Crossword 755 answers and explanations
A movie target?
You might have noticed a few film titles here. I didn't deliberately set out to make a theme puzzle bit I did in the end use a few... [more]
Cryptic Crosswords
Crossword 756 answers and explanations
That sinking feeling
Still revelling in the wide open spaces of the 15x15 grid, and with this particular pattern offering space for a couple of 15-letter answers, I began this puzzle with a challenge to myself, the old YELLOW SUBMARINE.
The wordplay wasn't too hard to come up with: it had to... [more]
Crossword 755 answers and explanations
A movie target?
You might have noticed a few film titles here. I didn't deliberately set out to make a theme puzzle bit I did in the end use a few movies to overcome the sometimes mind-numbing prospect of selecting words arbitrarily. Any handhold will do when that anaesthetic sets in.
[caption... [more]
Crossword 754 answers and explanations
The familiar quandary
The best method for making a crossword puzzle, indeed the only practical one, is to build the grid first and worry at the clues later.
Beginning with a list of words to be used is hopeless (unless it is a very long list) because the chances of having more... [more]
Crossword 753 answers and explanations
Further information
There's a great treasury of cryptic crossword information and ideas, plus of course puzzles, out there on the net. I've listed some on my personal webskite here, where you are welcome also to download my cryptic crossword cheat sheet.
A small, indeed nominal, problem
Cecil (6 down) is, I hope and... [more]
Crossword 752 answers and explanations
French in a cryptic clue might well indicate an F in the answer. Likewise English might indicate E, North might indicate N. So can the setter simply use any word with the expectation that the solver might use its initial letter? Clearly not, so how are we expected to know... [more]
Crossword 751 answers and explanations
The Maori?
The use of 'the French' to signify LA, LE or LES, 'the Italian' to signify IL and so on is a long-established and often-used cryptic cluing device.
There are relatively few cryptic crosswords written in New Zealand so you might well think that using 'the Maori' to signify TE (see... [more]
Crossword 750 answers and explanations
This was the last of the 13 x 13 puzzles, probably the world's only remaining cryptic crossword of that size, though the two-speed (with two sets of clues for the same answers) in the Dominion-Post is 13 x 13.
I would strongly resist and resent any accusation of plagiarism but I... [more]
Crossword 749 answers & explanations
Crossword 749 solution
Before anyone else does, let me say that 2 down is a rather poor clue, technically OK but with a surface reading that makes no sense. It looks like work in progress rather than a finished job. Silly me. Apart from that, I think I can say... [more]
A few new things
Starting early in the New Year this blog will carry solutions to the Listener cryptic crosswords along with clue explanations and some general commentary on matters such as cryptic clue conventions. I will of course respond to (most – if any) comments and suggestions.
From crossword 751 onwards the puzzles will be... [more]