Guardian letter column

So.

The Guardian is having a silly discussion in its letters column about whether the Quick Crossword, or, indeed, Arucaria, is becoming easier. We've had a sensible note about how the Monday cryptic is always a little easier, and altogether, not a lot of sense from the other correspondents.

I started to write to the paper about how I used to do the Quick on the P12 between Nunhead and Peckham Rye, but nowadays I can't always finish it before bedtime. Is this just age? And then I thought about how I am doing more of each Cryptic, whatever day it is.

Which means it isn't (necessarily) that I'm getting more senile.

And when I started the letter I had 2 clues unsolved in the Quick (2 out of 24 or 1/12) and one in the Cryptic (1/29), and as a result I was going to have a rant about the statistics.

But by the time I had finished drafting the letter I'd solved them all - so it all just made me seem smug. So I deleted it.

And anyway, none of the letters, written or considered, really touched on the puns, poetry or sheer joy of Arucaria's crosswords. The pleasure of solving.

So I had another reason not to send it in.

Finally, and for the record, I should just register that yesterday's absolutely lovely cryptic was as much fun as Arucaria's 50th celebration crossword last year.