171 comments on “General Discussion”

  1. Ha ha ha.
    Hee hee hee.
    Lovely to meet you kenmac. Thank you for taking on the mantle to bring us all a whole lot of joy. (Will try to behave.)

  2. In case anyone didn’t see this, kenmac posted Test test test, tickle tickle tickle to which I was replying in jest.
    But his post has disappeared. Got me!

  3. Sorry paddymelon. I’m attempting to archive the posts that have gone well over 200. It’s a bit of a pain getting all the links sorted – forwards/backwards etc.

    Looks like I was in the middle of “ballsing it up” when you came here.

  4. Can someone give any idea as to why there is no blog on Cyclops 729 yet? I hope all is well with the people that do them?

  5. Hi Winsor, I see that the blogger has been working on it but he’s had one-or-two technical difficulties.

    I shall put my team of detectives on the case.

  6. Kenmac

    You’ve done very well, as comments posting to this ‘new’ page have been seamlessly notified to my feed. In the past, there were sometimes difficulties whereby it was necessary for my to give some details to Feedly to keep getting notifications. It may well be that this had already been sorted out by Gaufrid before you started deputising but anyway, it’s all working perfectly now afaic! Thanks for your sterling work.

  7. Winsor, kenmac

    Can it be that Beermagnet is suffering a crisis of confidence after the tangle he got into last time over primates, apes and monkeys? Surely not, as we don’t expect the blogger to write with the authority of a Primate, just to be a primate like the rest of us “intelligent(ish) apes”.

  8. Private Eye Issue 1574 with Crossword 729 was a special Platinum Jubilee bumper issue which covered 3 weeks.
    In other words, ne’er-do-wells in Carlisle Street thought it a spiffing wheeze to put 70 old cover images that had Brenda in the picture on a few pages in the middle and take a week off.
    The Prize puzzle could be sent in up to today Friday 10 June so I simply scheduled the blog to come out on Monday morning – lucky 13th.
    However, as there is clearly a desire to see the blog so gimme a while to finish it off and I will publish it today early evening – just got to steal^h^h^h^h^h think of a joke for the end

  9. Thanks beermagnet, Monday would be fine, we are used to Mondays and we would then only have a week to wait for the next.

  10. You’re wrong there Roz – you will have to wait the usual 2 weeks – the Eye never play catchup, they only ever stick in a 3 week issue (usually over Xmas) so that they have 26 issues per year. Blame the Babylonians – or Pope Gregory – whoever/whatever made the Earth spin a weird fraction of the time it orbits the sun …
    Anyway this blog will appear any moment now

  12. Apologies in advance if I mess the link up as usual and you have to copy and paste it instead.

    Looking for cryptic compilation books on Amazon I saw this one:
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cryptic-Crossword-Puzzle-Book-Adults/dp/B088N3ZMVM
    ‘Cryptic Crossword Puzzle Book for Adults’, published 2020
    Not expecting much from the reviews I clicked on the ‘Look Inside’ image for a preview and was surprised that the first clues I looked at seemed perfectly fine.
    I Googled three clues from puzzle No.1 in the preview at random:
    Final authority is Mum?
    Latin repetition not working for bookworms
    Embracing love, Superman did nothing to change his routine
    Each is from a Guardian crossword – respectively, 27,620 by Puck, 27,487 by Crucible, and 27,637 by Nutmeg.

    I know puzzles do get officially syndicated to other newspapers abroad, but they’re usually the same puzzles as they appear here. There’s no mention in the blurb of these clues being originally from The Guardian as far as I can see, so I just wondered if anyone knew if it’s official or not.

  13. Twmbarlwm, the best person to ask about this would be Guardian crossword editor, Hugh Stephenson. You can contact him at guardian.crosswords@guardian.co.uk. I’m not sure what the copyright status of crossword clues is but it would seem to be a sort of theft if a publisher was using software to scrape the internet for cryptic clues to words in new grids. Ironically, 15 squared would be a good site to target if you were planning to do that.

    Annoyingly, it seems that Amazon just redirects you to its home page if you refuse their advertising cookies, so I wasn’t able to investigate myself, not wishing to take any.

  14. Thanks, Tony. I didn’t want to go straight to the editor because it’s entirely possible the Guardian does have a deal with the book’s publisher, but the fact that the clues were by separate setters in separate puzzles did make me wonder if this was a case of plagiaristic internet trawling.

  15. ^ I haven’t yet looked into the other clues in the preview so don’t know whether they’re from the Guardian or elsewhere.

