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Solving time: 10:10 Not too difficult a puzzle this week, with few obscurities and some moments of brilliance. * = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’. Across 1 PRE + C-IN-C + T … Read more >>

Solving time: 18:46, two mistakes (16ac and 6dn) Very good this week, I thought, and maybe a little harder than usual. Chambers defines ‘haggard’ as intractable and the title refers to the clue, … Read more >>

Solving time: 8:30 The usual excellent stuff from Paul. There was some discussion in last week’s blog about rule-bending and so forth, with Paul being mentioned, but the difference between Paul and Araucaria … Read more >>

Solving time: 75 mins, four wrong before using a dictionary (43ac, Q, X and Y). I always seem to enjoy Araucaria’s Bank Holiday specials and this was no exception, so Araucaria fans will … Read more >>

Solving time: Forgot to write down, but about 8 minutes I think This is my first blog for a few weeks, so thank you very much to bridgesong and Uncle Yap who have … Read more >>

Solving time: 15:55 Don’t take too much notice of my time – I was at least three-quarters asleep when solving this. Reasonably straightforward for Paul, I think. I’m going to be unable to … Read more >>

Solving time: About 15 mins I think. The eight answers clued by definition wordplay only (asterisked below) were all types of camera, which took me a long time to spot; I think a … Read more >>

[Note: I’m posting this on Friday afternoon as I’m away for the weekend (off to Dublin to watch Radiohead on Saturday night). I hope this is ok, as the deadline for entries was … Read more >>

Solving time: 28:00, over half of which on 1dn, 10ac and 15ac. I had a good start on this, stalled a little in the middle until I untangled BODICE RIPPER at 22/21dn, and … Read more >>

Solving time: 45 mins This was the hardest Guardian prize puzzle for ages and I thought for a while that I was going to fail it completely, with less than half of the … Read more >>

Solving time: 6:55 Easier than usual for this setter, I thought, but perhaps harder if you hadn’t heard of the book referenced at 1dn, which connected most of the other long phrases. * … Read more >>

Solving time: 9:06 A snooker-themed puzzle by an appropriately named setter to coincide with the World Championship at the Crucible last weekend. The unclued entries consisted of all the colours (less black and … Read more >>

Solving time: 8:22 The theme in this crossword was fictional archenemies: those of Batman (The Joker, The Penguin and The Riddler), Harry Potter (Voldemort), Luke Skywalker (Darth Vader), James Bond (Blofeld) and Flash … Read more >>

Solving time: 11:58 The clueing in this puzzle was more ‘down the line’ than normal for Araucaria, I thought. Nothing too obscure either, although a couple where the wordplay helped me out. 3dn … Read more >>

Solving time: 11:40 This puzzle had a theme of 12 double word phrases, where the second word in one phrase was the first in the next. Starting with 9ac, these were BLANK, CARTRIDGE, … Read more >>