The Guardian QC 20

Live solve of The Guardian Quick Cryptic published on 17 August 2024. Deliberately talking through the clues to help people understand how I approach the solve.

A channel explaining cryptic crosswords to those wanting to learn to solve them. My journey began in December 2021 - often taking longer than an hour on a puzzle and often resulting in me failing to finish. The depths of my inadequacy were exposed as I struggled to unravel the anagrams, double definitions and other challenging wordplay I encountered. These days I consider myself decent at solving yet I still remember the trials and tribulations these fiendish puzzles presented to me as a beginner and hope my online solves will help you learn too.