Guardian

Solving time: 13:42 It felt as though I made fairly heavy weather of this; the long answers took longer than they should have, especially 11dn, and answers like MARSH GAS for ‘methane’ should … Read more >>

A decent Friday puzzle with some tough nuts to crack. One name I’d never come across before, and required Google’s help, some humorous touches, and a little linked mini-theme including two phrases, one … Read more >>

A typical fun crossword from Paul – an enjoyable challenge as he doesn’t allow the rules to get in the way of a good clue. Time taken – 14mins, approximately ACROSS 1 see 19dn … Read more >>

Solving time approx 30 minutes. I didn’t see any answers on my first glance through the clues, but managed to work out the anagram at 27ac and worked upwards steadily from there. As … Read more >>

Another out of character Araucarian opus – not cross-refs, not long anagrams and actually quite a pleasant puzzle with reasonable surfaces. Across 1 FR(EE)BIE – [w]EE[k] in brief* 5 CAT’S-PAW – had to … Read more >>

I finished this more swiftly than any other Guardian crossword I have completed, taking 9 minutes. There didn’t seem much to stretch one’s mind, but maybe that’s a good thing for Monday morning. … Read more >>

The link for the Across clues is that these are all fruit grown in Australia. Some of them are not at all Pom-friendly, and without the Internet, and especially http://www.campionandcurtis.com/seasonal.html, I would have … Read more >>

I enjoyed this crossword, which was on the whole straightforward but with interesting nuggets of information – 8 AC, and some amusing clues – 18Dn. Posted by Simply Simon Peters Across 7 LONG … Read more >>

The title refers to a French rococo painter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Honor%C3%A9_Fragonard) whose name I eventually guessed once I had all the letters. But I did find this one pretty tough, and I don’t think it was just my … Read more >>

A literary romp from Araucaria – five of the down answers are the names of books and there’s at least two more literary reference among the clues.  Great fun, just a shame that … Read more >>

Solving time – approx. 20 minutes Another witty and scurrilous (I mean that as a compliment) offering from Gordius today! Really enjoyable to solve, although it required a lot of general knowledge (some … Read more >>

Imagine my confusion when I saw a puzzle by Rufus (almost) without a cryptic definition. Mirroring Araucaria’s recent non-cross-referenced puzzle. Across 1 RE,TORT 5 RE,STRICT – the other meaning of RE this time. … Read more >>

Three alphabets used here: English, Greek and Hebrew though I have a quibble about use of the latter. The preamble made this puzzle quite easy I thought – I suspect it would have … Read more >>

I’m struggling with computer problems (a dead monitor), so was relieved that this one was pretty straightforward. Across 1 RUGBY FOOTBALL — *(golf brutal boy) 10 TOP BANANA — The star entertainer (see … Read more >>

Despite some complex wordplay, I found this less difficult than the average Araucaria (a relief after yesterday’s Pasquale, where I failed on four clues). The theme is the 19th century Tory PM Disraeli, so … Read more >>