mhl

Although I had some early attempts to solve cryptic crosswords as a teenager, it was only in my late 20s (and mostly thanks to fifteensquared!) that I became reasonably competent as a solver. However, despite being a slow solver I found that I had a knack for parsing clues, and volunteered to do a weekly blog post on the Guardian crossword. After a few years, I had to drop down to being on the Guardian Prize rota, but eventually found that with two young children to look after, I didn't have time even for that. I'm still hoping to resume blogging more regularly when they're a little older!

Guardian 25,616 / Araucaria

April 29, 2012 at 2:19 pmApril 28, 2012 at 12:01 am by mhl

I think this was the easiest Saturday crossword we’ve done in quite a while – at least, it was very fast work until the final two clues (15a and 16d), neither of which … Read more >>

Guardian 25,592 / Araucaria

March 31, 2012 at 2:17 pmMarch 31, 2012 at 10:44 am by mhl

(Sorry to the lateness of this post – I meant to do it yesterday evening but it slipped my mind, I’m afraid.) This was an enjoyable puzzle, although we found it quite tough … Read more >>

Guardian 25,568 / Paul

March 5, 2012 at 8:19 amMarch 3, 2012 at 12:01 am by mhl

I count myself very lucky to have a third Paul in a row to post about! As usual, this was lots of fun, with a good amount of surprising definitions and intricate wordplay. … Read more >>

Guardian 25,544 / Paul

February 4, 2012 at 6:59 amFebruary 4, 2012 at 12:01 am by mhl

We thought this was fairly tough for one of Paul’s puzzles, but very enjoyable, as usual. Our main problem was putting an incorrect (but fairly plausible) answer in for 28 across. Across 1. … Read more >>

Guardian 25,520 / Paul

January 7, 2012 at 7:52 amJanuary 7, 2012 at 12:01 am by mhl

An enjoyable prize puzzle from Paul, which seemed mostly straightforward except for some general knowledge I was lacking with regard to the theme… … which was Mexican people and things. I don’t quite … Read more >>

Guardian 25,496 / Crucible

December 10, 2011 at 2:12 pmDecember 10, 2011 at 12:01 am by mhl

A lovely puzzle from Crucible, and on the easy side for a prize puzzle, I thought. Once you’ve solved the clues, the rubric reads “Five COLOURS of the RAINBOW appear as solutions, not … Read more >>

Guardian Genius 101 / Brummie

December 6, 2011 at 7:06 amDecember 4, 2011 at 11:44 pm by mhl

This was a fun Genius puzzle, we thought, and quite doable once you untangled the rubric. There were plenty of smiles for me, particularly in how the missing letters changed the meaning of … Read more >>

Guardian 25,472 / Araucaria

November 12, 2011 at 11:29 amNovember 12, 2011 at 12:01 am by mhl

This was a typically enjoyable prize crossword from Araucaria. We struggled with this for a while before guessing the theme, after which everything went very fast, apart from some troubles working out the … Read more >>

Guardian 25,448 / Paul

October 15, 2011 at 9:39 amOctober 15, 2011 at 12:01 am by mhl

As usual with a Paul crossword this was full of fun and lovely surface readings. The longest two clues and their referent constitute something of a mini-theme, which Jenny guessed within seconds of … Read more >>

Guardian 25424 / Crucible

September 17, 2011 at 12:01 am by mhl

This was a delightful crossword, with a theme of Last Night of the Proms (which was in the evening of the day the crossword came out) and every clue having a musical theme. … Read more >>

Guardian 25,400 / Araucaria

August 20, 2011 at 12:01 am by mhl

A fun and very devious prize crossword, which took us a couple of train journeys to complete. There’s a nice theme of film and television which linked six of the clues. Some points … Read more >>

Guardian 25,381 / Bonxie

July 22, 2011 at 10:21 amJuly 22, 2011 at 9:14 am by mhl

A nice puzzle from Bonxie. I found the top half of this puzzle remarkably hard, although on writing the post I can’t quite see why. Across 1. HERITAGE IT in HER AGE = … Read more >>

Guardian 25,367 / Logodaedalus

July 6, 2011 at 6:41 pmJuly 6, 2011 at 1:10 pm by mhl

This is a rushed post, I’m afraid, so apologies for any errors. (Also I probably won’t be able to make corrections until much later.) I didn’t enjoy this much, partly due to circumstances … Read more >>

Guardian 25,362 / Chifonie

June 30, 2011 at 12:20 pmJune 30, 2011 at 4:27 am by mhl

An easy but enjoyable puzzle from Chifonie – and for once I have a time-zone difference that makes it easy to get the post done in time 🙂 Across 1. ALLOWED ALL = “Everything” … Read more >>

Guardian 25,357 / Pasquale

June 24, 2011 at 12:58 pmJune 24, 2011 at 9:05 am by mhl

A delightful puzzle from Pasquale – scrupulously fair clues, as ever, and not too hard today. Incidentally, I think this is my 150th post on fifteensquared 🙂 Across 1. SCABBY CABBY = “driver” to … Read more >>