Eileen

I’ve been doing cryptic crosswords since university days, learning how with a group of friends in coffee breaks. The Guardian crossword has been part of my life for most of the time since. Since retiring from teaching (originally Classics and, subsequently, when that was dropped from the curriculum, mostly English and History), having serendipitously stumbled on 15², I discovered that I could get the Indy and FT puzzles online and so I now add those, when they are set by my favourite compilers. Occasionally, I try the Genius and have even submitted a few. (Some years ago, I won a Collins dictionary in the Guardian Prize lottery, which established it as my referred reference.) I don’t take note of solving times: I enjoy taking time savouring the construction and particularly the surface of clues and always feel slightly disappointed when I finish too quickly. My one regret is my complete failure to enthuse any member of my family with cryptic crosswords.

Guardian Prize 29,141 / Paul

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It’s Paul filling the Prize slot this week, with something of a mixture of clue styles. We had old favourites at 4dn and 19dn, for instance, but it turned out that the former … Read more >>

Guardian 29,146 / Paul

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Paul rounds off the week with a generally straightforward puzzle, with just a few bits of parsing that took more thinking about. I had ticks for 1ac SPEEDWAY, 11ac ARTLESSLY, 29ac MOONSETS, 7dn … Read more >>

Guardian 29,124 / Vulcan

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It’s been one of those weekends, with three consecutive blogs from me, winding up predictably with a puzzle from Vulcan in his fortnightly slot. All pretty straightforward, with just one unfamiliar word, for … Read more >>

Guardian 29,122 / Pangakupu

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Pangakupu’s puzzles appear sufficiently infrequently for me to have to retune in to his wavelength each time. I haven’t quite got the measure of him yet. My favourites today were 4ac, 9ac, 10ac, … Read more >>

Guardian 29,115 / Picaroon

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It’s Picaroon providing our entertainment (and how!) today. I shan’t be surprised if someone says (again), ‘How does he keep doing it?’. It would be easier and quicker to list the clues which … Read more >>

Guardian 29,108 / Maskarade

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Like many of you, I was unable, throughout yesterday, to gain access to 15², until early evening and even then I kept getting the error message whenever I moved to a different page. … Read more >>

Guardian 29,103 / Picaroon

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It’s me again, standing in for scchua, who’s away this week. I think I got a good deal! There’s an abundance of excellent clues, with deft definitions, a handful of ‘lift and separates’, … Read more >>

Guardian Prize 29,093 / Paul

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Last Saturday’s Prize puzzle presented something of a shock to Guardian solvers. Several commenters recently have said that they failed to see the ‘Special Instructions’ in some puzzles. This time, ‘In memory of … Read more >>

Guardian 29,094 / Carpathian

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Once again, Carpathian slips comfortably into the Monday slot, as I said at the beginning of my previous blog of one of her puzzles. I enjoyed this one, with its well-chosen indicators for … Read more >>

Guardian 29,092 / Picaroon

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What’s this? Picaroon with Special Instructions? On a weekday? Several times lately Picaroon has taken to hiding his themes until midway through the down clues, thus frustrating solvers like me who tackle the … Read more >>

Guardian 29,085 / Brummie

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It’s Brummie providing our puzzle this morning.   I found this pretty straightforward, with a number of simple charades and anagrams and a helpful indication of a ‘lift and separate’ clue at 5dn. … Read more >>