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I am a Swedish crossword constructor and sometimes solver who is at a loss trying to understand the second part of this clue, occurring in "The Sunday Philosophy Club" by Alexander McCall Smith:
The falls, artist is confusingly preceded again: Niagara

Ra is artist - as in Royal Academy of Art and as an anagram with again, gives you Niagar.

In many British crosswords RA is often used to mean 'artist' (It stands for something like Royal Academician or Royal Academy of Arts). The RA is added to 'again' - and from there it's a simple anagram to give Niagara(falls).

Just to explain furhter - any artist who has exhibited at Burlington House, where the Royal Academy is based, is entitled to put the initials RA after their name. Yuou often find that when the term artist is used in a clue, the setter will mean this, although obviously not always. By the same token, if a setter uses the word doctor in a clue it can denote GP, MB, MO or even that the answer is an anagram! Hope that clarifies things.

Thank you very much. Anagrams seem to be very popular with you. We use them in Swedish crosswords too, but not quite so freely.

Sorry about the typos. :0)

Your name is Bertil Nilsson and you're...Swedish? Thought you might be Mexican. I'm a Yank but my family's from Stockholm. I usually get things like RA; what catches me up in Brit puzzles is the really simple stuff, like "colour" having six letters instead of the American five. Then of course there are the Scottish clues...

Myself I have no real ambition of trying to master either English or American crossword puzzles (or Scottish ones for that matter). I just happened to stumble upon this clue in the book and got a bit curious and frustrated. You know how it is.
As for Niagara, a colleague and friend of mine once used 'The fall of a blonde'. (He could do this because in Swedish there is no distinct plural form of 'fall'.) Not bad, huh? Trust you'll get it.

I think I do. By the way, my favorite American puzzles were in The Atlantic Monthly. Their creators retired but these superb little things are archived online. The answers are very seldom obscure words; it's the always-new pattern/method that's challenging. When you've completed one of these you usually drop your jaw in wonder. Sheer pleasure. http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/puzzler/puzzler.htm