Puzzle compiler down.

[rvw]

You can search the Guardian archive for previous crosswords too,. I think what I liked best was the "ouch" moment on getting some of the clever puns.

 

[rich p]

Agreed - and the alphabetical jigsaw that someone else set over the summer was also a fine one. My only regret is that the clues didn't rhyme, but even Araucaria stopped using rhyming couplets for his alphabeticals a few years ago.

We may be talking about the same puzzle in late August. A double, alphabetical, river-themed. Fiendishly clever but rewarding when the effort has paid off.
If Masquerade is a different compiler then he should get the gig but I suspect Araucaria had input into that one.

 

[srw]

I had a feeling there'd been a "single" alphabetical too, but I could be wrong.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I had a feeling there'd been a "single" alphabetical too, but I could be wrong.

Yes, he did a few standard size alphabetical puzzles, occasionally the Saturday prize one but more often or not during the week.

 

[roadrash]

ive been trying to think of a crossword answer for two weeks ............i got it in the end .........fortnight

 

[TheDoctor]

I'm sorry to hear about the old chap, but it sounds like he had a good life!

I wish I could get into those crosswords. I like the mental gymnastics involved, but I don't think I have a broad enough education to pick up on obscure references to Mongolian rivers, Afghan beetles, or poems in Latin by some Roman whose work had somehow never managed to cross my path.

Does anybody write really good cryptic crosswords which can be solved without requiring that kind of knowledge?

Perhaps clues a little harder than "Hundred taken away from revised account, but he still has a large bill" (6) which I didn't have a problem with, but ones not requiring requiring an encyclopaedic memory!

The best IMHO was :-
Of of of of of of of of of of (10)

Oftentimes.

So baffling, yet so obvious.

 

[ColinJ]

The best IMHO was :-
Of of of of of of of of of of (10)

Oftentimes.

So baffling, yet so obvious.

Oftentimes!

PS I didn't spot your answer until after I posted mine!

 

[TheDoctor]

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Oftentimes!

PS I didn't spot your answer until after I posted mine!

Phew, you just saved me a good while of wondering (and robbed me of that quiet eureka moment that makes you smile inside)

 

[ColinJ]

Phew, you just saved me a good while of wondering (and robbed me of that quiet eureka moment that makes you smile inside)

I had that the other night, and had to switch my tablet on and look up the answer or I would never have slept!

I had it all, but had the wrong name stuck in my head and couldn't get past it ...

Liverpool band.

Late 1970s/Early 1980s.

Not OMD (Wirral)!

Singer Ian McCulloch.

Songs included The Killing Moon.

Er, OMD! No, not OMD ... er ... OMD? NO NOT OMD!!!!!

2 hours pass, light on, tablet on ... Oh bloody hell, of course - Echo and the Bunnymen!

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I've been developing software too long: every time I see this thread's title I think "there are bugs in the puzzle compiler, some software developer's got his work cut out for him...".

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I've been developing software too long: every time I see this thread's title I think "there are bugs in the puzzle compiler, some software developer's got his work cut out for him...".

How many letters?

Meanwhile, Shed, Paul and Enigmatist have put a tribute puzzle together - http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26118

 

[Stephenite]

How are people getting on with the tribute puzzle?

I haven't managed much more than a handful. Will see if i can have a sit down this evening and have a proper bash at it (the crossword i mean!).

 

[Luddite Joe]

It's a year since Araucaria died and today's Grauniad has the final puzzle he was working on.
A fitting memorial to the great man.