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Solving time: 13:05 A definition/letter-mixture puzzle from Araucaria this week. Please say in the comments if you found this a welcome change or a bit of a chore. Some definitions are given in … Read more >>

Solving time: 10:30 This puzzle contained several long phrases spanning multiple clues which can make things difficult, but some of the longer ones in this were very straightforward so it was a quickish … Read more >>

Solving time: About 40 minutes (interrupted); two wrong (30ac and 44dn), one missing (42dn) If you’ve read or seen As You Like It (specifically Act V, Scene IV), you probably found this easier … 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: 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 >>

Solving time: 32:36 This was really hard, but with some excellent clueing. After 10 minutes I had solved 3 clues (MASCARA, LAND AHOY and NEOLOGISM). Eventually I just wrestled with the anagram at … Read more >>

Solving time: 16:08, one mistake The fourteen solutions “of a kind” were rivers hidden in clues, with no other indications. GANGES for the first one I spotted, but I wasn’t quite sure of … Read more >>

Solving time: 10 mins, one missing (13dn), one wrong (18ac) I love rhyming slang but was caught out today by one I didn’t know. 18ac is possibly my favourite clue so far this … Read more >>

Solving time: About 30 mins; two missing, one wrong. I made an absolute pig’s ear of this puzzle. After a slow start I unravelled most of it, but with some very dull moments … Read more >>

Solving time: 18 mins Appropriately for the date, this puzzle (and especially its perimeter) was themed around Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog from the borough of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania which supposedly predicts the next … Read more >>

Solving time: Lost, but about 11 mins I think. One wrong (2dn). A mini-theme in this crossword of detectives and their authors, with three pairs plus ‘Sherlock’ at 4dn. I didn’t think this … Read more >>

Solving time: Gave up on 10ac and 7dn after 18 mins, with 9dn also wrong. A horsey theme this week, with THE SPORT OF KINGS and HUNTING WITH DOGS forming the outer columns. … Read more >>

Solving time: 11:57 Some tricky clues in this, and a bit of a theme based around references to 8ac (GOOD), the main twist of this being at 12ac and 24/13ac in which clues … Read more >>

Solving time: Turned to references after 45 mins (in two sessions) with 6 answers missing (asterisked) and one wrong (2dn). The thematic element of this puzzle was the inclusion of the seven deadly … Read more >>

Solving time: 4:42 Araucaria has had a monopoly on the prize crosswords in recent weeks, so this was a nice change and probably my quickest time for a Paul puzzle. The theme was … Read more >>