Today saw my debut over at Fifteensquared as one of their daily crossword blogging team. About once a week I'll be blogging a solution for the Guardian crossword, hopefully reasonably early on the day of publication.
It's been an interesting experience. On a normal day I'll buy the Guardian in the morning and do a couple of clues on the way in to work, then have it sitting on my desk for an occasional glance through the morning. When I have a free lunch I'll finish it off, usually with a bit of help from Paul if he's online. I hadn't realised how much pressure I'd be adding to myself by committing to solve it on a certain day.
I woke up this morning in a vague panic about whether I'd manage to fit it in. When I got the paper at my local corner shop, I turned straight to the crossword page and my heart sank - today's setter was Araucaria, possibly the hardest setter the Guardian use and certainly the most inventive. I normally consider it a bit of a triumph to finish his puzzles by the end of the day, let alone in the morning.
I calmed down once on the train and cracking on with the puzzle - it seemed far easier than normal, or perhaps I was concentrating a lot harder. I managed about 2/3 of it on the way into work, and a bit of googling once at my desk polished it off. I fee like I've dodged a bit of a bullet for now, but I'm painfully aware that I'll have to do the whole thing again pretty soon
What have I got myself into?
1.
Too cryptic for me :) What's the monkey reference, I wonder?
Simon
22nd July 2008, 22:35