The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

Okay, thanks. And then I also wasn't getting arch being from Greek "arkhos" meaning "most important."

And is archness actually a synonym for cunning?

Seems a bit dicey to me, I guess archness is a kind of conversational cunning, if you squint at it in a certain way.

I wasn't necessarily thinking of the Greek for "arch", btw, more archbishop or arch-enemy.

archangel etc.

Yeah, I just wasn't getting any of those from "most important," and not having "ness' either I was lost.

that while grid was a bit rubbish if I'm remembering right

Yeah, since I'm relatively new to Guardian cryptics I've discovered the Monday setter, Rufus, is mostly easy-ish but some of his cluing is crap. Some of the tougher ones later in the week are incomprehensible to me, though...

sunday's observer everyman is just about my level and is quite consistent in its cluing.

Thanks, I'll check that out. Going on a 2-week road trip and I need plenty of puzzles for entertainment.

the everyman archives go back to 2003

http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/2965

i have the first 30 in various stages of completion in the desk at work

^^^ this was a great tip, thanks again. Pitched pretty much at my level of expertise, fairly easy, with the requisite sailor = AB and member = MP type stuff, and a few answers I had never heard of: London tube train stations, plants called Aarons Rod and Pheasants Eye, Scapa Flow...)

you'll find it too easy soon enough!

Some of them already are! Like, Emphasized editor is under pressure = stressed!

"Chillax" in today's grauniad, but also this gem: Carroll had on record this laugh's etymological origins (7)

jesus no wonder i hadn't got chillax

sounds like you need to... take a chill pill.

i got just over halfway thru at 3 this morning, still got about 8 to go

anyone had any success with the Guardian's Bank Holiday puzzle? I got some of the clues but am nowhere near being them able to slot them into the grid...

Managed to finish it with copious help from thesaurus, google, parents. I started putting words in the grid before I was absolutely certain the positions were correct. Have you got the theme?

no, any hints appreciated, that might give me a helping hand!

yeah, 9ac took a lot of getting but once i had it things cleared up a little, bottom half has some wicked words in it tho i suspect

the theme is (rot13) cynagf naq sybjref

and here are the more obscure themed answers my folks helped me with (also rot 13): puevfg cynag, rybqrn, znzzrr, nenyvn, arahcune (jngre yvyl), enzfba, hqb, dhvgpu tenff

xp, 9ac definition seems unfair or wrong, unless i'm misunderstanding. 13d a bit off as well, 8d a cheap trick, if fairly common. still got four to go.

i think 9ac works properly: the def is a little vague until you realise what it refers to but fine then i think?

still missing: 15, 21, 22, 25 across, 13, 16, 19 down, tho i think i know that last one, just can't parse the clue

6d is a 9ac is all i can think. but it ain't? stuck on 16, 21, 15, yeah i couldn't (be bothered to) figure out 19d.

oh i've got it. last three words of the clue are the key instruction.

think of the definition as a quantity rather than a clue number

ohmygod 19d yes, nasty!

21 across is lol, slightly unfair

ok i looked at fifteensquared to figure out 9ac, *that's* nasty!

i'm right about quantity, yeah?

just 15 and 25 to go

finished

xxp yep. finished too, lol at 21.

good crossword tbf, some of the clues on the edge of unfair

13d especially, as you said, is not a good clue

enough good ones to make up for it though. 1 and 12 my faves, 21 lolworthy as noted, 26 comes together nicely.

1 is really nicely done

finished the everyman in the pub on sunday for the first time in months.

I came up with this one, and I think it works pretty well if I do say so myself:

American who composed "Green Onions" seen around city in France. (7, 4)

Aw man, did I break the cryptic thread? Charles Ives.

Stumped by corset? There's a surprise! (6,2)

I've been happily doing lots of Everyman puzzles lately, but this combination of cricket abbrev., unknown-to-me synonym and Britishism answer I had also never heard before proved that, yes, I am American.

and yet you still worked it out because you had more than half the letters.

finished this week's this morning.

last week's included the name of a scottish oil refinery, but one i'd seen before.

Sullom Voe! I had actually heard of that somewhere, but couldn't remember it for the puzzle. I cheated on that, and the corset. Also needed to cheat on: Welsh lake = Bala, and Coastal Vessels = Grabs.

we've not done the word-of-the-day thing for a while (coming up with a clue for a word from one of the many word-of-the-day sites, like the homemade jokes thread but less funny and for crossword clues)

Rad peanut shaped like a leaf (9, wotd)

(actually, looking again, i'm not sure i read the definition correctly. but it'll do)

this page is no help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_shape

nor this one: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/

got it tho.

yeah, it's actually 'violin-shaped', especially when applied to descriptions of leaves, not 'shaped like a leaf'. 8(

everyman 3550:

Joker, male, is seen on Baghdad river (9)

easy to work out from the bits (especially as i had 3 of the letters) but a word i'd never heard before.

my favourite this week:

Arms race participant? (9)

that's gotta be one of the easier everymen, finished in ten mins. btw everyman, is that the setter's name or a target audience description in need of degendering?

Always assumed the latter