Guardian

Apologies for the late appearance of this post but the scheduled blogger appears to have gone AWOL. A fun puzzle, which was slightly different from the norm, with a number of linked clues that … Read more >>

An excellent crossword from Pasquale today, notable for me because of three great &lits, but with many other enjoyable clues as well. The preamble refers to an anniversary: today is the 100th anniversary … Read more >>

This is a fairly typical Chifonie puzzle, largely made up of charades and straightforward insertions. There is one clue that I particularly liked and, I’m afraid, one that, however good the rest of … Read more >>

As usual, a very fair, amusing and not-too-hard offering from Orlando aka Cincinnus, a regular in the FT Saturday spot. A very good morning’s entertainment ACROSS 1 BUCKBOARD Cha of BUCK (American dollar … Read more >>

With no disrespect to Enigmatist, I was surprised to see him as the setter of this momentously-numbered puzzle: like others I was expecting an Araucaria special, or perhaps a Rufus in honour of … Read more >>

Solving time: 5 minutes A welcome return for Paul to the Saturday slot. For a prize puzzle this was surprisingly straightforward but still very enjoyable. It also made me very hungry with so … Read more >>

I found this mostly pretty easy for a Friday Araucaria, especially after getting 1ac immediately. Lots of the usual Araucaria wit, and two very clever &lits (though both with minor flaws), and no … Read more >>

A fairly typical Paul puzzle, with  witty, cheeky, story-telling surfaces – but none of his really outrageous cluing. I hope the relatively new solvers whose confidence has been boosted in the last few … Read more >>

Apologies for the belated post, the scheduled blogger has been tied up with work commitments and I didn’t get in until a short while ago to see the email he sent when he … Read more >>

Quantum aka Quark (FT) aka the late Eric Burge who passed away in June 2008 … making today’s puzzle a blast from the past. Apart from a dictionary check to ensure there was … Read more >>

Morning all! Funnily enough, when we remembered that we were due to blog Rufus, H mentioned that this setter always uses a number of cryptic definitions and naval references, and this puzzle didn’t … Read more >>

Solving time: 13 mins The theme here was British World War II aircraft, not really my forte although I had heard of most of these (apart from the Vickers Wellington at 27ac); of … Read more >>

I’d half expected a St George or Bardic theme today. There’s a small nod to the latter but, otherwise, I haven’t really anything to say about this:  there’s nothing exceptional or exceptionable, I … Read more >>

A good puzzle from Araucaria, much of it quite easy (a relief to me) with perhaps 3 more difficult clues. I don’t get the subsidiary of 14 across, so any explanations would be … Read more >>