Guardian

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 >>

Struggled quite a bit with the top right corner until 17 dropped. Enjoyable puzzle overall. Across 1 FITFUL FIT + FUL[l] 4 TRIPOS rev( PI[ous] inside SORT=”class”) 10 HEAR TELL OF H[ard] + … Read more >>

What a lot of goodies, including hard-boiled eggs, all found on one plate. Medieval tales, English slang, British television trivia, etc. Thank goodness for Wikipedia, without which I would not have been able … Read more >>

A very mixed bag from Rover, though mostly very easy. There were a few clues that I liked, but a lot of rather weak or dubious cryptic definitions, and various other niggles. There’s … Read more >>

Solving time: 25 mins, 2 missing (11ac, 2dn) After blitzing the bottom half of this I thought I was on for a very fast time but then came to a grinding halt. ROACH … Read more >>

My limited knowledge of a certain group of people and the works of one its members was exercised by Brendan today in a typically clever and enjoyable puzzle, with just one slight weakness … Read more >>

Second last time out I had Puck also. No surprise then to find some tricky wordplay. I enjoyed this once I got going but I had the feeling this could have been a … Read more >>