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 24784 / Araucaria

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Having an appalling ignorance of history, I found this difficult, and only worked out the theme after filling the grid and Googling the names. The joke is that CABALLEROs might have been members … Read more >>

Guardian 24774 / Brendan

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There’s frequently something special about Brendan’s crosswords and this one is no exception: every clue’s construction is of the form where a single letter is included in another word to give the definition. … Read more >>

Guardian 24770 / Araucaria

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For an Araucaria puzzle, I thought this wasn’t too difficult. Figuring out his wordplay is always excellent fun, and I always learn a few new things. There’s a mini theme of “refusals” in … Read more >>

Guardian 24765 / Rover

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I made very heavy weather of this, although I’m not sure why, apart from picking the wrong letters as anagram fodder over and over again ðŸ™‚ Across 1. SCHOOLMASTER Cryptic definition 8. NEWPORT NEW … Read more >>

Guardian 24760 / Auster

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It only seems fair to give our Australian commenters first say about this fun puzzle from Auster. Across 1. PARTY HAT PARTY = “Do” + [t]HAT 5. OFFSET OFF = “inoperative” + SET … Read more >>

Guardian 24750 / Rufus

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A nice puzzle from Rufus, as usual on a Monday – there are a few clues which I’m not sure if I’ve parsed right, but I’m sure everyone will be able to clear … Read more >>

Guardian 24741 / Paul

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This was quite a tough puzzle to blog, with lots of intricate wordplay. However, as always with Paul’s excellent puzzles, this was very enteratining and inventive. I’m not quite sure about 2 down, … Read more >>

Guardian 24736 / Pasquale

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As ever, a very enjoyable puzzle from Pasquale. There were quite a few here where I had to guess that a word existed and then look it up (CERE, MANA, PICKABACK), but the … Read more >>

Guardian 24733 / Gordius

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Another quick post, I’m afraid – I hope there aren’t too many mistakes here. (I had a lot of trouble with this, which is pretty typical of my experience of Gordius’s puzzles.) Across … Read more >>

Guardian 24726 / Rufus

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A very rushed post today – apologies in advance for any errors! My favourite here was 13 across for its deceptive crosswordese and nice surface reading. Across 5. PERIOD PE = “Exercises” followed … Read more >>

Guardian 24722 / Shed

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This strong week in the Guardian continues with this enjoyable, but quite tough, puzzle from Shed. (I only finished this with the help of my partner, having trouble with 10a, 11a, 10d and … Read more >>

Guardian 24717 / Araucaria

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There’s a mini-theme of golf and golf clubs in this one; I found this quite tough, but on writing the post I’m not entirely sure why, apart from the usual Araucaria liberties… Across … Read more >>