Ciaran McNulty

Later than normal, due to me spending an hour or so on the Genius before realising I’d clicked on the wrong puzzle! dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition * = anagram … Read more >>

A very well-designed grid today, with all of the two-word clues ‘lining up’ either horizontally or vertically. It seemed fairly hard, and I didn’t finish a couple of the clues, marked with a … Read more >>

The setter’s name doesn’t ring a bell, but I enjoyed the style. Luckily I got 5D first and was fairly confident I could get most of the linked clues but was stuck for … Read more >>

As is often with Araucaria, something of a challenge but satisfying to solve.  I guessed the long linked clue starting at 7D fairly early from the pattern of ‘inherit’ which gave a lot … Read more >>

A bit later than normal today sorry, I had noticed I was meant to be solving on Tuesday but had internalised this as ‘the second day of the week’, which the Bank Holiday … Read more >>

I found this fairly easy going, even for a Monday. Mainly composed of a few anagrams, double-definitions and more than the usual amount of cryptic definitions, it was a nice distraction but not … Read more >>

A very entertaining crossword, with two strong interconnected themes and a very neat trick of having three famous people’s names sitting in the grid (17 21 7, 2 23 7 and 17 6), … Read more >>

Took me a while to crack into, but once a few of the longer clues were in, especially 1D, I managed to rattle through most of the rest. I couldn’t spot any theme, … Read more >>

* = anagram () = removed [] = charade “” = homophone cd = cryptic definition dd = double definition Medium difficulty but very entertaining with some inventive cluing (9A is a favourite), … Read more >>

Araucaria as the setter for my first blog was a bit intimidating, but once the long clues around the edge were solved the middle opened up. Getting 1A in particular fairly quickly was … Read more >>