Hi Leapy, I cannot comment on the Guardian as I don't attempt this one.
But as a regular Xword challenger who purchases at least three papers per day just for the crosswords alone, I have noticed an increase in difficulty.
To my dismay, I have to reach for the online Dictionary each day to look up some very peculiar words.
I appreciate that this is expanding my knowledge of unknown words and meanings to myself.
But I feel that if I cannot achieve the Xword without refering to the Dict, then where is my challenge ?
If I wanted to really spend time on the web searching these odd words, then I would raise the difficulty of my Xwords by trying the Mephesto or like.
So my message to any setters that I do believe look in on sites like this one is, BE REAL !!
We want to enjoy a challenge during our Tea break or when commuting on the tube without the use of the internet.
I have seen a big decline of use on this site and others, which I can only assume that some people can't even get started and give in.
There used to be an abundance of folk asking for one or two answers.
Are the setters promoting some form of encouragement for young people to get into crosswords by giving them such challenges.
I hope this is not interpreted as a rant, cus its not.
Just my views. : )