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Geeker @26, many thanks for the link. Like you I’d be intrigued to find that Taupi puzzle

How fitting. My last one in was the long phrase!

I got the long phrase quite late also, I needed the crossers 13, 20 and 22 first. I would never have got 1A without it though.

My last 3 were 23D (not in Chambers online dictionary, neither is the singular form), 25A (knew it had to have 2nd person french in it and guessed the 2nd letter then google autocomplete came to the rescue), and finally 15D (didn't see the anagrind until right at the end).

Thanks PS

9ac was my FOI, 25ac was my favourite, closely followed by 13d and 10ac. LOI was 5D closely preceded by 16d,21ac and 17d. I also liked 1ac and 1d.

Please Paul can we have more like this one. I enjoy it more when I can do it and get my ironing done, all before BBC 4's foreign detective.

I think Paul's Prize crosswords have been easing off on the difficulty recently too.

I tried all the weekday ones this week as well... apart from Monday's which is normally very gentle (usually easier than the Quiptic IMO) they all seem to have clues in which make no sense! They definitely get harder and more obscure as the week goes on.

I'm pretty sure that didn't always used to be the case (getting harder as the week goes on) because when I first started doing the Graun crossword about 30 years ago I used to get the Thursday paper because it was very often Rufus as the setter which had lots of puns and anagrams so was more accessible in pre-internet (well, wikipedia really) days.

PS

I just do the Saturday one. When I was working, I had no time to do the weekday cryptics and I rarely do now. Occasionally, I would try Monday's - usually Rufus - as it was the easiest. The Saturday ones have been very hard lately, although they've eased up the last couple of weeks.

If you've still not parsed 24D, Roof, think of A + something which you pass (unless you are the President of the USA), or a male deer, without the last letter. Lop the end off that and reverse it.

A great crossword, very enjoyable with some excellent clueing. As Brendan predicted, it has generated some good discussion.

Jono@40, I'd love to revisit the Araucaria limerick, but following the link just gives me the grid, the preamble to the puzzle, and a lot of clues saying 'Follow the link below to see today's clues'. I cannot see any link to follow unless I go to the Guardian puzzle app, but even with this (and a subscription) I still can't find the clues. What am I missing?

You're probably missing clicking the link? ;)

https://www.theguardian.com/crossword/clues/0,4406,365539,00.html