  17. Of course, it’s quite possible the publisher of those books has paid a license fee to the Guardian for the right to reuse their clues. I don’t know for sure, but it’s extremely likely that the setter assigns to the Guardian all copyrights in their creation when accepting their fee. That’s certainly the case with the Independent.

  20. PM@18, I’m not sure that that site is a problem, really. The latest Prize Crossword answers, for instance, are for 28,632. Anyone can get those (unexplained) answers just by clicking ‘reveal’ on the relevant puzzle. Using Guardian clues for new crosswords for sale is a very different matter, however.

    It’s clear from the poor English that the Guardian Answers site is produced abroad, presumably with little understanding of the contents of what is actually being published there.

  21. Until there is a FifteeenSquared page for this Saturday’s Guardian Prize 28,781 perhaps here is the place to discuss a difference between the printed puzzle and the website.pdf?
    https://crosswords-static.guim.co.uk/gdn.cryptic.20220611.pdf
    Vic prints the pdf and Tim brings in the newspaper he paid for. A different cause for lunchtime antagonism today:
    16d is clued differently but both seem to point well enough to the same solution. What’s that all about?

  22. VicTim, the online clue I solved was different from the clue in the pdf.

    Something in the pdf clue seems … well … original. I wonder which was in the paper. Or was that different again?

  23. Yes, Tony Collman, the printed clue matches the online clue. I quite liked the reference to a bagel in the .pdf clue which echoes the doughnut in 2a. Although they could both be indicating the same element in the solution, they are not..
    Perhaps we should avoid spoilers until the solution comes out.

  25. [sorry, no Tony: I was just offering to close the matter until next week because I felt that my last comment was beginning to lead in that direction]
    Turns out not to be too rare, anyway. See yesterday’s Grauniad Quiptic.

  26. I’ve posted this on the blog re Picaroon’s puzzle, 28,786, but as it’s not puzzle-specific, this may be a better place to ask for help:
    I’ve been having technical problems for the last two days – the G’s crossword page keeps crashing out on my iPad. I’ve restarted it (multiple times), checked the version is up-to-date, and cleared the history & website data in Settings, but still it crashes …. Is anyone else having the same problem, and can anyone advise me?

  27. GrannyJ@26 – I’m unclear if you’re using the Guardian app or a browser on your iPad to do the crosswords.

    If you’re using the Guardian app:
    – go to Settings in the app and Clear Cached Data
    – if that fails, remove the app and install again.
    – if that fails, there is a second Guardian app called Guardian Editions. Install that and try the crossword.

    If you’re using a browser:
    – you’ve cleared the history and website data; I assume you’ve cleared the cache too.
    – try another browser: Safari is the default but you can use Chrome, Firefox and others.

    Finally, you can contact Guardian support. I once contacted them and they did reply!

  28. pdp11@27 – thanks for responding. I am using Safari as my browser and, from what I can find on Google, it seems that clearing the history & website data is the equivalent of clearing the cache. I will contact Guardian support, as you suggest & consider using a different browser.

  29. Granny J @26,28

    It’s good that you thought of posting this query somewhere other than the post for a particular puzzle, and great that pdp11 has advice for you.

    The best place to publish an enquiry like this is probably on the Site Feedback page, which is also linked under the ‘hamburger’ menu at top left.

  31. GrannyJ@28 – I tried The Guardian crossword in Safari on my iPad and it didn’t crash. I’m not sure how soon it crashes for you whilst doing a crossword. I should also have mentioned that on iPad (and iPhone) all browsers use the same “engine” to display a webpage. So if there’s a problem with the engine, you could get the same issue with other browsers. In which case, you could try one or both of The Guardian apps (although I appreciate that not everyone likes apps installed and would rather access sites through a browser). You may also want to check (if you haven’t already) that iPadOS is up to date (iPad Settings then Software Update).

    TC@29 – the blurb on the top here suggests that this page is for more general discussions whereas the Site Feedback page is for providing “feedback relating to Fifteensquared or raise issues regarding the website itself”. GrannyJ’s issue is not about this website but The Guardian website. Perhaps a different usage is indicated elsewhere?

  35. Many thanks Blah@33 , I will get them printed on Monday morning. I will take my reclaimed Paddington Bear to the IT office, he has a new sign around his neck.

