This page is for the discussion of general crossword related matters and other topics of interest.
Comments posted before 2025-12-06 can be found here.
Never knowingly undersolved
This page is for the discussion of general crossword related matters and other topics of interest.
Comments posted before 2025-12-06 can be found here.
Has anyone had a stab at the New Statesman Cryptic? I’ve never bothered with it before but feel a bit let down by this clue (which I’m 99% sure I haven’t got wrong, given that every letter is checked – it’s an unusual grid for a blocked puzzle):
It’s an across clue and reads:
Fruit brought up from the south to impress (4)
The solution seems to be STUN (reversal of NUTS, or possibly NUT+S). Either way I don’t think that works as an across clue – am I going mad here?
Comment #2
@1 I guess “brought up” could mean regurgitated as an anagram indicator
Would be an indirect anagram, though?
Anon.Cues#1, I parsed it as you did and was equally dissatisfied. It’s strange, because “brought back from the east” would have worked (although with a degree of ambiguity – the clue could indicate STUN or NUTS). I do the NS Cryptic most weeks and found this one (by Finn, not a name I recall seeing before) significantly more difficult than usual. It has some very neat clues and some that would displease Ximeneans, though that’s not unusual in the NS.
@5 Thanks Hector – glad I’m not going mad! I didn’t like the “more often than not” definition much either, but I’m generally in favour of innovation, so I shall stop moaning (especially if it’s a new setter, still settling in)!
Gladys@124 on the previous page, yes for me a horrible grid is one which subdivided the puzzle to the point of the parts becoming almost individual puzzles, and I don’t see the point of that.
I find sticklebrick grids harder than ones which favour initial letter checkers – I imagine many people do – but I don’t regard them as “horrible”. Just harder. And I find grids with three consecutive unches ugly (and sometimes also harder) rather than horrible.
Anon Cues & Hector: very remote chance that Finn is the writer John Finnemore, who has set Listener puzzles, but it’s more likely to be Finn Vigeland, who has set New York Times puzzles and elsewhere. More likely to be libertarian than Ximenean.
I agree that ‘brought up from the south’ doesn’t seem to work for an Across, and could well be a case of the compiler utilising a clue from his existing database without considering the context.
There might be a case for ‘the south’ meaning the S in ‘nuts’, but how to explain ‘up’? I suppose if you have a horizontal queue and someone jumps it to get nearer the front, they’re moving up the queue, but it’s a bit of a stretch!
Anon.Cues@1: My best take on this, by way of an attempt to resolve the seemingly redundant reversal indicators: “Fruit” = NUTS “brought up” [raised to an upright position] “from the south” [the now-vertical letters reversed] = STUN = “to impress”.
Available now for those who may wish to make an early start…
Everyman 4130
Gemelo 18
Are the observer’s puzzles now free to play?
I can access them now
Today’s Numbers Crossword 123 has an error in 15ac. As everyone knows the answer given of 225 is 15 squared and is not a cube number.
@11 well I’m confused. Last week I could get to neither Everyman or Azed. This week I can get to Everyman, but not Gemelo. I’m logged in, but not subscribed.
(£16/month seems a lot for 2 crosswords a week? Mind you, thinking of it that way, I’ve just subscribed to the Crossword Club at £36 for (I think) 24 crosswords over a year, so maybe it’s not that far off)
…and of course the minute I posted that I realised I’ve been thinking so much about what *I* would get out of £144/year, that I’ve forgotten that’s not all it covers and others will get more out of it. But personally I’m only interested in the 2 crosswords a week, and the rest of the content has no appeal. So it’s a value judgement only I can make (which I suppose it always was anyway. Ho hum. I guess I’m just irked that I might have to pay for what was previously free!)
Pete@14 I don’t know if this is useful, but posted elsewhere I read that the Observer are offering half-price annual subscriptions for their online product, stating “We’d like to extend a special offer to our puzzle fans to take up an annual digital subscription now for 50% off in your first year. If you are already on one of our £1 trial subscriptions, you will be able to cancel that and take out this offer over the next month”.
… I should have added that you need to enter PUZZLES50 in the “Promo Code’ box.
Hi Admin. FYI, I had a really nice mince pie at a cafe this morning, and, yes – I did tell them why I thought it was good.
Anyone know a barred puzzle that is easier than the gemelo, around the azed, that is published somewhat regularly?
Possibly The Spectator. It tends to be at the gentler end of the scale
I haven’t dipped into GD for a while and am surprised to see such a lot of deleted comments/comments awaiting moderation. #17-24 and #28-31. Just curious: is this normal and just waiting for the editor to catch up on reviewing or is something untoward going on?
It comes from spam comments. I recently started being more vigilant – something I should have been doing all along.
Where is the blog category for the spectator?
Good spot Jerry @22. It was overlooked. ’tis there now.
