Guardian

Solving time: 16 mins, one missing (6dn) If I’d been well schooled in Brontë, this would have been one of my fastest solves of an Araucaria crossword – surprising, considering the grid, which … Read more >>

Not too hard today but a few unsatisfactory clues. “” = homophone * = anagram < = reversed Across 1. SCARCE. SCARFACE – ‘FA’.  Fa is the subdominant note of the scale. 5. … Read more >>

Apologies for any errors here – I’m rather beset by work and illness at the moment. My partner did about half of these, so thanks to her for the help… Across 9,19,7 and … Read more >>

A bit of a mixed bag today, with some very simple anagrams a a few nice clues, but also some rather weak ones, and a couple of obscure (to me) references. Key: dd … Read more >>

Across 9,8 OSCAR PETERSON: anagram of SOON around CARPETERS (layers) 10 JAZZ: JA + ZZ (sound of snoring) 11 COUNT BASIE: COUNT (consider) + I in BASE (essence) 12,17 BILLIE HOLIDAY: LIB (reversed) … Read more >>

dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram A painless start to the week. Quite … Read more >>

Solving time: 6:50, with a self-induced hold-up on 13ac (ICKY) at the end. How difficult you found this probably depended on how quickly you spotted one of the long multi-word phrases; the central … Read more >>

After Araucaria’s Miltonic epic and Paul’s Queen/Chess combo this week it was almost a relief to return to milder waters today with Chifonie. I found this mostly very easy, with just a couple … Read more >>

A very enjoyable puzzle today, with two interlinking themes that I would say are reasonably unobscure. c.d. = cryptic definition d.d. = double definition < = reversed * = anagram “” = homophone … Read more >>

Good clues with some excellent surface readings; there are a couple I’m not quite convinced by, but maybe people can clarify them. Across 9. ABSORBENT ABS = “Sailors” + OR = “soldiers” + … Read more >>

dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram John Milton (9 December, 1608 – 8 … Read more >>

Another pleasant start to the week from Rufus, with his usual sprinkling of cryptic definitions, but nothing too demanding and not much to comment on. [I find, to my great embarrassment, that my … Read more >>

Solving time: 11:36 (one mistake, 23dn) I really enjoyed solving this puzzle, despite a few quibbles. There’s no major theme that I can see but there is a lot of linkage going on … Read more >>

The usual entertainment value from this Brendan puzzle, with its elegant surfaces, clever anagrams and cunningly hidden answers. It included four reiterative phrases neatly placed around the perimeter, plus another one at 13ac, … Read more >>

I’d been thinking we hadn’t seen much of Araucaria lately, especially during the week, so it was a pleasure to find this one on a cold and miserable December morning. A mixture of … Read more >>