Clues by Carpathian and Grid by Rikki
Theme: Agatha Christie: 50th anniversary of her death on 12 January, 1976
Winner: Roger Collins of Birmingham
Review of the January 2026 3D crossword
A 7 x 5 x 6 puzzle this month. I’m always skeptical of 6-layer puzzles because the extra layer is unchecked, making the vertical words freer for the setter but not necessarily more interesting for the solvers, but here we have enough 6-letter thematic content to justify it.
The solve is straightforward — there are no gimmicks and I didn’t mark a single clue for review. That’s solid work and a pleasant solve but makes this reviewer’s job more difficult.
The theme becomes apparent early on (if you solve in day order) with ACKROYD and AGATHA, and although I’m not an expert on Christie’s books, I’ve seen enough movies to get most of the references.
The longer entries frame out the puzzle nicely as ARIADNE OLIVER’S APPLE, HERCULE, and AGATHA check the majority of words in the puzzle. Having made several of these myself, I can imagine Rikki’s joy when those all worked nicely and then the brief concern that CHRISTIE and POIROT weren’t going to fit. But that’s what highlighted letters are for, and, indeed that’s what we get here.
The pictorial clue tells us to remove a WOLF’s head and tail and to stir a beetle’s DUNG, yielding OLD GUN. I’m not convinced that’s not what I’ve heard called a “red car” — a two-word phrase that’s not a crossword-worthy word — but it’s thematic and both clues are well-done.
The best thing about the puzzle is the variation in word lengths and the large amount of thematic content. The vocabulary is excellent with the only sticky word for me being VAD. But if you’re going to have to compromise a 3-letter word is a good place to do it.
The year is off to a good start with this excellent puzzle. Although not very mysterious, this makes for a lovely solve whether you’re on an airplane, train, or steamship. And, we hope, no one has to be murdered in the process.
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Grid solution
Visual clue
The crosses on the wolf’s head and tail tell us to remove the first and last letters. In the second part, a dung beetle rolls its ball of treasure. The arrow indicates we’re just interested in the dung and the stirring spoon indicates an anagram. Together they make:
wOLf + DUNG* = OLD GUN
Background image
The backdrop to this month’s puzzle shows a scene from the Feast of Corpus Christi: Solenidade de Corpus Christi by Paco Britto (CC0 1.0 licence).
Clues and explanations
Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.
| Day | Solution | Clue | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ABSTAIN | 17ba Refrain from a bit of beef with Mark (7) | Refrain. A B STAIN |
| 2 | ACKROYD* | 6ac Strangely croaky director is 4’s creation (7) | 4’s creation. CROAKY* D |
| 3 | ADMIT | 25up Own commercial US college (5) | Own. AD MIT |
| 4 | AGATHA* | 6d Woman a label rejected with expression of mirth (6) | Woman. A TAG< HA |
| 5 | AGREE | 14to Eager to form consent (5) | consent. EAGER* |
| 6 | ALDER | 16aw Tree in rural Derbyshire (5) | Tree. Hidden in rurAL DERbyshire |
| 7 | ALIBI* | 10aw Defence a politician introduces at the start (5) | Defence. A LIB I |
| 8 | ARIADNE OLIVER’S APPLE* | 14ac,4ac,17aw Source of 13’s core irritation is song with overlapped lines rewritten (7,7,5) | Source of 13’s core irritation. ARIA + (OVERLAPPED LINES)* |
| 9 | DEEPER | 9d Penny explores, starting between two rivers to get further down (6) | further down. (P + E) in (DEE R) |
| 10 | DEWLAP | 3d Wattle and daub element we initially envelop (6) | Wattle. Initial letters of Daub Element We + LAP |
| 11 | DOPER | 15to Party for a person administering drugs (5) | person administering drugs. DO PER |
| 12 | DOSED* | 9to Medicated revolting git and journalist (5) | Medicated. SOD< ED |
| 13 | HERCULE* | 21ac Man left during that woman’s signal (7) | Man. L in HER CUE |
| 14 | IMP | 13ba-3 In Mesopotamia potential leaders find mischief-maker (3) | mischief-maker. Initial letters of In Mesopotamia Potential |
| 15 | KNIFE* | 7to Chef in kitchen holding revolving blade (5) | blade. Hidden in (ChEF IN Kitchen)< |
| 16 | LIAR* | 12ba One misleading in revolting banter (4) | One misleading. RAIL< |
