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 25,542 – Araucaria

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There’s a straightforward theme to this puzzle, with a number of clues leading to examples of the word at 12ac. Some of them are probably a bit obscure, though I think I have … Read more >>

Guardian 25,537 – Bonxie

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I had confidently predicted an Orlando for today, as we haven’t seen him since just before Christmas, so was slightly worried to see Bonxie’s name, as I’ve sometimes found his puzzles quite hard, … Read more >>

Guardian 25,527 – Brendan

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Brendan is becoming quite a regular as stand-in for Rufus on his occasional Mondays off, and this was a typically enjoyable puzzle, and mostly not too hard, though with a theme that might … Read more >>

Guardian 25,513 – Orlando

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A reasonably straightforward puzzle from Orlando (perhaps to soften us up for Araucaria’s Christmas special tomorrow), but with all his usual sound elegance and understated wit. Thanks, Orlando, and Merry Christmas to all … Read more >>

Guardian 25,503 – Rufus

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Another straightforward but nicely-constructed puzzle from Rufus, with the usual smooth surfaces.             Across 1. PORTRAYAL (PLAY OR ART)* 6. YVES Hidden in grubbY VESt 8. PUBLICAN PUBLIC … Read more >>

Guardian 25,499 – Chifonie

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In contrast to yesterday’s fairly tricky puzzle from Bonxie, this is a typical Chifonie, with entirely straightforward constructions, so one that would be suitable for beginners. I have a familiar quibble about 2dn, … Read more >>

Guardian 25,489 – Bonxie

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I’ve sometimes found Bonxie’s puzzles quite hard, but this one wasn’t too bad, despite a few rather obscure words. A nice theme involving the two “parts” of ROCK and ROLL, using at least … Read more >>

Azed 2059

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This was a fairly typical Azed for me, in that I solved about three-quarters of it fairly quickly and without aids (though with plenty of educated guesswork) but took a bit longer on … Read more >>

Guardian 25,479 – Rufus

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In contrast to the tricky Enigmatist puzzle I blogged last week, this was all plain sailing. The usual straightforward clueing (with 22ac being perhaps a slightly more involved construction than usual) and smooth … Read more >>

Guardian 25,475 – Enigmatist

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Some typically tricky stuff here from Enigmatist, who we haven’t seen for a while, but as always very clever, and satisfying to solve. There were quite a few clues where I guessed the … Read more >>