Last modified on Mon 15 Feb 2021 08.33 EST
Tomorrow is 100 years since the birth of John Graham, known to Guardian solvers for 55 years as Araucaria – the name of the genus to which the monkey puzzle tree belongs.
If you can’t wait until then to mark the occasion, today’s post is a collection of three “lost” Araucarias.
First, a jumbo from Christmas Eve 1990. It has across clues; it has down clues; it has a third kind, too, and we are told:
solutions to the Alphabet clues are to be placed in the unnumbered spaces, to fit in with the message.
John Graham made such a fantastic contribution to the cultural heritage. His holiday specials in particular deserve the highest praise, from shipping forecast maps and ‘bob doubles’ to Christmas messages running round the outside of a giant grid. Heartfelt goodbye to a sweet and lovely man.