Guardian – Page 407 – Fifteensquared

Guardian 25,253 / Araucaria

Wed February 23, 2011 at 10:16 amWed February 23, 2011 at 9:27 am by duncanshiell

This struck me as a typical Araucaria crossword with lots of cross-referencing between clues, lots of misdirection, a few words that many people do not use in everyday language, and one or two clues … Read more >>

Guardian 25252 Gordius – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Tue February 22, 2011 at 2:22 am by Uncle Yap

I am often perplexed by Gordius who must find it extremely difficult to NOT spoil an otherwise good set of clues with some horrible ones. One of his foibles is to throw in … Read more >>

Guardian 25,251 / Rufus

Mon February 21, 2011 at 11:19 amMon February 21, 2011 at 9:15 am by mhl

I thought this was a trickier-than-usual puzzle from Rufus, but very enjoyable, as ever. I think my favourite clue here was the simple and elegant 25 across. (I had the great pleasure of … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic 588/Pan

Mon February 21, 2011 at 8:49 am by Pierre

I thought this was a super puzzle from Pan – just right for a Quiptic, with everything clearly clued and some smooth surface readings. It’s been mentioned several times since we started the … Read more >>

Guardian Prize 25,244 by Araucaria

Sat February 19, 2011 at 10:57 amSat February 19, 2011 at 12:01 am by PeeDee

A themed puzzle from Araucaria this week. The themed answers are all obvious once the theme is spotted, but some of the other clues are not nearly so easy. The theme is a celebration of … Read more >>

Guardian 25,249 – Orlando

Fri February 18, 2011 at 8:52 am by Andrew

A momentous and (mostly) excellent week ends with this enjoyable and reasonably straightforward puzzle from Orlando. It’s all of a pretty high standard, so I won’t pick out any particular clues, though I … Read more >>

Guardian 25,248 – Araucaria

Thu February 17, 2011 at 4:23 am by manehi

Not a surprising choice of setter following yesterday’s rather special crossword – this puzzle looked a little daunting at first but wasn’t too tricky once the grid began to fill. Slightly unsure on … Read more >>

Guardian 25,247 / Enigmatist, Paul and Shed

Wed February 16, 2011 at 10:56 am by mhl

I’ll leave no spoilers in this paragraph since it appears on the front page and this is a really special puzzle… This puzzle is a wonderful tribute to Araucaria, whose 90th birthday it … Read more >>

Guardian 25246 Quantum – Breezy Walk in the Park

Tue February 15, 2011 at 8:45 amTue February 15, 2011 at 1:48 am by Uncle Yap

Quite a breezy walk in the park from Quantum. Nothing very challenging. ACROSS 1 PRESUMPTIVE *(US REP MET VIP) 9 NORMANS NORM (standard) ANS (answer) 10 RISOTTO *(STIR TOO) 11 UNORDERED dd 12 … Read more >>

Guardian Quiptic 587 / Arachne

Mon February 14, 2011 at 10:16 am by Gaufrid

I cannot comment as to how this puzzle compares with other Quiptics with regard to degree of difficulty because I haven’t solved one since my original blog, published when we first started covering … Read more >>

Guardian 25,245 / Brendan

Mon February 14, 2011 at 9:23 am by Eileen

A delightfully entertaining puzzle from Brendan, with an added diversion at the end, to find the thirteen themed answers referred to in 9ac. I thoroughly enjoyed both the solve, which was not too … Read more >>

Guardian Prize 25,238 / Brummie

Sat February 12, 2011 at 2:17 pmSat February 12, 2011 at 12:10 am by Eileen

I think I’ve said before that I’m always a little apprehensive when I see Brummie’s name on a puzzle that I’m about to solve, let alone blog. However, it fairly quickly all came … Read more >>

Guardian No 25,243 by Arachne

Fri February 11, 2011 at 10:37 amFri February 11, 2011 at 3:37 am by PeterO

There are some clever clues here, and a few too clever by far for me. Across 1. Bird’s noise when pushing out many eggs (6) CUCKOO KOO is ‘many eggs’, which is the … Read more >>

Guardian 25,242 / Paul

Fri February 11, 2011 at 11:15 amThu February 10, 2011 at 8:13 am by mhl

As usual, a very entertaining solve from Paul, with a nice theme that shouldn’t have caused too many problems. (Incidentally, I’m sure we all wish the setter congratulations on his recent engagement!) Across … Read more >>

Guardian 25,241 / Gordius

Wed February 9, 2011 at 12:39 pmWed February 9, 2011 at 9:15 am by Eileen

A fairly typical Gordius, I think, comprising mostly anagrams, simple charades and/or insertions and double definitions, with several niggles, as usual for me with this setter. Across 7 DOG-COLLAR: DOG [reversal of GOD … Read more >>