Guardian 25,104 / Brendan
Posted by mhl on 1st September 2010
A fine puzzle from Brendan – as usual, a pleasure to write a post about. Another crossword that I wish I’d had more time to savour…
Posted in Guardian | 37 Comments »
Author Archive
Guardian 25,099 / Gordius
Posted by mhl on 26th August 2010
I’m afraid this a very rushed post for me today, and I haven’t figured out how 10a and 11a work – I’m sure the comments will clear those up, though…
Posted in Guardian | 47 Comments »
Guardian 25,094 / Pasquale
Posted by mhl on 20th August 2010
I’m a big fan of Pasquale’s puzzles, but today was just one of those days when I was completely hopeless – I found this very difficult, ran out of time and so had to cheat on lots of these before writing the post. The cryptic readings of all the clues are quite clear and they’re fairly clued, just with plenty of references (and a few words) that I didn’t know. Some very nice clues in here, anyway – I hope others found this less challenging!
Posted in Guardian | 77 Comments »
Guardian 25084 / Rufus
Posted by mhl on 9th August 2010
A fun puzzle from Rufus, with lots of anagrams and cryptic definitions.
Posted in Guardian | 42 Comments »
Guardian 25080 / Paul
Posted by mhl on 4th August 2010
A fun puzzle with Paul’s trademark dodginess evident in a few clues. Annoyingly, I can’t quite see 24a….
Posted in Guardian | 60 Comments »
Guardian 25075 / Orlando
Posted by mhl on 29th July 2010
I’ve mentioned a couple of grumbles below, but overall I thought this was an enjoyable (and mostly quite easy) solve
Posted in Guardian | 32 Comments »
Guardian 25070 / Enigmatist
Posted by mhl on 23rd July 2010
As usual, a tough but entertaining and clever puzzle from Enigmatist. I can’t parse a couple of them, I’m afraid, so please help out in the comments below if you understand them. (Resolved now, thanks!) Thanks to Andrew for pointing out that the long clues here relate to a happy annoucement elsewhere here!
Posted in Guardian | 41 Comments »
Guardian 25,060 / Rufus
Posted by mhl on 12th July 2010
A very nice crossword, with Rufus’s usual wit and smooth surface readings. The only difficulty was one word (11a) that was unknown to me, and difficult to guess from the anagram fodder.
Posted in Guardian | 29 Comments »
Guardian 25,056 / Paul
Posted by mhl on 7th July 2010
I found this tough compared to most of Paul’s puzzles – fun to solve, though. I’m afraid I don’t understand how 6 down works and I’m not sure about my explanation for 26, 21, but I’m sure someone will be able to help…
Posted in Guardian | 45 Comments »
Guardian 25,050 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 30th June 2010
Sorry for the late (and very rushed) post – I knew I was blogging today but didn’t make much progress on the way into work and then promptly forgot about it. I wish I’d had more time to enjoy this one – lots of nice clues, but pretty tough, I thought.
Posted in Guardian | 36 Comments »
Guardian 25,046 / Enigmatist
Posted by mhl on 25th June 2010
A great puzzle from Enigmatist – as always, some of the wordplay is difficult to parse, but with the help of my partner I think I’ve got them all. One of the aspects of this puzzle that I think we don’t applaud often enough (although it’s a strong feature of the Guardian crossword) is the breadth (if not depth :)) of cultural references. Anyway, great fun, I thought.
Posted in Guardian | 25 Comments »
Guardian 25,036 / Rufus
Posted by mhl on 14th June 2010
As usual, good stuff from Rufus – smooth surface readings, clever constructions and plenty of smiles from the cryptic definitions. (Apologies for any errors – I’ve had to do this post very fast today due to transport problems.)
Posted in Guardian | 25 Comments »
Guardian 25,032 / Orlando
Posted by mhl on 9th June 2010
A very enjoyable puzzle – mostly not too hard, and there are a few brilliant clues, I think – 28a and 20d in particular for me
Posted in Guardian | 33 Comments »
Guardian Genius 83 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 6th June 2010
We found it tough to get going with this puzzle, but once we’d got the theme of 7-letter characters from Shakespeare, and, I’m afraid to say, resorted to using Wikipedia’s lists from A to K and L to Z, progress was pretty quick. The 20 of these themed answers are packed into the grid with impressive density. In some senses it wasn’t too hard to guess the answers for this puzzle, but there are quite a number (particularly in the South East corner) where the clues were very difficult to parse. I’m indebted to Gaufrid and others for suggesting readings for some of these clues.
Posted in Guardian Genius | 32 Comments »
Guardian 25,027 / Paul
Posted by mhl on 3rd June 2010
It’s always a pleasure to do a post here about one of Paul’s puzzles. Some excellent clues here, my favourites are hopefully obvious from the post below. I didn’t find this too difficult – the toughest for me was 1d.
Posted in Guardian | 21 Comments »
Guardian 25012 / Rufus
Posted by mhl on 17th May 2010
Lots of excellent clues in today’s Rufus. I made quite heavy weather of this by getting 10a wrong, mispelling 23d and not knowing 12a, but I think it should have been straightforward.
Posted in Guardian | 32 Comments »
Guardian 25008 / Arachne
Posted by mhl on 12th May 2010
Some very good clues in this puzzle, (e.g. 7d, 10d) and a few which I think are bit weak. I’m not sure about how to parse 15a and 14d, I’m afraid.
Posted in Guardian | 33 Comments »
Guardian 25,003 / Pasquale
Posted by mhl on 6th May 2010
An excellent crossword from Pasquale today, notable for me because of three great &lits, but with many other enjoyable clues as well.
Posted in Guardian | 49 Comments »
Guardian 24,991 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 22nd April 2010
A good puzzle from Araucaria, much of it quite easy (a relief to me) with perhaps 3 more difficult clues. I don’t get the subsidiary of 14 across, so any explanations would be much appreciated
Posted in Guardian | 50 Comments »
Guardian 24984 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 14th April 2010
A fair but rather tricky puzzle for a week day, largely due to a few obscure or archaic words. There’s a nice set of “reversed clues” where the answer might clue some words in the clue – guessing the right anagrind for the answer was the tricky bit in these ones, I thought.
Posted in Guardian | 30 Comments »
Guardian 24,979 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 8th April 2010
Annoyingly, I had to write this post without any internet access or reference books, so there are lots of guesses here that normally I would be able to quickly confirm. I may not be able to make corrections until much later, so please refer to the ever erudite comments below for better informed commentary :)
Posted in Guardian | 49 Comments »
Guardian 24974 / Chifonie
Posted by mhl on 2nd April 2010
An enjoyable puzzle, with an easy ways in through some obvious anagrams. I have a few quibbles or questions, mentioned below, however. (Apologies for the late post – I’d forgotten I was meant to be doing today, so this is quite a hasty write-up!)
Posted in Guardian | 20 Comments »
Guardian 24964 / Rufus
Posted by mhl on 22nd March 2010
A quick solve for me, but with lots of smiles along the way, as usual with Rufus’s puzzles.
Posted in Guardian | 28 Comments »
Guardian 24,960 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 17th March 2010
Lots of ducks in today’s crossword – yet another rushed post from me in rather awkward circumstances, and I’m afraid I don’t get 12 across or 7 down
Posted in Guardian | 66 Comments »