Guardian

The grid pattern and setter meant a theme was there somewhere. It took a while for it to work out but in the end it’s spelled out across the middle of the grid. … Read more >>

Sorry this is so late – I wrote it up at lunchtime but the site’s been down for most of the afternoon with an “Unable to connect to database” error. I seem to … Read more >>

A man notices a blonde sucking on the bottom of a Coke can. Curious, he asks her what she’s doing. “Duh! It says for best taste drink by date on the bottom.”   ACROSS … Read more >>

This was tough stuff indeed, but ultimately satisfying, with some fine clues. It took a good half hour all told, i.e. half of my tube journey (the needs of work oblige me to … Read more >>

Sorry this is late — I completely forgot. A pretty nice puzzle with a couple of clues that I wouldn’t have been surprised to have enountered in an Araucaria: e.g. 22D and 23D … Read more >>

Solving time: Turned to references after 45 mins (in two sessions) with 6 answers missing (asterisked) and one wrong (2dn). The thematic element of this puzzle was the inclusion of the seven deadly … Read more >>

Solving time:  22 minutes A lovely cinematic experience from Brummie today.  Many of the clues shared the solution to 9 as a definition.  The usual smattering of clever and nudge nidge wink wink … Read more >>

I think the theme here is famous people that I’ve heard of — unless someone can find a better link between BLAIR, PRESCOTT, FATS WALLER, Stirling and Kate MOSS, Gordon Brown, PARIS HILTON, … Read more >>

This was tough, and certainly I wouldn’t have been able to solve it on the train! However, I’m between jobs at the moment so I was able to attack it with Chambers and … Read more >>

This was a fairly straightforward puzzle, which I initially made more difficult by insisting that 16d was TATTLER and 23d was ACRE. They aren’t. Music is “Dead Bodies” by Air – the best … Read more >>

Another gentle start to the week from Rufus, with a sprinkling of mild cryptic definitions, some good anagrams, one piece of libertarianism and a bit of Maghreb blues fusion that I’m not sure quite works.  Music (just … Read more >>

Solving time: 4:42 Araucaria has had a monopoly on the prize crosswords in recent weeks, so this was a nice change and probably my quickest time for a Paul puzzle. The theme was … Read more >>

Solving time: 19 minutes A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Shed, an under-used and underrated setter on the Guardian, in my opinion.  Always a nice mixture of excellent clues with one or two twists … Read more >>

Solving time 8:12 I haven’t done a Rover puzzle for a long time, so I looked on the Setters page here to see what I’d be in for, and he’s described as “Hard”. … Read more >>

Neither fish nor fowl — can’t tell if there’s really a theme here or not: do fish and chips and grouse and chickens and pecking qualify? A couple of wordplays that I’m still … Read more >>