You wrote: >>Today’s reaction has led me to wonder if there is anyone who reads this blog as a means of learning.<<

Absolutely there is! Since I discovered this site thanks to a comment by Hugh Stevenson, my understanding has improved immensely – and it's still improving. I doubt I'm the only one who rarely, if ever, manages to play with a crossword on the day that it's published [I get the Guardian Weekly], so it's not usually worth commenting on the blog – nonetheless, other people's comments as well as the blog itself are always interesting and usually useful. It's also entertaining to see how personalities interact, as in the comments above. This is a very useful site and I'm very grateful to all who contribute. One day I may be able to join in on the actual day! Many thanks for your blog[s]. David

I found fifteensquared by googling an Auraucaria clue, and always come here, whether finished or stuck, to clarify answers we are unsure of and to see whether others agree with our opinions.

It make take my wife and me up to a week to complete some puzzles (for Araucaria it is usually quicker than that), so we stand in awe of diagacht and friends who complete theirs on the morning commute and then put up a blog by lunch-time.

Be assured many of us are very grateful, and I hope this tradition continues!

The blog’s just fine as it is. By explaining all the clues, it is surely useful for the widest possible audience and I enjoy seeing others’ reactions to the puzzle, or the clues that stumped them, in the comments. C. G. Rishikesh: most blogs are read by far more than those who comment, so while many comments here may be from those who’ve completed the grid, I’m sure there are many more readers who appreciate the explanation.

I admit to being slightly puzzled by those who complain this one is too obscure. Personally, I thought it was fine. Whirl and wind were my last, and I couldn’t explain them satisfactorily until I came here. But for me that’s part of the joy. Surely the object isn’t to *always* be able to fill in the grid in record time but instead, sometimes to need to dredge the recesses of one’s mind for dimly remembered references or scraps of other languages – hours of torture rewarded by a sharper enjoyment of realisation – or, alternatively, figure out from the clueing what you think the answer *should* be before going to look it up and learning something new. I’d be disappointed with a setter who never taught me something.

Diagacht – I’m a day late now, but on the times when I’m not, and am being driven mad by being unable to explain an answer, early morning bloggers’ efforts are much appreciated!

So, to all of the bloggers, keep up the good work.

If I’ve completely solved the crossword myself, I’m less interested in the comments — particularly if they amount to slagging off the compiler. I can do that myself.

Don, you’re not a scientist are you?

That’s yet another new word for me!

What with my Dutch, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic plus a few bits of English, I must now have around 10,000 words in my vocabulary.

Inshallah