Andrew

I started off on Everyman in The Observer, and began solving Azed while I was a student at Cambridge (reading maths) shortly after it started. I do the Guardian puzzle most days and others sporadically. In real life I work as a software developer (still in Cambridge), and for non-crossword recreation play the piano and am involved in amateur theatre.

Guardian 25,575 – Rufus

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Classic Rufus fare today, with five cryptic definitions and a few doubles. No naval references that I can see (unless you count 15d), but perhaps a wave to one of my fellow bloggers … Read more >>

Guardian 25,566 – Araucaria

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My second Araucaria to blog in a row, and good entertainment again. I don’t think it’s giving anything away to say that many clues rely on a variety of different meanings and uses … Read more >>

Guardian 25,561 – Araucaria

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A very entertaining puzzle from Araucaria, and not too difficult, with a variety of linked answers and an unorthodox device in 25, 26 and 27ac that I don’t think I’ve seen before.   … Read more >>

Azed 2070 – Jigsaw

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I was a little apprehensive when I saw that the blogging cycle had delivered me a jigsaw puzzle, because these tend to need a lot of “cold-solving” of clues before any progress can … Read more >>

Guardian 25,551 – Rufus

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Unusually for Rufus, there’s only one “normal” cryptic definition in this puzzle, though perhaps 18ac and 2dn partly go towards making up the quota, and even the genuine CD has a slightly obscure … Read more >>

Guardian 25,547 – Chifonie

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I found this a little harder than usual for Chifonie, and with more variety of clue types. Still pretty straightforward, but soundly clued and very enjoyable in its way. (Somehow I had managed … Read more >>

Guardian 25,537 – Bonxie

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I had confidently predicted an Orlando for today, as we haven’t seen him since just before Christmas, so was slightly worried to see Bonxie’s name, as I’ve sometimes found his puzzles quite hard, … Read more >>

Guardian 25,527 – Brendan

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Brendan is becoming quite a regular as stand-in for Rufus on his occasional Mondays off, and this was a typically enjoyable puzzle, and mostly not too hard, though with a theme that might … Read more >>

Guardian 25,513 – Orlando

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A reasonably straightforward puzzle from Orlando (perhaps to soften us up for Araucaria’s Christmas special tomorrow), but with all his usual sound elegance and understated wit. Thanks, Orlando, and Merry Christmas to all … Read more >>

Guardian 25,503 – Rufus

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Another straightforward but nicely-constructed puzzle from Rufus, with the usual smooth surfaces.             Across 1. PORTRAYAL (PLAY OR ART)* 6. YVES Hidden in grubbY VESt 8. PUBLICAN PUBLIC … Read more >>