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 Prize 26,436 / Paul

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An enjoyable puzzle from Paul, with some typical Pauline clues – and this time I’m not talking risqué. I found it pretty straightforward, apart from the parsing of 16dn, which took about as … Read more >>

Guardian 26,438 / Puck

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I count myself fortunate to have drawn a Puck puzzle to blog. There is some very inventive and whimsical cluing here, along with lovely story-telling surfaces, as usual with this setter, leading to … Read more >>

Guardian 26,431 / Rufus

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A fairly typical Rufus puzzle, with the accustomed mix of anagrams and double and cryptic definitions [a couple of which I found a bit puzzling]. Thanks to him for a genial start to … Read more >>

Guardian 26,429 / Paul

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I really enjoyed this puzzle, which turned out to be more straightforward than it looked at first, because the long answers went in almost immediately, from the enumerations. Parsing them was fun, though, … Read more >>

Guardian 26,422 / Chifonie

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The most common epithet used in preambles of Chifonie puzzles appears to be ‘straightforward’ And so it was with this one – the usual blend of nicely-clued charades, insertions and anagrams, with a … Read more >>

Guardian 26,399 / Paul

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A pretty straightforward but very enjoyable puzzle from Paul. In a lot of cases, I got the answer immediately, from the definition – leaving some interesting wordplay to work out. Then again, there … Read more >>

Guardian 26,385 / Tramp

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Seeing Tramp’s name under the puzzle is guaranteed to brighten up a dull morning! I think the gloomy weather had dulled my brain somewhat: I was aware from the beginning that there were … Read more >>

Guardian 26,378 / Shed

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A welcome return appearance from Shed. I was lucky enough to blog his last puzzle, a couple of months ago, and said then that we don’t see enough of him. There’s lots of … Read more >>