  36. All done , I will not say much in case other people want to do them. For each I have narrowed it down to 5 clues for a special mention. The fact that I found it hard to get it down to 5 says it all really. I hope the other clues are not offended.
    MrPostMark – 10Ac , 13Ac, 1D ( the winner ), 4D and 19D
    Twmbariwm – 10Ac, 11Ac, 21Ac ( joint winner ) ,16D, 20D ( joint winner ) .

    Once again , thanks to Blah .

  37. Roz, very nice of you to take the time to solve mine, thank you. (And cheers to Blah for suggesting it.)

  38. Mornin’ Roz. I haven’t visited GD since the GrannyJ thread! So had no idea Blah had made recommendations and you had followed through. Thanks as always for your support and comments. You appear to be the only one from 225 and have been remarkably constant. (I suspect you would be able to give me plenty of examples of remarkable constants! 😉 )

    Funnily enough – having not plugged any recent puzzles – I was going to commend to you the one I’m about to publish. It’s another surface theme, rather like Thomas. Only not.

    And no hadrons anywhere to be seen.

  40. PM@38 I suspect a lot of people do not even look at GD unless an actual topic has spilled over from a normal blog. I tend to look once a day . Particle physics is long overdue for a theme, there are actually many Greek letters which do turn up as themes with depressing regularity plus lots of other nice names including a quark named after me.
    I presume the blue letters @39 mean a link, I will have to wait until Monday morning for this.
    You seem to have given a lot away ?? maybe deliberate. If it is what I suspect then there is a pretty complex possibility which I have never seen in crosswords..

  41. 182+1+182
    Today is the middle day of the year and I just wanted to wish everybody a very happy Half-Year-Day.

  42. Anna@41 – that’s a new one and yet so obvious. Google have missed a trick with no doodle today 😉

    Happy HYD to you too.

  43. PM@38, might it not be that Roz is the only person here whose use of the internet is apparently strictly limited to 15²? I have recently completed a puzzle on MC by Blah which was promoted here, but if I want to comment, I will create an account and comment in the place provided.

    Anna@41, that’s based on a totally arbitrary choice of the first day of the calendar year. The real ‘middle of the year’ was, arguably, the Summer Solstice — about 10 days ago. (That’s assuming you consider the year to ‘start’ when the sun begins to return, rather than, say, the Persian custom of considering the Spring Equinox as the beginning of the new year). Of course, the Summer Solstice here is the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere and our Spring Equinox, their Autumn Equinox. Roz will no doubt clarify if necessary.

  44. Tony @ 43
    Thanks for commenting.
    Yes, you’re quite right, of course.
    But I *do* also celebrate the solstices and the equinoxes, and the more-or-less half-spaces inbetween them.
    And I also celebrate half-christmas on 25 June every year.
    I really do believe that the ‘astronomical’ dates (solstices etc) are significant. The others are just an excuse for a drink !
    The summer solstice (‘Midsummer’) is a huge holiday here in Finland. Unfortunately they don’t actually celebrate it on the day itself, but it is christianised as Juhannus (St John’s Day) and is transferred to the following Saturday.

  45. TC @43: you are, of course, never wrong.

    And there are some who inhabit both places under different aliases. It is always nice when one of the regular 225ers pops in to MyC. If you have a different moniker and are active there, then I would be unaware. But I will hopefully recognise you when your masterwork appears; you suggested you might share it with us ere long?

  46. Anna@41 a very good spot , we could call it median day , I will remember this in future. Tony you are quite right about solstices etc and it is why the true beginning of the year for the whole planet is Perihelion Day, currently January 5th.
    Incidentally my use of the internet is wider than you think, I have three pictures on this Chrome book that I can visit.

  48. It is when the Earth begins a long bid for freedom, trying to escape from the gravitational well of the sun, giving us six months of hope before the Ricci tensor foils us once more.

  50. [Anna@44, your life sounds like one long party. Congratulations. It’s American Independence Day today which, ironically, is always celebrated here these days. We’re naturally overjoyed that they threw off ‘our’ shackles, so they were free to station their troops here. Will you raise a glass?

    PM@45, may I quote you on that? I’ve been very busy and still haven’t got round to doing that. If and when I sign up, it’s likely to be as Whynot, for the reason you’ve mentioned.

    Roz@46, would you care to share the link for those pictures, or are they private?]

  51. Anna@ 46 , Beltane is another good one to celebrate , May 1st the height of spring .
    Crossbar@49 , we have six months escaping and then six months or recapture, then we try again.

    Tony@50, not sure what you mean ? There is a picture for this site , a sot of grid. There is the BBC logo. There is something called JWST tracker with the NASA logo. They are the only three things I can visit.

