24 comments on “Placeholder Guardian 29,304”

  1. Am I the only reader of this blog that buys the paper? Went to have a moan about Paul and the comments were closed.

  3. Alastair I was the last to comment and I was fuming at the repeat. A new puzzle on line is no good to me and I have paid for a crossword that took me two clues to realize I had already done it. Perhaps the editor should spend a bit less time on their media profile and do the job properly.

  4. I think it’s a little unfair to blame the editor, since his job is to edit the puzzles, not to run the automated IT queue that feeds into the program that assembles the web pages we see.

  5. It’s equally still the same repeated puzzle on the Guardian app (not the separate puzzle app, but the newspaper app that I subscribe to). But if that updates it tends to take a few days.

  7. Alastair @ 1

    I buy the paper every day. Have done for years. Long before I started trying to do the crossword – which was at the start of lockdown.

    Come here after I have done/attempted the crossword – never seen this happen before.

  8. Alistair @1, Fiona @7 – which puzzle was in the printed paper today? I’m presuming from Roz @3’s comment that it was the rerun one?

  9. Me @8, the comments on The Guardian indicate that the original crossword was in today’s printed paper, not the online replacement.

  11. This is the worst thing that has happened to me today.

    Given how bad things could be – and are, for many people – I actually feel quite chipper about the whole thing!

  12. Why can’t someone parse the crossword, by Paul, that was printed in the paper? I took it on the train to London, managed to finish it but with several unparsed – help!

  14. @bonnylass. Your positive sentiment has quite cheered me. I had a day with guests in the office but a clearish schedule (ie had to look busy) – thus I had perfect opportunity to do two Paul crosswords; a red letter day

  15. SinCam – PeterO’s original blog on the repeated puzzle is still there if you just scroll down to below the blog on today’s Independent. Meanwhile, I had wondered in the small hours as the error emerged whether it was the old or the new puzzle that was in the print edition. On learning now that it was the repeat, I feel it was rather unfair to provide those of us who solve online with a fresh alternative. The more equitable thing to do, surely, would have been just to apologise and move on to tomorrow.

  16. SC@15 a very fair point about fairness. Perhaps the paper tomorrow will have two puzzles, the intended one plus the replacement from today.

  17. Not only had I completed the puzzle on its first appearance, I’d even sent in a comment to the blog. Yet still I struggled to complete more than half of it today before the penny dropped. Clearly memory is not what it was.

  19. I suggest we stop moaning. I pay my on-line sub because it’s a good newspaper (one I first read as a child when it was called the Manchester Guardian). The crossword’s a bonus and so what if there’s an occasional blip? Enjoy, and take an 11A from No. 29,305 if you are stuck ;-).

  21. I keep on hearing about the Manchester Guardian but have never seen it, I thought it stopped publication in 1958 or am I wrong, does this paper exist(no offence intended?) could someone out explain this to me please?,I checked the website the crossword placeholder 29,304 but could not find it, am I missing something.

    Stay safe and travel safely

  22. Over on the left there’s this list: “Recent Posts
    …
    Guardian Cryptic 29,305 by Picaroon
    Guardian Cryptic 29,304 by Paul – the new online only puzzle
    Placeholder Guardian 29,304 – this blog
    Inquisitor 1841: Playing with a Defensive Formation? by Kruger
    Independent 11,651 by Grecian
    Guardian Cryptic 29,304 by Paul – the rerun of 29195
    …”

  24. …’No. 1. — SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1821. — PRICE SEVEN-PENCE.’ – 7d is about 3p – these days it’s £3.00.
    Small ads on the front page – ‘a black Newfoundland bitch…’

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