Guardian – Page 399 – Fifteensquared

Guardian 25,285 / Puck

Fri April 1, 2011 at 10:26 amFri April 1, 2011 at 9:27 am by mhl

A characteristically inventive and intricate puzzle from Puck, with lots of very nice clues. This puzzle has one of those themes which is more like a chain of associations running through the clues … Read more >>

Guardian 25,284 / Gordius

Thu March 31, 2011 at 10:01 amThu March 31, 2011 at 9:09 am by Eileen

Well, no one can say we don’t get variety in Guardian puzzles! I find that I can simply repeat the preamble I wrote on the last Gordius crossword that I blogged. ‘A fairly … Read more >>

Guardian 25,283 – Enigmatist

Wed March 30, 2011 at 1:10 pmWed March 30, 2011 at 9:15 am by Andrew

It’s been a while since we had an Enigmatist puzzle, but he’s back with a vengeance with this one. I found it very hard to get started, with the large number of cross-references, … Read more >>

Guardian 25282 Araucaria – Unofficial like Chang & Eng

Wed March 30, 2011 at 5:30 amTue March 29, 2011 at 3:26 am by Uncle Yap

What a lovely duty I have today, blogging the Master with his unpredictable devices that stretch Ximenean limits and torture his clients delightfully … don’t we all have this masochistic streak? A most … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic N° 593 by Arachne

Mon March 28, 2011 at 12:08 pmMon March 28, 2011 at 3:50 am by PeterO

An amusing offering from the Spider Woman, notable for some fine surfaces. Across 1. Exclusive property, often used in films (7,7) SPECIAL EFFECTS Charade of SPECIAL (‘exclusive’) + EFFECTS (‘property’). 8. A month … Read more >>

Guardian 25,281 – Rufus

Mon March 28, 2011 at 1:53 am by manehi

Very gentle Monday puzzle from Rufus with plenty of anagrams, double and cryptic definitions. I liked 5d and 13d. Across 1 BENEFIT double def 5 EXCERPT EXCEPT=”but” around R[ight] 9 NORSE (reason)* minus … Read more >>

Guardian Prize Puzzle 25,274 / Araucaria

Sat March 26, 2011 at 12:02 am by Eileen

Something of a treat for me, to blog an Araucaria prize puzzle. It’s one of those with a long answer, this time only a partial anagram, together with some rather nifty wordplay. I … Read more >>

Guardian 25,279 / Araucaria

Fri March 25, 2011 at 9:26 am by Eileen

There’s quite a bit of cross-referencing in this puzzle and there were two or three instances where it took me a while to see the parsing, so several real penny-dropping moments today. There’s … Read more >>

Guardian 25,278 – Chifonie

Thu March 24, 2011 at 8:09 amThu March 24, 2011 at 12:44 am by Andrew

I seem to get be getting all the Chifonies lately, and this is another fairly typical specimen, with a large proportion of charade clues, though I found it if anything slightly harder than … Read more >>

Guardian 25,277 by Bonxie

Wed March 23, 2011 at 3:28 am by PeterO

A brief offering, mainly because I started out with yesterday’s crossword by mistake! Across 1,23. Pick off reptile hiding in French 9 (6,5) CULLEN SKINK Charade of CULL (‘pick off’) + EN (‘in … Read more >>

Guardian 25276 Orlando – French street-walker in Pakistan?

Tue March 22, 2011 at 8:26 amTue March 22, 2011 at 2:34 am by Uncle Yap

A very pleasant solve and a good morning’s entertainment ACROSS 1 ALL OF ME ME is the abbreviation for the state of Maine 5 SCREW UP dd when you tighten a screw cap … Read more >>

Quiptic 592/Nutmeg

Mon March 21, 2011 at 11:41 amMon March 21, 2011 at 9:49 am by Pierre

Apart from a couple of niggles, I enjoyed this puzzle. There was an interesting variety of clues and of subject matter. Football fans will be familiar with the term ‘nutmeg’, where a player … Read more >>

Guardian 25,275 / Rufus

Mon March 21, 2011 at 10:59 amMon March 21, 2011 at 9:22 am by mhl

Some typical Monday fun from Rufus, with lovely surface readings throughout. Across 5. BAD EGG A nice double definition: “Scoundrel” and “best avoided by soldiers” (referring to the bits of toast that you … Read more >>

Guardian Prize No 25268 by Pasquale

Sat March 19, 2011 at 4:01 pmSat March 19, 2011 at 12:02 am by bridgesong

Solving time: about two hours, but we were watching the United v Arsenal game at the time. I acknowledge the substantial contribution from my friend and neighbour Timon, but the blog (and any … Read more >>

Guardian 25,273 – Arachne

Fri March 18, 2011 at 9:34 am by Andrew

I found it quite hard to get going on this one, but I think that’s because of some very clever clues where the cryptic reading is well concealed, with 19ac and 7dn being … Read more >>