  52. Oh, I see what you mean, Roz@51. But one day that too will be over – but not before we’re all dizzy

  53. Roz@50, oh, I see what you mean. Those little pictures which you can click on to make something happen are usually referred to as ‘icons’, I think. I thought you meant there were three icons on your ‘desktop’ which you could click to open photographs (something astronomical, I imagined) residing on the internet.

    I wonder where the BBC icon takes you? Their home page at bbc.co.uk seems the obvious choice, but that would require further clicks to get to any actual content — something you don’t allow yourself to do, if I’ve understood correctly? Perhaps it goes direct to a particular program page? The Archers?

  54. Fans of MyCrossword and others who might like to know more about it may be interested to know that it is the subject of today’s Guardian Crossword Blog post by Alan Connor. Haven’t actually had time to read it myself yet, but I’m sure it will be of the usual high standard.

  55. Tony@53 , icons sounds a bit religious , I just call them pictures, it is a BBC news picture. The only icon on my desk is my 70s Paddington Bear , I have reclaimed him from sprog1 who was threatening to sell him. I have given him a new label which is proving very useful.

  56. Roz,

    Icon:
    “1. Also: ikon
    a representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint, esp one painted in oil on a wooden panel, depicted in a traditional Byzantine style and venerated in the Eastern Church
    […]
    5. a pictorial representation of a facility available on a computer system, that enables the facility to be activated by means of a screen cursor rather than by a textual instruction”
    Collins online

    Desktop:
    “1. the main screen display on a personal computer, from which windows may be opened and programs run”
    Collins online

    You’d better remember these meanings in case they are used in a clue. Wouldn’t want you to be as baffled as you sound today 😉

    Btw, don’t know how you can sit there with Paddington staring at you like that.

  57. I could do with something to open the windows, there are 17 in the lab and I am always first in . Why does the dictionary not explain the ANY key, can never find that.
    Paddington has the rare and priceless quality , for a male , of silence.

  58. MrPostMark@39 a very ambitious theme , very daunting but rather successful overall.
    I will pick out 12, 22, 27 Ac and 4,7 , 23 D. Lobster Quadrille must have been the trickiest theme reference .Good to see a compound anagram with correct use of “this ” , Guardian setters have been known to mess this up.
    A few minor quibbles , sorry I have to criticise and I know setters are fond of their creations.
    13Ac almost but not quite. 18Ac works neatly but I do not know the equivalence you are using ? Maybe me at fault. 1D spoiled by the reference but needs to be in somewhere and very hard. 21D not very Mary Quant at all. 29D nice idea, maybe if each successive JAM was smaller ?
    Just to repeat my overall response is very positive.

  59. Roz, when I stare silently at women, it seems to make them feel uncomfortable. In fact, I must stop doing that …

  60. Roz @58: an occasional disparaging comment aimed at a puzzle is ‘probably more fun for the setter than the solver’. I can’t speak for the latter – though I do appreciate your kind and positive overall response – but I can assure you it was great fun to put together. This is not the place for a back and forth but I like your suggestion for 29d and it certainly crossed my mind but I don’t believe the technology is there to reproduce it. That was the reason for the final Ja … of course. (Which, it’s just struck me, is ever so vaguely reminiscent of Carroll’s other lovely work; ‘It’s a Boo-‘) Thanks again for investing the time.

  61. PM@60 , it is a bit like a Guardian puzzle that we really enjoy, you cannot mention everything that you like about it and you feel compelled to note any minor quibbles. I will come back to 18Ac in a weeks time so I am not spoiling anything.
    Tony@59, perhaps you should acquire a blue duffle coat, red hat and red wellingtons.

  62. Roz – I think Tony wanted to *stop* making women feel uncomfortable around him, not make things worse!

  64. sh @62: since I find you here – AND you argued your corner on yesterday’s Paul blog with regard to a certain clue – I felt I should share with you 1a from my Alice (Wonderland/Looking-Glass) surface-themed puzzle:

    Where to find Hatter? Disheartened glutton missing his starter (5)

    Apologies for the allusions in the surface which were nothing personal! 😉

  67. Tony @ 50
    My life is hardly one long party. In fact, I am very lonely and getting more bitter every day.
    Oh dear.
    I have on occasions sounded off here about the americans and their evil poison.
    Unfortunately Finnish people worship america and the decision to join Nato is one that I very much deplore. I think it makes Finland very unsafe. The americans want a war with Russia, and they want it in Eastern Europe. Finland is the very place. And so near Petersberg, too.
    I try to talk about this to Finnish people but they won’t hear any of it. They are totally naive politically.
    In my opinion, our president is a traitor.