| 17 | MAGPIE | 26up Thief marks silver dish (6) | Thief. M AG PIE |
| 18 | MANAGE | 23up Run from male hangmen off and on (6) | Run. MAN hAnGmEn |
| 19 | MARPLE* | 19ac-4,20aw Character with place in bay perhaps (6) | Character. PL in MARE |
| 20 | MR DICK | 27up Michael crossing road to find Copperfield character (2,4) | Copperfield character. MICK around RD |
| 21 | OLD GUN* | 8d Lounged around dropping European antique firearm (3,3) | antique firearm. LOUNG[e]D* |
| 22 | OVERDO | 24up Use too much of superior finish (6) | Use too much. OVER DO |
| 23 | OVERT | 8to Open secret leader dropped (5) | Open. [c]OVERT |
| 24 | QUEENS | 1d First of all Quin, uninvited, entered estate never showing cards (6) | cards. Initial letters of Quin, Uninvited, Entered Estate Never Showing |
| 25 | QUESTED | 1ac Adventured as asked but about to leave (7) | Adventured. [re]QUESTED |
| 26 | QUOTA | 1aw Share statement showing price lacking final article (5) | Share. QUOT[e] + A |
| 27 | SKIMPY | 5d Stingy broadcaster setter’s quietly infiltrated (6) | Stingy. (I’M + P) in SKY |
| 28 | THRUST | 2d Drive hard to enter charge (6) | Drive. H in TRUST |
| 29 | URALS | 22to Paintings excluding tip of massive mountain range (5) | mountain range. [m]URALS |
| 30 | VAD* | 18ac-3 Victor headed core wartime organisation (3) | wartime organisation. V heADed
Voluntary Aid Detachment Agatha Christie was a VAD in WW1 |
| 31 | WARFARE | 11ba Bloody revolting, distant Eastern conflict (7) | conflict. RAW< FAR E |
| 32 | WHITEHAVEN* | 11aw,21to Wine and port in English town (10) | English town. WHITE HAVEN |
| Required | CHRISTIE | Author’s surname (8) | |
| Required | POIROT | Surname of a principal character (6) |
Solvers’ comments
I was unfamiliar with Ariadne Oliver’s apple. A nice gentle start to the year. [NI]
A GREAT start to 2026. [RE]
Happy New Year! A gentle start to the year which didn’t require too many little grey cells. Lovely clues and economical grid. Thank you. [JT]
A gentle starter to the year. Agatha at 4 rather gave the game away early. For once I started with the illustration, which was solvable. Notation for 3 should read 25up-5. 26 What’s the article? [MJ]
The little grey cells are off to a cracking start. [RS]
I lapped up Agatha Christie novels in my teenage years and that started me on a life of crime (novels). It was a very painful esperience when I had to dispose of my yellowed copies of all the copies of her books to secondhand bookshops when we moved house about fifteen years ago. Thanks to Carpathian and Rikki for taking me on a trip down memory lane. This puzzle was a lot of fun. [JA]
An enjoyable puzzle with a well hidden theme. It was only revealed with a few clues still to solve. A denouement worthy of the author herself. [GW]
We got the theme almost immediately, which led to a delightfully gentle way to start the new 3D year. Some nice clues (we particularly liked “core irritation” in Day 8’s surface) and a variety of wordplay devices. We didn’t feel we quite nailed the parsing in a couple of clues so, as ever, look forward to the newsletter. But overall a very enjoyable puzzle – thank you Rikki. [CW]
Nice and easy start to the year [SB]
Great fun! [AS]
Nice gentle start to the year [JP]
A nice gentle start to the new year, no obscure words although I was unfamiliar with ARIADNE OLIVER so an interesting diversion looking that up. With thanks to Carpathian, Rikki and Frank Paul. [JC]
Fun. Loved the clue, for Agatha, Overt and Urals. [NB]
Whodunnit? Idunnit, I hope. [RP]
Excellent start to the year [LA]
Nice gentle start to the year, rather like Carpathian’s occasional Monday puzzles for the Guardian ease us into the week. Nothing wrong with that; sterner tasks await! [PA]
A gentle workout for the little grey cells with a generous quota of thematic links in clues and solutions. “Chapeau” to Carpathian and Rikki. [DR]
A nice start to the 2026 puzzles [JM]
Fun to do. I thought the thief clue was good. [RC]
Nice gentle start to the year 🙂 not massively familiar with Christie’s work, but got through with cultural osmosis and getting the wordplay. Either the picture clue was nicer than usual or I’m getting better at them! Thanks to everyone for an enjoyable puzzle. [BR]
Nice gentle start for my first attempt at a 3D crossword. Thanks! [PB]
