Oh, come on ... RE FE REE !!

[joggerjayne]

So I nearly finished the crossie yesterday (Guardian, obviously).

I was defeated by one clue ...

25a. A good time for the larks? (11) A _ L _ O _ L _ D _ Y

I started to look at my "crossing" answers, thinking they must be wrong.

And it turns out the answer was ...

ALL FOOLS DAY

I mean, come on ... RE FE REE !!!

That is so totally out of order.

(you see what I did with "referee" there ... splitting it into 3 words, like the clue ... because that's how you say "referee" when you're frustrated? okay okay, never mind)

[douglas9401]

Ha ha, huntigowk! :)

[joggerjayne]

I just had to Google "huntigowk" !

=0)

[kayakamina]

Quite right JJ and it caused a lot of muttering on the Guardian blog.

A special birthday celebratory puzzle in today's issue should improve the mood.

Cheers K

[albaqwerty]

At the risk of sounding flippant, do you think the typesetter (if papers still have them) has fallen out with the compiler and decided to be nasty?

[joggerjayne]

LOL

Well, todays crossie hasn't improved my mood, K !

Enigmatist, Paul and Shed, conspiring to produce something unfathomable.

I don't even understand the preamble!

(I suppose you've rattled through it).

[kayakamina]

Only just seen your posting JJ.

The theme is geniuses (24a), and in particular the Guardian's most famous setter(24d) who is 9a today.
His pseudonym can be found in grid, step wise down
A
R
- AUC
--------A
--------R
---------IA