  68. I’m really on a roll tonight, so I’ll just add that I find some of the hero(ine) worship that goes on on this site is excruciatingly vomit-making. It really is a case of ‘we like some people, but not others.’
    Like being back in school really.

  69. I have been looking for a good platform on the internet where I can write my thoughts and views of the world.
    I don’t think there is one.
    So I’m learning html and css in order to be able to create my own website. And javaScript.
    And anything else that I find I need.
    Fades out cackling ……

    Oh oops, before I fade out cackling, I just wanted to add that these computer languages are a piece of cake compared to human ones.
    Even I can do it.

    Now, I can fade out. Cue the cackling …..

  72. Anna @66 Imbolc is always a bit cold , even more so for you I think. Lughnasadh is my favourite and we have Pendle Hill for this.
    I do hope that Finland has no future problems with Russia , maybe they will think twice after Ukraine.
    Interesting point about languages , maybe it is why I dislike all matters IT so much.

  73. Anna@69, people who want a platform to vent on the internet usually do it with a blog. You don’t have to write html to create one (although it can come in useful), as there is proprietary software designed to make blogs. This very site is made with WordPress. Many others use Google’s platform, Blogger. If you Google those two terms, you will soon find lots of information about easy ways to make a blog. I think the basic packages are free in both cases, though I couldn’t swear to it..

  76. Valentine @74 If you were attempting to find it by searching for “prize” you wouldn’t. The word “prize” is not in the heading as it usually is. Also the blog shows as “uncategorised” rather than “Guardian” against the folder symbol.

  78. Kenmac@77, and the title of the post? One might often wish to search using the word ‘Prize’ to locate the Saturday Guardian puzzles.

  79. Apologies if this kind of thing is bad form, but I posted my first attempt at compiling a puzzle at at MyCrossword and I would love some feedback from any of you lovely people who have a go at it (please comment on the puzzle page itself, not here).

    It’s Cryptic Crossword No. 548

    Be gentle with me… 🙂

    Thanks in advance!

  80. Rob T @79: aha! Not my Alan Partridge tribute but recognition and putting name to face. Well done you for having a go; no apologies needed, as far as I understand, for announcing it and I hope you get traction. I, for one, will now put this higher on my To Do list and will look forward to solving. I’ll certainly put comments on MyC though 225 has generally proved to be quite indulgent when it comes to the occasional bit of feedback here on GD.

  82. That is mad. Job done. Comments duly made. For anyone reading here, I can report that Rob T has nothing to worry about, having produced a very decent debut puzzle. Well worth a look.

  83. Rob T@ 79 , certainly NOT bad form , I will get my fan club at the IT office to print this , it will have to be Thursday. Today is JWST Day .

  84. Rob T @79 – I had a bit of a MyCrossword binge over the weekend but now real life has caught up… I’ll try to get round to it some time this week.

    There’s been quite an influx of new setters there since the Guardian piece – which is great, just a shame I don’t have time to do them all…

    Of the ones I’ve done there recently, #535 by Drummond is particularly good.

  85. Quite acceptable to plug your efforts here, I’m sure, but only really acceptable to make detailed comments about MyCrossword puzzles if you’re Roz and therefore special. Anyone else should probably put them in the place provided for them, over there. As Roz is probably the only one here who ‘can’t’ use a search engine, the rest don’t have to worry about possibly being ignorant of the abbreviation JWST, although even the queen of the search engines seems unable to say why today should be “JWST Day”? Roz?

  86. I know what you mean widdersbel there’s only so many hours in the day. Like you and PM I like to try and get round to every new MyC setter at least once. While I’m on a few more recommendations for returning rather than new MyC setters are;

    537 by Guava

    540 by sirdakka

    545 by Piper

    The first two are recent graduates of Boatman’s latest masterclass and it shows in their recent setting. I believe Piper is also Boatman masterclass attendee though don’t quote me on that. All three puzzles are definitely worth the time to solve in my opinion.

  87. Widdersbel @84, the elusive Drummond has popped up over the years in Rookie Corner at Big Dave’s, his last being no. 300. Well worth the time.

  88. Widdersbel @84 – my, that #535 was chewy! Some great clueing and I’ve made mental notes of some techniques I haven’t yet tried… Thanks for the tip.

