Crossword Help Forum
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Isn't it time we had a "proper" entry method?! Listing the answers? Well.........
Isn't it time the Guardian accepted scans or similar?

Unlikely to happen - many higher priorities for the tech team at the Guardian than a once-monthly crossword submission! (I have asked more than once...)

My thanks too, Hamish. Great piece of construction - the complete elemental fill was a tour de force. And there was no ambiguity about how to complete the grid, although (as I proved to myself at least twice by gaily steaming up a blind channel) there was plenty of room for unforced pilot error! As I have been traveling in out of the way bits of Laos and northern Vietnam with little or no internet access, I took this challenge with me by making a hand drawn copy of the grid during a stop-over at Bangkok Airport and a screen shot of the clues on my iPad. (Along with the larest1 Across, naturally!) Now in an hotel in central Hanoi with wifi and a chance to submit the results and to send these thanks.

Mike/Jack

I am stuck on 19a.

I have S?S?RE.
I did not know how to parse 20d but assumed it would be smaller depot. Hence the S in the middle.

19. Cover home, then make application claiming minimum of repayment (6)

Thanks.

A surprise to find a setter on this forum - and the civilised, discreet level of help in the form of nudges and hints here would probably not have disturbed you too much - unlike what sometimes goes on elsewhere here (The Listener has been a recent victim) with the blatant providing of answers.
Hamish, can you tell the Guardian people that the Submit button isn't there when you try to submit online. I filled in the whole form and and when I arrived at the bottom - no means of submitting...
I'm sure as you say that setting must be "a lonely life". But you can console yourself with the thought of the hours of entertainment you have provided for a lot of people (most of whom remain silent) all over the world who, in my case at least, struggled for hours with the excellent clues and when finally done admired the superb construction. Encore!

sunray, your first letter is wrong - you must have a mistake in 6

Thanks prospero.
I changed the first letter, and found cover.

I tend to have a bit of a nosey when one of my Geniuses comes out - it's a chance for me to see what 'real people' think of my puzzles. I generally set only for custom puzzles which are one-offs for people's birthdays, and they're usually chuffed to bits to find their name as the solution to 1 across, or something like that; the other setting I do is for the magazine I run, 1 Across (www.1across.co.uk) and I get a few bits of feedback there, but I'm the editor and people tend to be nice to me :-)

Glad you and others like what I do, anyway. That's the point! I really don't mind what spoilers get shared; it's up to individuals (or sites) to define the rules. (Our rules on the 1 Across blog are 'be nice' and 'don't post solutions', with a third rule of 'be nice' in case the first one got forgotten.) I have to admit I get somewhat tired of bickering on various sites about 'is x allowed'; it's only a crossword; nobody is going to die if an answer is slightly wrong or a clue doesn't work for you.

The loneliness isn't that bad - it's just sometimes I come up with a great clue and want to tell someone about it but can't because then it'll spoil the puzzle. Part of the enjoyment I get from solving is doing it with a friend or two and having it as a collaborative thing; with a puzzle I've set I just have to sit there while they muse over what I could mean. (Mental commentary: 'ffs come on it's easy I mean it's just a word for fish with no head and then you put some herbs in the middle and the whole thing is a synonym for television I mean come on it's OBVIOUS'.)

Jack, by the way - thanks for the kind words about the grid; I have to admit that I used a computer to help me. I wrote a program to identify potential words and splits involved, then translated each of the white squares into a different single character (using four alphabets!), did the grid fill, then translated it back to use what's in the final puzzle. I tend to use computer programs to help me construct my Genius puzzles as I want the conceit to be all-pervading, not just half the answers. Sometimes it's possible to do them by hand (the homophones one and the substitution one from December last year) but some would just take too long. I'm in the middle of another at the moment which needed a computer simply because of the amount I'd have to hold in my head at once. I hope that doesn't make me any less of a setter :-)

Since we seem to be in confessional mode, I must admit to having something of a penchant for genius xwords, having completed every one since they started (when I was in the States) ... I hope without mistakes and usually on the first day. I like them especially because they are each different from any other format and generally not susceptible to solving by use of help-sites. And certainly those of soup take the biscuit. Relieved to hear he doesn't dilute the talent by everyday setting but saves the juices for special editions such as the genius.

(Blush)