Sad farewell

[tree_and_leaf]

Alas, Bunthorne, one of the Grauniad's more erudite and witty crossword compilers has died. An interesting man, and even though I am rubbish at cryptic crosswords, I will miss his puzzles, especially the gratuitious Gilbert and Sullivan references.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1835760,00.html

Comments

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

Alas indeed. I will miss his puzzles too, even though I do find many of the Guardian's compilers quite a struggle. (The Times crossword and I tend to be on the same wavelength, which is rather annoying since the same cannot be said of the rest of the paper...) He sounds to have been a fine & interesting man.

[tree_and_leaf]

The trouble with the Times crossword is that you don't know who the complier is - the Guardian's Arucaria, for instance, has a distinctive style which does help a bit, though I find him pretty tough. But on the other hand, I can't get anywhere with Shed, and don't find him appealing, either.

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

Mmm, but I think the Times compilers are less idiosyncratic than the Guardian's, and their 'house style' is one I'm more or less in tune with (having learnt to do cryptics on regular lunch time sessions in the JCR with someone who could finish off the Times crossword in ten minutes on a good day...). I like the idea of the Guardian's different setters much more, just often find the puzzles beyond me.