I printed this off very belatedly (glad I didn’t buy the paper) and wasted a train journey trying to find “there must be something better than that!” answers. If there is no lightbulb moment then how do you know you’ve got it right? I speak as a relative beginner.

I shall know to avoid Rufus on a monday.

If we can be happy with and enjoy various setters’ forms of libertarianism, and even prepare mentally for them, surely we can similarly settle down to a Rufus *expecting* his style? CDs (even if barely cryptic) and DDs are the deep roots of this form of setting – the “missing link”, if you will, between the “quick” or “American” crossword and today’s Byzantine art form, and part of what Rufus sees as his mission is to keep that link alive.

For myself, this puzzle went very slowly – started last night and got about three words, then finally this morning ANDES dropped (on my head like an anvil) and the NE corner mostly yielded, gradually mestastasising out into the other three quadrants. I was nervous about BEAR, wondering if something else was meant; “grappling” occurred to me moments before WRESTLING, but I was as convinced as everyone else that 15 was an anagram, which is why they are called “crosswords”. Had to look up SENESCHAL to verify the uncrossed letters.

As with many Rufus puzzles, I often find myself overthinking some clues, making them seem much harder until I suddenly realise what they mean (WELL OFF, for example). I think that’s as fun as any other type of solving we run into.

I also greatly enjoyed the Easter Prize offering, although I’m a few head-scratches away from finished, so thanks for avoiding the spoilers!

Thanks as always to Rufus for filling his place on Monday with his own special flavor, and to Eileen for enduring the slings and arrows by blogging it.

Bear = harbour as in ‘bear/harbour a grudge’ and also bear = carry/convey = transport.

So thank you Rufus for giving me a crossword I can solve, though I still don’t understand “bear” for 4ac.

Dull, dull and dull……Again.

Why is this almost non-cryptic fare considered easy?

Surely the Grauniad can find somebody else to more than occasionally make Monday interesting.

I’m now a believer!

Many thanks, Rufus

I’ve just been looking back at these sets of comments,

http://fifteensquared.net/2012/02/14/calling-all-admirers-of-rufus/#more-40557

http://fifteensquared.net/2012/02/22/roger-squires-rufus-dante-etc-80-today/#comments

which illustrate the huge respect and affection in which Roger Squires is held by solvers and fellow setters alike and go some way to lifting the depression which settles on me most Mondays these days, at the predictable, tedious, repetitively negative comments – particularly when I’m blogging, as they clog up my inbox!