The June 2026 puzzle from the Crossword Centre (
http://www.crossword.org.uk/) is Replace by Curmudgeon. I wonder how others are finding this?
The preamble explains: "Every across clue leads to the answer that must be entered, but each of those answers can be anagrammed to give a thematic word with one additional letter. A sequence of six of those letters suggests the theme, as does the title 'Replace'. More than one down answer fits the pattern. Solvers must select the highest of the thematic down-clue items and write its name below the grid. 5d is in Collins."
My experience of the puzzle is that the grid fill is very straightforward and I have, I'm pretty sure, identified the theme from extra letters given by 6 consecutive anagrammed across answers. However, after that, I am finding the end game frustrating, for two reasons: the theme is an ill-defined concept and in the context of the theme, "highest" is also ill-defined.
If I have got the right theme, I have identified 20 of the 24 Across theme words. Despite having all the letters to choose from for the other 4, nothing obvious presents itself and Chambers Word Wizard is of no help - I suspect some theme words may be quite obscure. There are (at least!) two possible theme words that can be derived from 1 across. For the across answers, none of this really matters as long as I have identified the right theme, but applying this pattern to the down clues is the problem.
I have identified 2 well known theme words from the down answers and one very obscure one. Was that obscure one intended (if there are obscure ones among the across answers)? And even among the few down theme words I have, I can make a case for different ones being "highest", depending on what that means. Is anyone else having this experience?