Independent 8,906 by Phi

As usual an enjoyable and sound crossword from Dac Phi (my apologies for calling Phi Dac — I have a suspicion that this isn’t the first time I’ve done this.  Well they do both have three letters in their name. I must cure my Dac-obsession.). I found it a bit tricky in places, but once a clue had been solved, there seemed to be no reason for the difficulty. Many of these answers are so neat that they can be explained in a single short expression.

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Financial Times 14,919 by WANDERER

A brilliant and superb puzzle from Wanderer today. I really enjoyed solving this every minute of the way, and while there are still a couple of clues that I need help parsing with, doesnt take anything away from the really nice afterglow of a good solve. Thanks Wanderer for an absolute treat today. There is a mini-theme around Russia / Russians but a quick googling didnt turn up anything significant related to today’s date – anybody with any ideas here?

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