  89. Tony @85, the first day of detailed spectroscopic data from JWST, the pictures are fine but mainly for publicity . While not intending to deceive they are essentially fake, we do not “see” anything with Infra-red so they are falsely coloured. Fortunately the Guardian was back to being a Roger Bannister puzzle.

  90. Thanks, Roz, that explains it. There are some very colourful pictures of gravity waves on the internet.

  94. kenmac: it’s a problem on the Guardian site, where, as Greg says, what seems to be next week’s Quiptic (which will be number 1,183) has appeared as “Cryptic crossword no 1,183” in the Cryptic category.

  95. Greg it is not quite as bad as last Saturday, the Monday quiptic actually appeared in the paper as the prize.

  96. Today’s puzzle in the “i” – which previously appeared as Independent 9896 – had a 2 Across. It struck me that this must be a pretty rare occurrence. Are there any stats on this?

  97. Slight SPOILER , PostMark mycrossword 529.
    18Ac , I think, I can see GA(W)S but curtain=swag ?? can’t find this.

    Blah@ 86 thanks for the link as always, I may get round to these but crosswords a low priority at the moment.

    Rob@79 well done , great first effort, I particularly like 11, 24 Ac and 1, 14 D.
    A Paddington stare for the definition of 4D.

  98. Roz @97. Chambers 10th Edition: swag: a festoon; a curtain or length of material hung in folds, esp at a window.

  99. Thank you , interior decoration is not my strong point.
    MrPostMark should know that Chambers93 is the definitive guide for crosswords.

  100. Roz @97, I’m honoured and humbled that your legendary self enjoyed my debut effort. Apologies for including a th*me 🙂

    Re 4d, I gather you’re a scientific type so stare accepted without challenge.

    I’ve posted another and have a further two in the spout. I’m more addicted to setting than solving at the moment…

  101. Rob@100 I do not mind themes as such it is just in the Guardian some setters overdo it and it becomes very tedious, we recently had 8 in a row. Note the puzzles from Vlad and Imogen this week, no theme and far superior to the other puzzles.

  102. Roz @97: apologies. Didn’t check in to GD over the w/e. I have purchased the Chambers dictionary and thesaurus electronically so they should be up to date. Second definition of SWAG is:

    A curtain or length of material hung in folds, esp at a window

    Thanks for highlighting your query. ATB.

  103. Brock Coles @96: it would be interesting to see the grid. As you say it must be an unusual one. On a quick flick through a couple of crossword books taken from the shelf at random (Telegraph and Times, 100 puzzles per book) I can’t see any grid with a 2 across.

  104. Azed sometimes starts with 2AC or even 3AC but it is different with barred puzzles, I will look out for this in future.

  105. MrPostMark@102 , thanks for reply . I , of course, only use Chambers93 the first edition and this is the definitive guide to the language.
    Since it is your first offence I think a frown will suffice here.

  106. Brock Coles and Lord Jim, I have seen a normal type of grid with two long answers(15) down each side. First down clue is 1D. First across clue (2Ac) is 11 letters long and central. Answers come down from this but join in to the two sides. It is rare but I have seen it.

  107. Thanks Roz, I don’t remember having seen that one, but I don’t have much of a memory for grids. It’s not the same as the Independent one that Brock refers to, as the 2 across there has three letters.

  108. A grid as described by Roz wouldn’t be possible with anything like the usual conventions for blocked puzzles.
    1 down must start in the top row. 2 across must be in the top row. 1 down’s second letter must be checked, so there must be solutions in both the top and second rows. This is possible with short words in the top left, but because of symmetry it becomes impossible with 15 letter down solutions on the edges and 2 across with 11 letters.
    The Independent allows setters to construct their own grids, so you get some funny ones when there are themes.

  109. James@108 it may be a little awkward and unusual but extremely possible , I have just knocked one up in 5 minutes.
    Using the columns with W=blank and B= blocked.
    Column 1 – 15 x W … 2 BWB…all the way ….. 3 10xW B 4XW …. 4 WBBWBWBWBWBWBBW…..5 6xW B 8xW … 6=4 …7 8xW B 6xW …. 8 WBBBWBBBBBWBBBW and then each reversed.
    The only really unusual bits are ROW 2 and 14 .

  110. Lord Jim @107 have you not seen this Independent grid ? I have no idea how to find it.
    2Ac being 3 letters does seem odd. If you have the clues it is possible to construct it.

