Eileen

I’ve been doing cryptic crosswords since university days, learning how with a group of friends in coffee breaks. The Guardian crossword has been part of my life for most of the time since. Since retiring from teaching (originally Classics and, subsequently, when that was dropped from the curriculum, mostly English and History), having serendipitously stumbled on 15², I discovered that I could get the Indy and FT puzzles online and so I now add those, when they are set by my favourite compilers. Occasionally, I try the Genius and have even submitted a few. (Some years ago, I won a Collins dictionary in the Guardian Prize lottery, which established it as my referred reference.) I don’t take note of solving times: I enjoy taking time savouring the construction and particularly the surface of clues and always feel slightly disappointed when I finish too quickly. My one regret is my complete failure to enthuse any member of my family with cryptic crosswords.

Guardian 29,168 / Pangakupu

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Pangakupu provides the mid-week challenge this morning. Once again, it took a while to tune in to the wavelength but it was a satisfying puzzle to finish. There are some ingenious and interesting … Read more >>

Guardian 29,161 / Anto

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It’s Anto providing today’s challenge – my second Anto blog in a row. I began my previous blog with ‘I have not been one of the greatest fans of Anto’s puzzles but I … Read more >>

Guardian 29,152 / Paul

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Paul rounds off the week for the second time running, making this my third Paul blog in eight days. An interesting and entertaining puzzle, with some ingenious and amusing constructions. I had ticks … Read more >>

Guardian 29,146 / Paul

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Paul rounds off the week with a generally straightforward puzzle, with just a few bits of parsing that took more thinking about. I had ticks for 1ac SPEEDWAY, 11ac ARTLESSLY, 29ac MOONSETS, 7dn … Read more >>

Guardian 29,124 / Vulcan

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It’s been one of those weekends, with three consecutive blogs from me, winding up predictably with a puzzle from Vulcan in his fortnightly slot. All pretty straightforward, with just one unfamiliar word, for … Read more >>

Guardian 29,122 / Pangakupu

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Pangakupu’s puzzles appear sufficiently infrequently for me to have to retune in to his wavelength each time. I haven’t quite got the measure of him yet. My favourites today were 4ac, 9ac, 10ac, … Read more >>

Guardian 29,115 / Picaroon

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It’s Picaroon providing our entertainment (and how!) today. I shan’t be surprised if someone says (again), ‘How does he keep doing it?’. It would be easier and quicker to list the clues which … Read more >>

Guardian 29,108 / Maskarade

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Like many of you, I was unable, throughout yesterday, to gain access to 15², until early evening and even then I kept getting the error message whenever I moved to a different page. … Read more >>

Guardian 29,103 / Picaroon

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It’s me again, standing in for scchua, who’s away this week. I think I got a good deal! There’s an abundance of excellent clues, with deft definitions, a handful of ‘lift and separates’, … Read more >>