Guardian – Page 404 – Fifteensquared

Guardian 25,289 / Paul

Wed April 6, 2011 at 2:32 pmWed April 6, 2011 at 8:41 am by Eileen

A fun puzzle from Paul today, with several instances of his trademark humour – all straightforwardly clued, I think. Across 1 BASENJI: BASE [bottom] + J [‘jay, we hear’] in reversal of IN: … Read more >>

Guardian 25288 / Brummie

Tue April 5, 2011 at 9:26 amTue April 5, 2011 at 2:19 am by Uncle Yap

Brummie is one who can tantalise and amuse but his Guardian offerings are quite tame. I wish he would introduce more of his Cyclopic style here but then the Eye wouldn’t be unique, … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic 594 / Pan

Mon April 4, 2011 at 2:26 pmMon April 4, 2011 at 11:31 am by Big Dave

A puzzle well-suited to the Quiptic genre. A few nice clues but nothing out of the ordinary. All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations used in the … Read more >>

Guardian 25,287 – Rufus

Mon April 4, 2011 at 12:54 am by Andrew

The usual straightforward Monday Rufus offering. There are perhaps slightly fewer cryptic definitions than sometimes, and I can’t summon up much enthusiasm for those that there are; I’m also not keen on a … Read more >>

Guardian Genius 93 by Paul

Sun April 3, 2011 at 10:06 amSun April 3, 2011 at 6:30 am by duncanshiell

In the preamble we were told that seven clues require ill-advised exchanges before solutions are entered in the grid. The resulting solutions are non-words. In these seven clues, the definitions (indicated by the … Read more >>

Guardian Prize Puzzle 25,280 by Paul

Mon April 4, 2011 at 4:45 amSat April 2, 2011 at 12:01 am by PeeDee

Themed puzzles are coming thick and fast these days, and the theme in this one seemed to occupy most of the grid. As always, some will enjoy this type of crossword more than others. … Read more >>

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 >>