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 25,166 / Gordius

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A pretty typical Gordius puzzle, I think – plenty of nice clues, but with a few liberties that rather bothered me along the way. Across 1. SEVENTEEN EVENT = “What happens” in SEEN … Read more >>

Guardian 25,156 / Rufus

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Sorry for the very late post – I’ve been a bit overwhelmed today, and only just got a chance to rush out this post. Apologies for any errors or omissions… Across 1. PROPELLOR … Read more >>

Guardian 25,152 / Araucaria

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A satisfying and fairly easy puzzle today from Araucaria, but with enough tricky bits to make writing the post a challenge ðŸ™‚ (To give credit where it’s due, my partner filled in about half … Read more >>

Guardian 25147 / Araucaria

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A fairly tough puzzle from Araucaria, I thought. Well, I found that filling the grid wasn’t too difficult, but there are a few I can’t explain… The introductory text “A puzzle for today” … Read more >>

Guardian 25,142 / Brendan

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Another tour de force from Brendan – a very enjoyable solve, I thought, with too many top quality clues for me to pick out any in particular. (As should be immediately obviously, all … Read more >>

Guardian 25132 / Rufus

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A tougher than normal puzzle from Rufus, I thought, but perhaps just because of quite a few gaps in my knowledge. (See below.) Very smooth surface readings, as ever – my particular favourite … Read more >>

Guardian 25128 / Pasquale

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This was a very high quality puzzle from Pasquale, but unfortunately too tough for me complete in the time I have available on a weekday. There are several new words or phrases for … Read more >>

Guardian 25,120 / Rufus

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A nice puzzle to start the week with. There are three clues which have rather tricky words in them (9a, 3d and 7d) but otherwise I think this should have been pretty straightforward. … Read more >>

Guardian 25108 / Rufus

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As usual, a gentle but enjoyable start to the week from Rufus. I found the last two long down clues the only tougher bits here. For once I managed to resist putting in … Read more >>

Guardian 25,104 / Brendan

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A fine puzzle from Brendan – as usual, a pleasure to write a post about. Another crossword that I wish I’d had more time to savour… All of the down clues have a … Read more >>

Guardian 25,099 / Gordius

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I’m afraid this a very rushed post for me today, and I haven’t figured out how 10a and 11a work – I’m sure the comments will clear those up, though… Across 8. FORMALLY … Read more >>

Guardian 25,094 / Pasquale

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I’m a big fan of Pasquale’s puzzles, but today was just one of those days when I was completely hopeless – I found this very difficult, ran out of time and so had … Read more >>

Guardian 25084 / Rufus

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A fun puzzle from Rufus, with lots of anagrams and cryptic definitions. Across 1. CACKLE Cryptic definition: to “cut the cackle” is to stop talking 4. MASTHEAD AM reversed + SAD = “unhappy” … Read more >>

Guardian 25080 / Paul

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A fun puzzle with Paul’s trademark dodginess evident in a few clues. Annoyingly, I can’t quite see 24a…. Across 8. VUVUZELA (V V [tiresom]E A ZULU)*; I like “the blasted thing?” as the … Read more >>