Andrew

I started off on Everyman in The Observer, and began solving Azed while I was a student at Cambridge (reading maths) shortly after it started. I do the Guardian puzzle most days and others sporadically. In real life I work as a software developer (still in Cambridge), and for non-crossword recreation play the piano and am involved in amateur theatre.

Guardian 25,920 – Puck

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A very enjoyable puzzle from Puck, with lots of clever and tricky clueing. I thought 14a was particularly good (after I realised it wasn’t just a cryptic definition), but there were many others … Read more >>

Azed 2130

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Another low- to medium-strength Azed, which didn’t keep me from my Easter eggs for too long, but provided good entertainment on the way. There seems to have been a rare lapse from strict … Read more >>

Guardian 25,910 – Rufus

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No April foolery here (unless I’ve been fooled..), just the usual type of puzzle we expect from Rufus; if anything rather easy even by his standards, apart from one possibly obscure word that … Read more >>

Guardian 25,901 – Picaroon

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It’s exactly a month since I last blogged a Picaroon puzzle. No technical problems this time, and fewer obscurities (last time we had NGULTRUM and EIGENVECTOR among others), but I still found it … Read more >>

Guardian 25,896 – Tramp

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Tramp has been turning up about once a month in the Guardian recently, and I think thoroughly deserves this regular exposure. This is another high-quality puzzle, with some clever, and sometimes quite tricky, … Read more >>

Guardian 25,886 – Brendan

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I was thinking we were about due a non-Rufus Monday, and was delighted to see Brendan’s name on this puzzle. The usual light touch – mostly not too difficult, a couple of perhaps … Read more >>

Guardian 25,882 – Orlando

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A typically well-crafted and entertaining puzzle from Orlando, where the wit is often concealed under a mask of modest understatement. There’s a musical theme, with a number of famous songs and performers appearing … Read more >>

Azed 2124

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Having scarcely finished the previous week’s difficult Misprints puzzle before starting on this one I was expecting (hoping for?) a bit of a respite,. and so it proved, with a puzzle that was … Read more >>

Guardian 25,877 – Picaroon

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A belated and hurried posting, partly due to the Guardian’s failure to publish the puzzle properly on its website (the online version is still not there as I write this), so apologies in … Read more >>

Guardian 25,872 – Arachne

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Well, you can’t go wrong with Arachne, as shown by her Quiptic on Monday this week, and now this cryptic. I got a few answers very quickly, and thought it was going to … Read more >>

Guardian 25,853 – Araucaria

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After Araucaria’s announcement of his cancer a couple weeks ago, every new crossword he produces is surely one to treasure. It seems to be very much business as usual with this one, with … Read more >>

Guardian 25,848 – Tramp

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What a treat to have a Tramp puzzle to blog on this chilly morning. I took a while to get started, not helped by putting in a plausible but wrong answer for 7d, … Read more >>