  111. Roz, I’ll have a look at yours. The Independent grid in question is one of those with only unchecked letters in the perimeter, so across solutions in even-numbered rows, and down solutions in even-numbered columns. 2 across is the only solution in the top row, and just bridges the gap between two letters that would otherwise be unchecked, for the purposes of a nina.

  112. Roz, sorry, I clearly didn’t try hard enough. It’s only the 15-letter ones that have less than 50% checking, otherwise unusual but perfectly sensible.

  113. Thanks James , I can’t imagine it sorry unless I draw it or have all the clue lengths.
    The key to the one I am thinking of is to SWAP the Across from ODD to EVEN using the awkward second row.

  114. Actually I have just seen what you mean @111 , it is what Tony C calls a sticklebrick grid.
    They have just joined 1D to 3D ???

  117. A question for all the crossword setters on here. I’ve just signed up to MyCrossword and done a few crosswords mentioned above which are all a good standard. Do you use the template grids on there or use some stand alone software to then be imported? If the latter, are there any programs (preferably open source/free) that you use and can recommend?

  118. Tim C @117: I’ve only ever used the stock grids and the compiling software on the site. And it’s been OK. Crossword Compiler is the default software for many others who post there and produces stuff that can be imported/exported – though I have no personal experience of using it, I’m afraid. It’s not free and requires a Windows platform.

  119. Tim C – I have only used the default templates and have been happy so far, there are plenty of them and working within the limitations of the chosen grid adds to the challenge for me. Having said that, I’ll follow any more replies with interest as more bespoke grids might form part of my future, I guess. Thanks for raising the question. What’s your MyCrossword handle, by the way? (I’m Henri)

  120. I’m on there as jugular, Rob, but haven’t done much yet apart from solving a few (including one of yours, 548).

  122. James@116, obvs it will be no use for Roz, but have you got the link for that puzzle? I can only see a way to get to Indy puzzles by date (and even that would require an awful lot of scrolling, I think).

  124. Tony @122, I only looked at the blog for it, linked @96. Each puzzle has an identifying number on its web address but I haven’t tried to work out the numbering system.

  127. Tony@125 , if you know the answer lengths it is fairly easy to make the grid. James has already said it is mainly your sticklebrick grid.

  128. Thanks PostMark @117, and Tony@123,kenmac@126. qxw looks good after finding a lot of dross in my searches yesterday. I came across an artlicle by Steve Bartlett (eXternal in The Independent among others) describing how he produced a barred “rebus” puzzle with multiple letters in some squares, so it looks pretty capable.
    On my searches I also came across a searchable dictionary and gazetteer which also looks to be a useful tool for setters.

  129. Roz@127, yes, maybe, but I’m far too lazy to bother. Just gimme a link I can click, someone!

  130. Question for Roz, because I know she knows everything. Or anyone ??
    In VS Code, when I try to set a button width of, say, 300 pixels, and then set a checkbox width of 300 pixels, they actually come out as different lengths on the page.
    I have followed the exact CSS as the teacher and his Elements come out equal lengths.
    Any idea what is going wrong?
    (This is an instructional video on Youtube)

    (I actually fathomed out Relative File Paths myself after a huge amount of googling, but I can’t find any answer to this problem)

  131. Sorry Anna @130 I have been away a few days at the Blue Dot Festival. Actually I know quite a lot about things that are very small or very large and not much in between. My blissful ignorance of all matters IT is entirely deliberate and I am totally clueless from “VS CODE onwards… ” . There are many experts on here, I am sure that someone can help.

  132. OK, never mind, thanks for answering, Roz.
    Actually my question has evolved a bit since. I’m still thinking about it …
    What’s the Blue dot Festival?

  135. The music draws the crowds and then we make them suffer for it with the science.
    Someone called Bjorg , I think, was making a lot of noise.

  136. Anna @130 – I presume that you are trying to lean to write HTML. There might be dozens of reasons why your buttons and checkboxes do not look as you expect, without seeing your code it is impossible to say.

    I would be happy to help you if you want. You can email me directly on peedee at fiffteensquared dot net.

  138. I heard recently that the very best setters sometimes write clues that try to trap you into entering the wrong answer if you haven’t fully understood it. I was wondering if anyone can give me an example of such a clue?

  141. Has anyone sussed out what’s happened to the clues in today’s FT? We have a down clue numbered as 8,2 but 2 is already clued and the enumeration (4-2-5) doesn’t fit anyway. I wondered if it might be 8.25 but there’s already a 25 as well.

