Guardian

<Insert my usual hero-worshipping gush about how great Araucaria is here> <Insert my usual slight whinge about clues that require obsolete copies of Roget’s Thesaurus here > ACROSS 1 PITTA – It’s usually … Read more >>

A mix of the easy and the hard. I had to trawl Google a bit here and there. Finding one of my answers on this very site (see 24A). Questions about some of … Read more >>

Solving time 14:43 I raced through the top half in a couple of minutes, but then struggled with the bottom half and really struggled with the SE corner. Nothing particularly difficult and all … Read more >>

Solving time: lost. A nice change from Araucaria, and a pretty standard Guardian puzzle with nothing too difficult, although a couple of harder words; 3dn held me up the most. There’s also a … Read more >>

Solving time 9:09 A pretty straightforward puzzle from Chifonie today – I don’t often finish non-Rufus Guardian puzzles in under 10 minutes. Still, there were some good clues and a few less familiar … Read more >>

Apologies for the brief blog, but a host of things came up and I’ve only just found time to solve this. It was quite tricky, and I haven’t the time to think some … Read more >>

As ever a few liberties taken here and there by Araucaria but on the whole a fair puzzle.       Across 1 PSALMS S in PALM+S the Sunday before Easter is Palm … Read more >>

This is a place-holder as I haven’t yet given this excellent puzzle the time it deserves ACROSS 1 PLEA(SURE)T-RIP 8 U-(c)RANIUM 9 ? 11 NET-B-ALL 12 ? 13 DIRGE = (E.G RID) < … Read more >>

The serial number is probably a misprint online. Anyway, a rather good Rufus I thought – an &lit here and there, a couple of reasonable cryptic definitions. Overall a pleasant accompaniment to my … Read more >>

Solving time: 18:05 Lots of difficult words in this puzzle, though that’s understandable as alphabetical jigsaws must be tough to construct. I struggled on the right-hand side and was surprised to discover that … Read more >>

This got postponed throughout all of yesterday as various things intervened. Anyway, a rather noble effort by Araucaria that had me looking up a few aristocratic references. Shirley has clarified things below… Across … Read more >>

Solving time about 16 minutes either side of a phone call. First thing I thought was “What’s going on there with 9 down?” I got 3 and 25 quite quickly, but wasn’t thinking … Read more >>

Across 1 HEATER: (t)HEATER 4 SCOWLING: COW in SLING 9 GOYAS: GOY (gentile) + AS 10 CASANOVAS:A NOVA in CASS. Giovanni Jacopo is Casanova but not sure if I have the decode right … Read more >>

Hurredly done Paul. Fairly straightforward for Paul with a just couple of words I had to check and some devilish word play in places       Across 9,8,6,22d IF YOU CAN’T BEAT … Read more >>

I didn’t have a lot of spare time this morning but this still didn’t fill it. I don’t usually give my solving time – but I managed to complete it during a 15 … Read more >>