Available now for anyone who may wish to make an early start…
Everyman 4,131
All I want for Christmas is a James Brydon puzzle 😞
Azed No. 2,774 Plain – Christmas Competition
Available now if you’re having issues with Observer access.
Has anyone done the Ludwig “festive crossword” in the Guardian’s Saturday magazine last weekend? Page 31, with the completed grid on page 32.
I got all except 15d (which I think is a bad clue) and the parsing of 16a. I understand the crossword has also appeared online, so are there any plans to blog it?
Does the Guardian Christmas Jumbo Prize crossword normally turn up on Boxing Day? The Crossbar household was sort of expecting it today. We’re rather hoping that the Ludwig (sh#27) wasn’t a replacement for it.
Crossbar@28. The jumbo prize has been in the Saturday paper the weekend before Christmas for a number of years, though I seem to remember that it used to be in Christmas Eve’s paper. (I used to have a holiday in the Lake District the week before Christmas, and I can remember scurrying desperately around the shops in Penrith looking for a copy of the paper before catching my train back to Sheffield.) In 2006 24th December was a Sunday and the Christmas special was printed in the paper dated the 23rd – maybe this was the start of the tradition of featuring it on the Saturday before Christmas?
I can’t remember the Christmas puzzle ever being published on Boxing Day – there used to be no newspapers on that day, for one thing! – though it would be a nice idea. Or maybe Saturday 27th?
I hope Ludwig’s puzzle was not meant as a replacement for Maskarade’s very challenging puzzle. It’s a long time to wait till Easter…
Indeed sh@29. We shall be bereft. 😟
Croasbar@28 I came here to ask the same question as to where the Guardian jumbo Christmas crossword could be found. Has anyone looked in the printed newspaper? I am in the USA, so that’s not possible for me…
Worth noting that Maskarade (as Doc) set the Spectator jumbo Christmas special this year (recommended). Perhaps the Guardian has something else up its sleeve.
Jay@32 – Thanks, will take a look at the Spectator special, seems like you can do a trial subscription for 3 pounds for 3 months 🙂
Still hoping we get a Guardian special despite Maskarade’s work elsewhere…
Team USA@31 I’ve looked in today’s printed version and the one for last Saturday – and couldn’t see it. (In the UK the Guardian is available for free through BorrowBox if you belong to a library area that subscribes to the service).
Team USA @33 if you do venture down the Spectator route, as a Guardian solver be sure to check out Lavatch (aka Picaroon) and La Jerezana (aka Arachne).
Crossbar@34 thanks for checking!
Jay@35 thanks for the setter name cross reference!
Merry (Happy) Christmas!
Crossbar @28 and others, Alan Connor has said on Bluesky that it’s in The Guardian on Saturday 27th. Paper only, not online.
Thank you Michael R@37. Now what am I going to do on Boxing Day? 😂
I’m another who came here to ask about the Bank Holiday Special (Maskarade, Enigmatist, whoever) and was about to echo Sheffield H’s queries @27&29…..but then read the later comments.
Not being in the UK, it’s a real blow to learn the 27/12 Guardian crossword won’t be available online.
Thanks to Cormac yesterday I accessed the Ludwig “xmas” one – have just completed it – and, in all honesty, it’s really not in the same league as past Maskarade/Enigmatist Bank Hol specials.
Oh well.
We are, fortunately, postal subscribers to Private Eye, so I do still have the peerless Cyclops.
Happy holidays, all!
If you are at a loss for a Christmas puzzle, following recommendation over at the Clue Clinic, I just finished the Azed Christmas Special from 1976. Highly recommended, if you’re up for a classic Azed puzzle. Not for the faint hearted, but great fun!
There’s a Christmas cryptic 23×23 Jumbo by Anax (Dean Mayer) in the Sunday Times on the 28th. Always brilliant.
For those who are looking for a challenge over Christmas, today, Boxing Day, 26 December 2025, there is Enigmatist in the Guardian, Io in the FT and NImrod in the Independent – basically the same setter across three of the GIFT papers. Do we think the crossword editors collaborated?
Shanne, I’m told there’s an Elgar in the Telegraph today too, so make that four papers in all. Obviously you have to pay for that last one, but the Telegraph puzzles sub is currently on offer for just £1 for a year.
@Michael R, I had the £1 Telegraph sub all of last year, which was well worth it. When you come off that they try to roll you on to the full newspaper subscription which I declined on the basis that I only want access to the puzzles. I was then offered £10 for all of next year, which I accepted.
Thanks, Jay. I’m on a reduced third-year sub myself – can’t remember just how much, but certainly around £10 – and it’s excellent value. I just haven’t had time to sign in to the site today to tackle the Elgar yet. Now that James Brydon is at the Telegraph exclusively, maybe Rats @24 will consider the £1 offer. 🙂