Andrew's avatarAndrew

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 24,912 – Auster

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There was nothing too difficult in this puzzle from Auster, though I caused myself a little trouble by guessing wrong at 4d (plausibly, I think). Altogether very enjoyable, with a gentle wit showing … Read more >>

Guardian 24,904 – Rufus

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A typical Monday Rufus, with no difficulties apart from the obscure word at 24dn. The usual smattering of cryptic definitions, none of which particularly grabbed me, but there are two nice &lits at … Read more >>

Azed 1962

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Azed starts the new year (though not, please, the “second decade of the 21st Century” – that’s next year) with a puzzle that was mostly straightforward: I manage to complete most of it … Read more >>

Guardian 24,895 – Paul

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A fine end to the Guardian Crossword year with this tricky, clever and amusing puzzle from Paul. The “sums” in the first four across clues are particularly ingenious, but there’s lots more to … Read more >>

Guardian 24,873 / Paul

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An entertaining but quite tricky puzzle from Paul, with a lot of long answers spanning two positions in the grid and a fair amount of cross-referencing. The SW corner caused me the most … Read more >>

Guardian 24,868 / Quantum

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Yet another posthumous Quantum puzzle. Unfortunately I have to say I wasn’t very impressed with it: there are a couple of rather weak cryptic definitions, and other niggles noted below. Apart from that … Read more >>

Azed 1955

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An Azed of mixed difficulty, I found. I sailed through about three quarters of it with trouble at all, including most of the five long answers, but made much heavier weather of the … Read more >>

Guardian 24,858 / Orlando

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It’s one of the occasional non-Rufus Mondays. This was harder than a typical Rufus, but mostly not too difficult. There’s a theme involving characters from the TV series M*A*S*H, who are collected up … Read more >>

Guardian 24,854 / Brendan

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A tour-de-force of linked clues and clever wordplay from Brendan that is exceptional even by his high standards. Unfortunately I’ve had to solve and blog this in rather a hurry before catching an … Read more >>

Guardian 24,849 / Crucible

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At first I thought Crucible was a new setter, but I see he (?) has appeared a few times, most recently in September this year. Not surprisingly, Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot … Read more >>

Guardian 24,844 / Araucaria

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I guessed the planetary theme almost immediately, knowing that “planet” means “wanderer”, from the fact that the planets move in the sky relative to the so-called “fixed stars”. It’s not a complete set: … Read more >>