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 27,316 / Paul

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As usual a very high quality prize puzzle from Paul – lots to smile about and a pretty accessible theme… … although I should say that we turned out to be surprisingly weak … Read more >>

Guardian 27,292 / Imogen

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We found this quite a tricky puzzle; it took a few sittings to complete. Some really excellent clues here, though… … e.g I especially liked 22a (DISMAY), 24a (ROYAL OPERA HOUSE) and (with … Read more >>

Guardian 27,268 / Paul

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A pretty straightforward, but very enjoyable, prize puzzle this week. There were about 4 clues at the end that we had to think about for a long time before getting the answers. Across … Read more >>

Guardian 27,244 / Paul

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For some reason it took a while to for us to get momentum in solving this, although looking back I can’t quite see why: everything’s completely fair, and nothing really obscure. As with … Read more >>

Guardian 27,196 / Crucible

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An excellent puzzle from Crucible, I though. The theme was … … planets of the solar system. Each of the themed clues (without definition) is one of the planets (not including Pluto, which … Read more >>

Guardian 27,172 / Maskarade

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It’s taken ages to write this post and I’ve run out of time tonight, so it’s not quite as I’d like it, but I’ll tidy this up on Saturday morning… The pairs of … Read more >>

Guardian 27,148 / Paul

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We found this puzzle quite tough, largely due to only getting the theme clue (14) very late. There were lots of fun clues here, anyway – thanks, Paul! Across 1. No fortune for … Read more >>

Guardian 27,124 / Boatman

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A clever and entertaining puzzle with some excellent clues, rather let down for me by bad rubric… The rubric, after replacing the numbers with their answers, read: Seven theme clues require ALBPHABETISING THREE … Read more >>

Guardian 27,100 / Paul

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I think this was toughest prize puzzle we’ve done in a while, although that was partly due to putting in the wrong answer in 23 down (see below) – lovely clues, though, and … Read more >>

Guardian 27,076 / Maskarade

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Merry Christmas, everyone! I’ve been lucky enough to draw the task of blogging the Christmas alphabetical crossword by Maskarade. The theme is popular bands or singers. Some of these are just surnames (or … Read more >>

Guardian 27,052 / Philistine

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A good fun prize puzzle from Philistine … … with a theme of BOTTOMs. We were both a bit confused about the rubric, which says: Six 5 solutions are not further defined The … Read more >>

Guardian 27,028 / Brummie

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Sorry about the late post; it’s been a very busy week. This was a fun puzzle from Brummie, with a nice theme of … … the BEACH BOYS (9, 26a), and their songs. … Read more >>

Guardian 27,004 / Puck

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This crossword from Puck was a nice Saturday challenge – mostly fairly straightforward with a tricky North East quadrant, we thought. As you expect from this setter there were some clever bits of … Read more >>

Guardian 26,980 / Boatman

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Apologies for the lateness of this post; I’d missed the reminder in my calendar that it was my turn to post about the prize crossword. This is an impressively themed crossword with some … Read more >>