  144. Joshua Rubin @138: I’ve been away, so unable to look this up, but you won’t find much better than 1/4 across in this puzzle by Filbert:
    A must for 1/4, proof all infantry’s heading for review? (5,4)
    You really need to do the whole puzzle for the full effect, but I can’t see any way of persuading the Indy site to let you. And of course you’ll see all the answers if you click the link above. Maybe get a friend to create the grid and print the clues from the blog for you?

  145. Gobbo @144 – that’s an absolutely brilliant clue, love it – thanks for sharing. (I do like Filbert’s puzzles but I’ve not been doing the Indy regularly for long so I haven’t seen that one before.)

  146. Gobbo, that was a good one, wasn’t it? I think I’ve mentioned it here before in a slightly different context (which I won’t reveal for fear of spoiling). In fact, I can’t think what the answer is, only the wrong answer Filbert set up as the trap. Must check the 15².

  147. Ximenes once had a whole quarter of a barred puzzle where each clue had two possible answers , call them type A and type B. All the A clues fitted together with each other , the same for B. On joining the rest of the grid, one set failed at one crossing letter. It was an April 1st puzzle with no warning.

  148. @ Roz, that story reminded me of this very clever trick by a New York Times setter who clued “The better of two sci-fi franchises” but had alternative crossers so that two different answers worked equally well.

    Coincidentally, it was reading that story that re-ignited my interest in cryptic crosswords after years of not having attempted one. So I’m grateful for that!

  151. Thanks Rob and Tony I may be able to get these printed so I can have a look at them. I did think the NYT was non-cryptic ?

  152. @ Roz, yes the NYT isn’t cryptic, I just meant that the news story piqued my interest in crosswords generally and I decided to give cryptics another go, after trying and abandoning them some years ago.

  153. Apologies if this is the wrong place, but can anyone explain how the answer to ‘It’s raised in border mostly (5)’ is lupin.

    It’s definitely correct, but all I can get is that lupins are a border plant and ‘raised in’ probably gives you ‘up in’. Not sure about the L…

    Thanks in advance.

  154. Alex @153: It looks like UP(=raised) in LIN(e) (=truncated border). All-in-one, where the whole clue is the definition. Line=border is perhaps a little loose, but obviously necessary for the double meaning to let the definition reading of the clue work.

  156. Hi Alex, I would say that this is an &lit clue with an insertion of UP (it’s raised) in LIN(e) border mostly.

  158. Back to Joshua@138, this one from Azed is out of quarantine now and has an obvious “wrong” answer.
    Perch causing head of splinter to pierce bottom (5)

  162. Well done, it is indeed . I only got it because it was a down clue so I had some letters. It is in the most recent Azed blog.

  163. If you’re looking for today’s cryptic (not on app yet or website) someone on yesterday’s crossword thread has managed to find a link to the pdf – see here

  165. Is there any reason the Buccaneer puzzles from FT are blogged late? I note his most recent blogged puzzle came out on 31st of July but was blogged 12 days later. Likewise his latest puzzle came out on the 13th of this month but is yet to be blogged.

  166. Rats@165 the old Saturday prize puzzles are always blogged a week on Thursday later. It is something to do with the old entry rules. Pete does a great blog, you should join in to give him some support, I think most people have forgotten by the time it comes round.

  167. Rats @165
    I can confirm that the blog is ready to go and will appear at one minute past midnight on 25th.
    We bloggers decided to stick with publishing the solution just after the deadline for submission would have been pre-COVID. The assumption being that they would revert to being prize puzzles once things were back to normal.

  168. @Roz
    I’m a big James Brydon fan so whenever someone blogs one of his puzzles I am sure to add a comment or two

    @kenmac

    How do you determine if a puzzle is a “prize puzzle”? Both Buccaneer 17,160 and 17,172 show no indication of being such. I note Guardian prize puzzles are marked accordingly.

  170. Hi Rats,

    The dates for the publishing of blogs is mostly guided by the date that the publication in question publishes the solution. We want to support the publishers by respecting their publication dates, not to undermine them by being a “back door” to getting the solutions early.

    Whether the puzzle is a “prize” puzzle or not is really a matter of opinion. Even when actual prizes were awarded the were still essentially a lottery, the first envelope opened, not a test of anyone’s solving skill.

    I think the prize puzzles are essentially a marketing tool: having a prize lends prestige to the puzzle and to the paper, and historically they were a way to collect some names and addresses for mailing lists.

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