Guardian 25,974 / Araucaria
Posted by Eileen on 14th June 2013
What a treat to end the week! – Araucaria in great form, in a puzzle with one of his own favourite themes.
Posted in Guardian | 30 Comments »
Author Archive
Guardian 25,964 / Rufus
Posted by Eileen on 3rd June 2013
Another typical Rufus offering, with a fair sprinkling of anagrams and double and cryptic definitions, all elegantly gift-wrapped with the usual silky surfaces. Thank you, Rufus, for a pleasant start to a sunny morning.
Posted in Guardian | 25 Comments »
Guardian Prize 25,957 / Araucaria
Posted by Eileen on 1st June 2013
A rather surprisingly straightforward Araucaria puzzle, especially for a Saturday Prize, with some very easy clues, eg 5, 9,13, 23, 24ac and 1, 3, 16, 19 and 20dn, with an oddly unseasonal mini-theme for the Spring Bank Holiday, when I was half hoping we might get a jigsaw puzzle.
Posted in Guardian | 22 Comments »
Guardian 25,960 / Paul
Posted by Eileen on 29th May 2013
Vintage Paul, with witty, ingenious cluing, providing lots of laughs and a couple of groans. Many thanks, Paul – I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Posted in Guardian | 33 Comments »
Guardian 25,950 / Arachne
Posted by Eileen on 17th May 2013
What a lovely end to the week – Arachne on top form – and aren’t I lucky to get two excellent puzzles to blog in one week? It’s all here – great story-telling [and misleading] surfaces, topical allusions, wit, ingenious constructions: I need say no more, except huge thanks to Arachne – I loved it!
Posted in Guardian | 54 Comments »
Guardian 25.947 / Philistine
Posted by Eileen on 14th May 2013
I am standing in today for Uncle Yap, who is away. I don’t think I have blogged a Philistine puzzle before but I’m a great fan of his, so I count myself lucky to have drawn this one.
Posted in Guardian | 42 Comments »
Guardian 25,940 / Rufus
Posted by Eileen on 6th May 2013
A pretty typical Rufus puzzle for a sunny [!] Bank Holiday morning – lovely surfaces throughout, a fair sprinkling of anagrams and cryptic [some not so cryptic] definitions, some clever clues, like 24ac and 6 and 11 dn, a few double definitions – and one ambiguous clue, 17ac. Many thanks, Rufus – enjoy the day, everyone!
Posted in Guardian | 19 Comments »
Guardian Prize 25,933 / Araucaria
Posted by Eileen on 4th May 2013
And still Araucaria keeps them coming! Like PeterO yesterday, I count myself blessed in having landed a good proportion of them recently. I was fortunate in that 12ac, for which we Brits, of necessity, have a number of paraphrases, was one of the handful that I got on the first run-through, so, once I got started, I found this an amusing and entertaining solve, during which, perhaps fittingly, there was a very sudden and rather violent freak hailstorm here.
Posted in Guardian | 18 Comments »
Guardian 25,936 / Paul
Posted by Eileen on 1st May 2013
Another very entertaining puzzle [squeaky-clean today!] from Paul, with some clever clues, as usual, providing a number of smiles along the way. Many thanks for the fun, Paul – I really enjoyed it
Posted in Guardian | 24 Comments »
Guardian 25,931 / Paul
Posted by Eileen on 25th April 2013
I think this is one of the easiest Paul puzzles I’ve solved – but no less enjoyable for that - and, after yesterday, that’s perhaps a bit of a relief. Clues such as 20ac, 22ac, 25ac, 4dn, 18dn – and also 8,24ac - give strong hints as to the authorship and provide a few smiles / sniggers. There are, as always, some inventive anagram and insertion indicators, ingenious constructions and witty surfaces. Many thanks, Paul!
Posted in Guardian | 25 Comments »
Guardian 25,926 / Arachne
Posted by Eileen on 19th April 2013
What a treat to end a good week of crosswords! – a welcome return for Arachne, up to her usual witty wiles. The first two across clues were real ‘Won’t you come into my parlour?’ enticements. Thereafter, the solving [and parsing] got trickier, as we would expect, but it was sheer delight all the way, with several chortles as one by one the pennies dropped. As has been said before, it’s always worth going back, after teasing out Arachne’s ingenious constructions, to savour the clever, amusing and often topical surfaces.
Posted in Guardian | 32 Comments »
Guardian 25,916 / Rufus
Posted by Eileen on 8th April 2013
The familiar Rufus medley of anagrams and double and cryptic definitions. Some witty misdirection and the usual silky surfaces made this an entertaining puzzle for me – a couple of unusual words, but easily gettable. Many thanks, Rufus, for the smiles.
Posted in Guardian | 15 Comments »
Guardian Easter Prize puzzle 25,909 / Araucaria
Posted by Eileen on 6th April 2013
I’m well into my fifth year of blogging and I’ve never before landed an Araucaria Bank Holiday Prize puzzle, and so it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I looked forward to this one. At first sight, it appeared [even] more fiendish than his habitual double grids, since the instructions stated, ‘Two operatic bicentenaries occur this year: one composer and solutions relating to him go into grid A; solutions relating to the other (who is not named) go into grid B. Clues for both grids have been run together and either part may belong to either grid.’ Usually, as I recall, the clues have run in order of their appearance in the grid – and so I foresaw trouble ahead.
Posted in Guardian | 39 Comments »
Guardian 25,912 / Bonxie
Posted by Eileen on 3rd April 2013
It’s a while since we saw a Bonxie puzzle, so I was glad to see his name today. Some interesting cluing, including one [8dn] where I thought I was going to have to ask for help but, mercifully, it came to me as I wrote the blog. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, so many thanks, Bonxie.
Posted in Guardian | 43 Comments »