Ciaran McNulty

An enjoyable Araucaria today, with a completely non-topical theme of the Proms, with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in. dd = double definition* = anagram“” = homophone… = letters removed() = inserted Across … Read more >>

Thankfully not that complicated today after a late night, but a reasonable challenge.  There are lots of straightforward formulations, but with nice surfaces and some tricky meanings. Either that or my brain’s still … Read more >>

As sometimes happens, I filled in the grid very quickly but took a while to come up with the reasoning behind some of the clues. A vague Christmas theme, a lot of anagrams … 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 >>

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 >>

I almost forgot I had to do this today, subsequently I had to solve it over lunch which added a bit more pressure than normal!  I consequently can’t be too objective about its … Read more >>

Straightforward monday puzzle, lots of typical Rufus cryptic definitions. c.d. = cryptic definition d.d. = double definition * = anagram << = rev Across 1. STRATUS. ST(R)ATUS 5. FULCRA. c.d. 9. WEAPONRY. OPENWAR* … Read more >>

Quite easy for a friday, I thought.  Straightforward and well constructed, with a lot of anagrams. * = anagram dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition Across 7. LADIES MAN. ASEMILAND*. Never … Read more >>

A fairly topical theme, with the Turner Prize nominees being exhibited at the moment.  Like a lot of people I find this sort of puzzle, with a large set of related answers, fairly … Read more >>

I rattled through this fairly quickly and have filled the grid with convincing-looking answers, but a few of the exact reasons escape me.  I decided to blog it anyway rather than wait and … Read more >>

Quite tricky for a Monday, in my opinion.  A minor theme of -ee suffixes (9A, 12A, 30A, 17D, 18D) and the little square of three-letter words around the centre was quite interesting. Lots … Read more >>

An interesting grid, dominated by four long Down clues.  I managed most of it ok but came unstuck on 6D due to mis-marking it as 6,9 instead of 5,10.  A lot of the … Read more >>

An interesting theme today, 23A is quite correct!  It took me longer than I expected, mainly because the theme psyched me out a bit! * = anagram “” = homophone dd = double … Read more >>

Not too much of a challenge today, but a few words that were new to me. * = anagram < = reversed (x) = removal (X) = insertion dd = double definition cd … Read more >>

Not much to say about today’s, fairly straightforward with a couple of niggles. * = anagram cd = cryptic definition Across 1. FISHWIFE. FISH + W(IF)E.  I’ve never been sure why this is … Read more >>