Guardian Prize 27,567 by Shed

I found this tricky at first until I realised that I was getting too distracted by the surfaces.  Once I reminded myself to just look at the words, not what they are saying, the rest of the puzzle sailed in quite smoothly.  Thanks Shed for an entertaining puzzle.

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Independent 9,917 by Wiglaf

I was under the impression that I had blogged Wiglaf more recently than last October, but apparently not.  Everyone since then seemed to moan gently about the difficulty. Although I didn’t really do so last October, I’ll do so this time, but not with the intention of criticising, simply to say that I was defeated by 6dn and was rather unsure about some of the others (8ac, 26ac, 28ac) because the words were so apparently unusual. It was hard but enjoyable.

Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.

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Guardian 27,571 – Picaroon

Picaroon never disappoints, and this puzzle is no exception, with a collection of elegant, ingenious and accessible clues. But there’s more: I suspected there might be a crosswordy theme when I saw LISTENER … Read more >>