Crossword blog: Sepp Blatter's infuriating crossword habit
The Fifa boss Sepp Blatter loves crosswords. Why is this so annoying?I do sudoku and crossword puzzles, play patience and FreeCell (a computerised form of solitaire).Sepp Blatter, there, talking to...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: Five setters, one birthday
The Guardian’s Pasquale is celebrating ... and so is the Independent’s Quixote, the FT’s Bradman and a number of other wordsmiths on the dailiesThe veteran solver’s curiosity is instinctively pricked...
View ArticleCrossword blog: On the hunt for Magna Carta
Today is a great day for themed puzzles and hidden messages – what have you found?A recent puzzle by Radian had this down its middle:9d A quarter past eight, time to recall some lights here (6,7)[“A...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: an unusual proposition from the Times
The Times crossword has done something for the first time in nearly half a century: featured a hidden message from one reader to anotherOther newspapers may sprinkle hidden messages like confetti, but...
View ArticleCrossword blog: Philistine speaks on BBC Radio 4
The setter-cum-surgeon talks cardiology and Kreuzworträtseln with Boris Becker and we ponder Dutch crosswordsWhen we talked to the sparkling setter Philistine here as part of our Meet the Setter...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: did anyone say 'Tennis, anyone'?
Wimbledon lingo and elusive catchphrases in the pick of the cryptic cluesTowards the end of June, some solvers keep an eye on the Financial Times, hoping to see one of the sporadic appearances of the...
View ArticleCrossword blog: Do you solve old puzzles?
When you’ve finished today’s puzzle, will you be tempted to solve one from last week? How about last year or last decade?Our ongoing Meet the Setter series gives glimpses of the people behind the...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: Alice's Adventures in Wimbledon
Which writers do you wish had been around to set crosswords?Seldom does the solver find the same word appearing twice in a completed grid. Not so with Hob’s recent Saturday Independent prize...
View ArticleCrossword blog: same word, different papers. Why?
When different puzzles feature the same words on the same days, do we need to call in the spooks?There’s an experience familiar to anyone for whom one puzzle a day is not enough. We particularly enjoy...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: Why are blue moons getting more frequent?
Issues arising from the latest cryptic clues, including how Trivial Pursuit redefined the night skyWhen Gaff came along to one of our Meet the Setter sessions, we learned more about his approach to the...
View ArticleCrossword blog: David Nobbs, crosswording's funniest commentator
In the late David Nobbs’s world, crosswords were hilariously preposterousDavid Nobbs, whose death was announced yesterday, noticed things. Things such as crosswords. Crossword clue I saw in an...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: Corbynmania and Trump Fever
They might be outside mainstream politics, but they’re inside the crossword grids – and other issues arising from the latest cryptic cluesHe is derided, even despised, by his party’s senior machinery,...
View ArticleCrossword blog: Merl Reagle
Puzzle setter Merl Reagle, who died at the weekend, helped to change the American crossword for the betterDevotees of British broadsheet cryptics sometimes give the impression that theirs are the only...
View ArticleCrossword blog: who can you call when you're stuck?
One solver phoned her council for help with a tricky clue: where else can the frustrated crossworder turn for help?What is the seven-letter name of James Bond’s ailurophile nemesis?Sometimes an answer...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: Why are there so few slang words for 'husband'?
There are classical clues and chauvinistic catchphrases in this installment of collections from the cryptic cropWhat’s your favourite part of the Proms? Not the Last Night, obviously, but if it’s not...
View ArticleCrossword blog: the shortest and longest clues imaginable
Crossword clues can be as short as a ‘?’ or as long as a rant about the iniquities of the Emmy awards. What’s the best length?The print version of a recent Everyman puzzle appeared to have the shortest...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: putting someone's lights out
George Cole, Reginald Perrin and a cast of various other FELLAs in the pick of the cryptic fortnightOur usual business here is to mention topics and pieces of culture after they have appeared in...
View ArticleCrossword blog: the return of Latin
Broadsheet crosswords were once for Top People only. Now there’s something for everyone – including those who want their answers in a dead languageThe Times on Saturday has long offered some more...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: how long are donkey's ears?
An ignominious cameo and the surprisingly modern YONKS in the pick of the cryptic cluesIn 1961, Punch magazine opined:When may a young man be said to have arrived? Adam Faith got a double accolade last...
View ArticleCrossword blog: farewell to the irascible Henry Hook
Henry Hook, who said he got into crosswords to ‘torment people’, has died. We look back at the career of a hugely inventive – but often contrary – geniusTen weeks ago, we said goodbye to American...
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