10/27/wednesday-october-28-2026/ #newyork #yorktimes #alive #afraid #danielgrinberg #amy #johnny #fly #want #very #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Independent 12,498 / Eccles As seems only fitting, Eccles has set the last mid-week crossword in the Indy series as we currently know it. No surprises today: Eccles’ crosswords always offer a combination of mainly accessible clues but with a handful of tougher ones that require some head-scratching. In the end, I struggled with the interlocking 5D, 7 and 10, all of which are fair clues to not that common words, and my last one in was 18, which is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking of major conurbations! As has been quite typical of Indy crosswords over the years, there is a sprinkling of references to current affairs, at 14, 26, 27, etc, which has always kept it quite uniquely fresh. Perhaps for that very reason, my favourite clues today are 14 and 26; not forgetting 13 and 24, for their brilliantly smooth surfaces. However, I am not sure of my parsing of 3, where I may be missing a trick – any thoughts? Consulting the archive, I have been blogging crosswords in this series for almost 16 years, with the first of my 823 Indy blogs having been of a puzzle by Dac on 15 December 2010. Although reconciling blog-writing with unpredictable professional commitments has not always been easy, I have thoroughly enjoyed tackling and making sense of the work of a amazing set of compilers, whose puzzles have always been teeming with flair and originality. I also hope that my parsing has proved useful to fellow solvers along the way. Whatever the future holds for this series (if anything), I truly hope that there will be (other) outlets for the work of these setters, and for the occasional blog by yours truly. *(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues ACROSS 1 COTERIE Erotic frolicking with European friends with specific interests in common (7) *(EROTIC) + E (=European); “frolicking” is anagram indicator 5 DEAD ARM Minor injury from bit of egg in pop gun? (4,3) [E (“bit of” means first letter only) in DAD (=pop, father)] + ARM (=gun) 9 IRKED Annoyed, avoided work away from sunshine, essentially (5) IRKED (=avoided work); “away from sunshine essentially (=middle letters)” means letters “sh” are dropped 10 ARSENATES Salts found in pair of buttocks (9) ARSE (=buttocks) + NATES (=buttocks); arsenates are salts of arsenic acid 11 BURDENSOME Taxing dumber ones works (10) *(DUMBER ONES); “works” is anagram indicator; as an adjective, taxing is onerous, burdensome 12 LIDO Hole on cover for pool (4) LID (=cover, top) + O (=hole, pictorially) 14 RIGHT-WINGER Rectify victory by German AfD candidate? (5-6) RIGHT (=rectify, correct) + WIN (=victory) + GER (=German); an AfD political candidate in Germany is definitely a right-winger 18 KRASNOYARSK Returned kiss on vacation with Ray on Channel Island’s major conurbation (11) KS (KS; “on vacation” means middle letters are emptied out) + RAY + ON + SARK (=Channel Island); “returned” indicates full reversal; Krasnoyarsk is a major conurbation in Siberia 21 PAIR Mate in tree, reportedly (4) Homophone (“reportedly”) of “(to) pair (=mate, couple)” 22 CARBON DATE Work out the age of bubbly when daughter moves west (6-4) CARBONATED (=bubbly, aerated, of drink); “when daughter (=D) moves west” means letter “d” moves further to the left in the word 25 ADULATION Made dull patios, one without any walls getting very high praise (9) AD UL

ATIO N; “without any walls” means first and last letters of each word are dropped 26 EXILE English cricket team left watering-hole, ultimately getting banishment (5) E (=English) + XI (=cricket team, i.e. eleven) + L (=left) + E (“ultimately’ means last letter only) 27 EPSTEIN Records money sealing introduction to Eric Trump’s close associate (7) EPs (=records, i.e. extended plays) + [E (“introduction to” means first letter only) in TIN (=money, colloquially)]; the reference is to disgraced financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019) 28 HIDEOUT Enormous uncertainty picked up in retreat (7) Homophone (“picked up”) in “high (=enormous) doubt (=uncertainty)” DOWN 1 CLIMBS Increases in Conservative branches (6) C (=Conservative) + LIMBS (=branches, of trees) 2 TAKERS People accepting offers from sailors around centre of Liskeard (6) KE (“centre of” means middle letters only) in TARS (=sailors, salts) 3 RED HERRING For example, the capitalisation in revolutionAry fIsh? (3,7) RED (=revolutionary) + HERRING (=fish); cryptic definition, in which the capitalisation is indeed a red herring! 4 EXAMS Maxes out in tests (5) *(MAXES); “out” is anagram indicator 5 DOSIMETER It measures radiation from reflective paste to frighten guards (9) OSIM (MISO=paste, in Japanese cuisine; “reflective” indicates reversal) in DETER (=to frighten (off), scare (off)) 6 ANNE Queen forbidden to take clothes off (4) ANNE (=forbidden; “to take clothes off” means first and last letters are dropped); the reference is to Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch of England from 1702-14 7 ASTRINGE Train A&E nurse to bind together (8) STRING (=(a) train, series (of)) in [A + E]; to astringe is to bind, draw together 8 MISSOURI Disregard our current state (8) MISS (=disregard, leave out) + OUR + I (=current, in electricity) 13 BIRKENHEAD Break-in he’d orchestrated in part of Merseyside (10) *(BREAK-IN HE’D); “orchestrated”, engineered, is anagram indicator 15 GAYCATION Holiday in Georgia ending in debauchery – that’s a positive thing? (9) GA (=Georgia, i.e. US state) + Y (“ending in” means last letter only) + CATION (=a positive thing, i.e. a positively charged ion); a gaycation is a holiday specifically planned for LGBTQ+ individuals 16 SKIPLANE Overlook route for aircraft (8) SKIP (=overlook, omit) + LANE (=route, path); a skiplane has skis attached to its undercarriage to enable it to take off from and land on snow and ice 17 FATIGUES Overweight visitor briefly hiding one’s military overalls (8) I (=one) in [FAT (=overweight) + GUES (=visitor; “briefly” means last letter is dropped)] 19 PACINO Mostly walking over Hollywood star (6) PACIN (=walking; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard); the reference is to American Hollywood star Al Pacino (1940-) 20 SELECT Choose some Chinese lectures (6) Hidden (“some”) in “chineSE LECTures” 23 BUNCH Group eats in mid-morning to avoid Republican (5) BUNCH (=eats in mid-morning, as noun; “to avoid Republican (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped) 24 BARE Exposed shoulder in audition (4) Homophone (“in audition”) of “(to) bear (=shoulder, support)” https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/28/independent-12498-eccles/ #eccles #channelisland #indy #ones #irked #arm #irkedannoyed #european #german #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

S&B puzzles now interactive The kind people at Cryptical Crosswords http://www.crypticalcrosswords.com/ have made Saturday’s puzzles available interactively. Cryptical is an app for anyone that loves cryptic crosswords. We’re looking to serve the established cryptic community whilst embracing the newer crowd of dailiy solvers. Any constructive feedback is always warmly welcomed, get in touch at [email protected] The app (currently for iPhone only) can be downloaded here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/cryptical/id6800680958 https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/28/sb-puzzles-now-interactive/ #crosswords #cryptical #saturday #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit