day 273 of an experiment in which i press the "random word" button on onelook and make a cryptic clue out of it.

day 272, day 271, day 270, day 269, day 268, day 267

day 266, day 265, day 264, day 263, day 262, day 261, day 260

day 259, day 258, day 257, day 256, day 255, day 254, day 253

weeks 33 to 36 (days 225 to 252)

weeks 29 to 32 (days 197 to 224)

weeks 25 to 28 (days 169 to 196)

weeks 21 to 24 (days 141 to 168)

weeks 17 to 20 (days 113 to 140)

weeks 13 to 16 (days 85 to 112)

weeks 9 to 12 (days 57 to 84)

weeks 5 to 8 (days 29 to 56)

weeks 1 to 4 (days 1 to 28)

Most of the clues for the October 13, 2026 Guardian cryptic went way over my so I moseyed over to Fifteen Squared (https://fifteensquared.net/2026/10/13/guardian-cryptic-crossword-no-30136-by-fed/) to be edified. I followed the explanations but even loonapick couldn't explain 8d. After reading all the related comments, I'm no closer to understanding the first part of the clue (I understand "at all times" as the definition).

Any insights would be appreciated!

This is my first cryptic clue!

I will start with an unpopular assertion: I think that, in general, American cryptic clues have better editing standards and are better written. I say this because American cryptics came AFTER they'd already been established in Britain, and during the translation American editors made a few improvements. (It would be odd indeed if they hadn't made a few helpful innovations in the process.)

1. They eliminated "cryptic definition" clues, which in America we just call "regular clues." Since cryptic clues in the US are thought of as a mini-puzzle (wordplay + definition), cryptic definition clues don't even qualify for inclusion; we already have cryptic definition clues at home. (Unless you add wordplay, but let's get to point #2)

2. They eliminated boring double definitions. We all know that puzzles in both the US and UK are not allowed to use the same word in the definition as the solution (i.e., in a puzzle, you'd never define SNOWMAN as "a man constructed by children" or "creation in snow"). But for some reason, British clues have no problem using boring pairs of definitions in their double definition clues. In American puzzle magazines, e.g. it's considered interesting to assert that BEAM can mean "a shining ray" and "a wooden support structure." It is much less interesting to point out that BEAM can mean both "a shining ray" and "a bright smile"--because the second concept is obviously related to the first. So to my American brain, a clue like "Light smile (4)" can't possibly be beam because it's too obvious and not interesting...so it becomes that much harder to solve, and not satisfying when the penny drops.

This applies to other types of wordplay, too. In the US, the only time you'll see a two-word phrase defined with wordplay that breaks on the words (cluing FASTBALL as FAST + BALL, e.g.), is when the setters use another sense of the word ("Go without food before dance and strike attempt?(8)"). In Britain it seems acceptable to use both words in their plainest, most obvious sense ("Quick piece of sports equipment pitch (8)"). I've certainly seen SIDEWALK clued as SIDE plus WALK and wondered why anyone bothered.

1. They made sure definitions match the defined word's form: nouns clue nouns, verbs clue verbs. I have seen British clues where RAIN is defined as "falls from the sky." This is an abomination to grammar, and "it falls from the sky" or "something that falls from the sky" is actually precise and not that much harder to write, and more in keeping with American practice, which, perforce, has had to focus on definitional clarity for 100 years.

2. American cryptic editors eliminated British-style inside references that would absolutely baffle outsiders. The most amazing to me is the tendency in British puzzles to use "film" to clue ET. (By this reasoning, couldn't "film" be a legitimate clue for any of a thousand different words?) Because Americans have been trying to draw in new solvers, they've tended to make sure every part of the clue is gettable by a newcomer--or at least by someone coming from standard American crosswords, who might be assumed to know ABS as a word for "sailors." If you're using "film" to clue ET because "film" always means ET, you're just writing a dull synonym for insiders.

3. And in the one knock I have against American puzzles, they always skew toward simplicity and clarity of parsing. But to be fair, what they were fixing was the British tendency to be quite wordy, often valuing surface sense over elegant wordplay. I recently saw an Independent puzzle that clued REINFORCES as REIN + FORCE + S. So it not only clued "reinforce" using "force" (see point 2), but threw the S on the end instead of making it the more elegant REIN + FORCES or REIN(FORCE)S. I see eight letter words chopped up into two-letter bits all the time for no fun reason, and with a shaggy, twenty-word clue the inevitable consequence.

I assume that some of this unfortunate cluing comes from the sheer volume of puzzles being written. When a country has multiple daily cryptic crosswords to cope with, I understand that quality control on the editing side can be hard to count on.

I SAY ALL THIS TO ASK: Are Magpie/Listener puzzles--the creme de la creme--inclined to the same shagginess as other British puzzles, or are they more American in their editing? I would hope that unusually difficult puzzles would also strive to be unusually strict in their accuracy, but if Magpie puzzles have clues like "End of day tans film (6)" for SUNS + E.T., it'll spare me the difficulty of trying to track down their collections.

I'm not sure if this clue is fair... Have been tinkering with the wording around and not sure if I am fully happy with it.

Would love some feedback!

Hi all - I’ve just completed my first full-sized Cryptic, and I would love for you to have a go and provide feedback. I am not entirely versed on official convention, so there may be some entries or clues that do not meet standards - please let me know which they are!

Really appreciate any comments at all (they don’t have to be positive!)

Cheers :)

Please try it out and let me know what you think.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/Xo4GXnfOFzHvETzNuemt/aftermaths-october-16th-crossword

day 272 of an experiment in which i press the "random word" button on onelook and make a cryptic clue out of it.

day 271, day 270, day 269, day 268, day 267

day 266, day 265, day 264, day 263, day 262, day 261, day 260

day 259, day 258, day 257, day 256, day 255, day 254, day 253

weeks 33 to 36 (days 225 to 252)

weeks 29 to 32 (days 197 to 224)

weeks 25 to 28 (days 169 to 196)

weeks 21 to 24 (days 141 to 168)

weeks 17 to 20 (days 113 to 140)

weeks 13 to 16 (days 85 to 112)

weeks 9 to 12 (days 57 to 84)

weeks 5 to 8 (days 29 to 56)

weeks 1 to 4 (days 1 to 28)

Can’t take credit for these but found them interesting