John Galbraith Graham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Graham
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John Graham in 2013
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| Born | 16 February 1921 |
| Died | 26 November 2013 (aged 92) |
| Other names | Araucaria Cinephile |
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The Reverend John Galbraith Graham (born February 16, 1921 – died November 26, 2013) was a famous British crossword puzzle maker. He was best known by his special pen name, Araucaria, for his puzzles in The Guardian newspaper. Like his father, Eric Graham, John Graham was also a Church of England priest.
Who Was John Graham?
John Graham was born in Oxford, England. His father was in charge of Oriel College. Later, his family moved to a country home in Wiltshire.
After going to St Edward's School, Oxford, John studied old languages like Latin and Greek at King's College, Cambridge. When World War II started, he left college to join the RAF. After the war, he went back to King's College to study theology, which is the study of religion.
In 1949, he became a chaplain and teacher at St Chad's College in Durham. He worked there until 1952. Later, he became a vicar, which is a type of priest, in Huntingdonshire.
Becoming Araucaria
John Graham started writing crosswords for The Guardian in July 1958. He eventually began making crosswords full-time. In December 1970, The Guardian started printing crosswords with the puzzle maker's special name, called a pseudonym. John Graham chose the name "Araucaria."
He picked this name from the monkey-puzzle tree, whose Latin name is Araucaria araucana. Another name for this tree is the "Chile Pine." If you mix up the letters in "Chile Pine," you can get "Cinephile," which shows his love for movies. He also used "Cinephile" as a name for his puzzles in the Financial Times.
Besides his "Araucaria" puzzles in The Guardian, he also made about a third of the quick crosswords for that newspaper. In 1984, he started a magazine called 1 Across. This magazine gave subscribers more of his puzzles. It still publishes five crosswords each month, including one from Araucaria's old puzzles.
John Graham lived in Somersham, Cambridgeshire. He was given an award called the MBE in 2005 for his great work in the newspaper world. In 2011, he was featured on a BBC radio show called Desert Island Discs. On the show, he shared that he always used Scrabble tiles to help him create his puzzles.
A Special Crossword Style
John Graham's way of writing clues made him one of the most loved crossword makers. His style is sometimes called "Araucarian." This style was known for being fun and clever. It used lots of cross-references, where one clue helps you solve another, and special themes. This was different from the more strict style used by The Times newspaper.
He was often asked to create the extra-large puzzles that appeared in The Guardian on bank holidays. These puzzles sometimes even had two grids with tricky rules for placing the answers.
He also invented a new type of crossword called the "alphabetical jigsaw." In these puzzles, the clues are labeled with letters instead of numbers. The grid has no markers to show where the answers go. Instead, the clues are listed in alphabetical order of their answers. You have to fit the answers together like a jigsaw puzzle, and only one way will work. Fans called these puzzles "araubeticals." Araucaria's clues for these puzzles were often short poems that rhymed.
His clues often included very long anagrams, which are words or phrases made by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. One of his favorites was in a Christmas puzzle:
- O hark the herald angels sing the boy’s descent which lifted up the world
This is an anagram of "While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground."
Another famous example of his clever clues was:
- Poetical scene with surprisingly chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)
The answer to this clue is "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester". This is the name of a poem by Rupert Brooke.
His Last Puzzles
In December 2012, the 1 Across magazine printed an Araucaria puzzle that shared some personal news. The puzzle revealed that John Graham had oesophageal cancer. This puzzle was reprinted in The Guardian in January 2013.
The puzzle had a hidden message. It started with "Araucaria has 18 down of the 19, which is being treated with 13 15." When people solved the puzzle, they found that 18 down was "cancer," 19 was "oesophagus," and 13 and 15 were "palliative" and "care." Other clues in the puzzle had answers like "Macmillan Nurse," "chemotherapy," and "sunset." John Graham said that making this crossword felt like the right way to share the news.
The very last Araucaria puzzle published before he passed away also had hidden meanings. It included answers like "cottage hospital", "nil by mouth" (meaning no food or drink), and "time to go." John Graham passed away on November 26, 2013. A year later, The Guardian published a crossword that he had started, and his friend finished it. He was remembered for his cleverness, kindness, and bravery.
Books
Many collections of John Graham's crosswords have been published. Here are some of them:
- Monkey Puzzles (2002)
- Monkey Puzzles volume 2 (2004)
- Chambers Book of Araucaria Crosswords Volume 1 (2003)
- Chambers Book of Araucaria Crosswords Volume 2 (2005)
- Chambers Book of Araucaria Crosswords Volume 3 (2006)
- Chambers Book of Araucaria Crosswords Volume 4 (2008)