I was hoping January’s would feel like a Monday puzzle and was happy to find it so. I understood the parsing of almost every entry, with only a question (perhaps a quibble) about Day 16. Day 30 was new to me, and particularly enjoyed Day 8. Thanks to Carpathian, and Rikki. Don’t know what the connection to Paco Britto’s photo is, but I laughed when I “got” (for a change) Frank’s drawing! [JS]
Nicely constructed and not too challenging [PD]
What a lovely gentle start to the year, just what we all need! Thank you Carpathian and Rikki. Day 8 took a little more detective work than the rest. [MS]
One of the easier ones I’ve attempted. I liked it. [KD]
A lovely start to the year particularly as she is buried in our local churchyard. Pity it was Whitehaven and not the nearby Wallingford! The museum there is definitely worth a visit if you are a fan. [HH]
A nice warm-up for the year, with rather easy clues (day 32 could have come straight out of Metro, which I don’t intend as a compliment!!) but pleasing thematic elements. If I’d come across Ariadne Oliver before I have forgotten all about her, but not hard to check up on. I nearly wrote ‘deepen’ for day 9 but spotted the second river in the nick of time. Happy New Year to all. [EF]
A lot of fun! [NP]
A very gentle starter… [AC]
A nice gentle start to the year. Dewlap was a new one for me. Thank you, Carpathian. [AG]
Very entertaining. A nice and brilliant entry into this year’s calendar. [MG]
Loved this through and through!! Carpathian & Rikki kicked off the New Year with a clever cluing and a nice collection of thematic clues — very approachable AND enjoyable! 🤓 [MS]
We got the picture clue, for once! [HJ]
Enjoyed the theme – thank you. [LB]
Fun puzzle! Great start to the year [DB]
A gentle-ish starter to the year. Fortunately, have read a lot of this author so discovered the link early enough to spot the answer to day 8. Spotting the other references added to the delight. [MH]
An interesting theme to kick off 2026! Thank you as always for an enjoyable challenge. [SF]
A fantastic start to the year! Really enjoyed it. [TC]
A satisfying start to the New Year, with most of the answers parsed before we confirmed the theme. [J&JH]
Lovely puzzle to start the new year. Thanks to all involved in another wonderful calendar of crosswords. [BS]
A good January puzzle! And I have always liked the word DEWLAP. Had THRASH for THRUST before submitting… [HS]
Most enjoyable. Favourite clues Days 4, 16, 23 and 29 [NB]
A nice simple starter for January. I was surprised about the choice of VAD, when VID would have also worked – I would always pick a word over an abbreviation. [CF]
Good cluing; the alphabetic order helped a lot. [GT]
An enjoyable start to the 3D year. Thank you. [JB]
A gentle start to the year with a quick giveaway of Agatha at 4! Haven’t read one for years and probably only read one third of them in my early years. [DM]
Nice puzzle [MD]
Enjoyable [SG]
Lovely start to the year. Getting back a great family activity of doing these 3D crosswords with my mum, after a few years’ break! [JN]
An enjoyable workout for the New Year about an author whose work I have been enjoying for many years. [SB]
Lovely [RL]
Generally very approachable, especially when one gets the easter egg author, a good deal of fun to solve. ^_^ [ABG]
A good start to the new year [MM]
As my first foray into 3D crosswords, I found this to be an excellent starting point that has got me excited for the rest of the calendar – though I still can’t make heads or tails of the background image’s connection to the timely theme. [HJ]
Thanks H&T team! Foolish mistake on day 28 caused consternation, now resolved. [PA]
Brilliant. [TC]
Excellent fun!! Not too difficult (very good for January as a 3D first-timer) but some tricky solves in there too. Thanks! [SH]
Love the theme and the fact that many of the clues and or answers are also thematic. Took me a minute to realise why I immediately wanted to answer Whitehaven for the town. Unfortunately the hints and tips were no help as the ones I was unsure of were days 22 and 23. [JC]
Really enjoyed it. Found it a lot easier than previous months but really liked it. Think it didn’t lean too hard into the theme which is why I think it was maybe easier. [HM]
My first time tackling one of these – relieved to find it doable! [DW]