Crossword roundup: Velcro provides cryptic fastenings … Plus: are you up for...
There are hooks and loops and fabrics galore in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic clues. Plus: the settter Paul goes on UK tourIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers...
View ArticleMeet the crossword setter Anto – ‘I just had to get my street name back’
The latest in our series where we turn the tables on the torturers. Under the spotlight this time is Tony Davis, AKA AntoAnto has been setting quiptics (including today’s) and cryptics for the Guardian...
View ArticleCrossword blog: sail forth! Did a skimming Scottish stone really become a...
Dodgy etymology for ships and drinking glasses is dusted down in our review of the broadsheets’ best cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners’ series....
View ArticleCrossword Council #4 – that’s not an anagram! It’s a letter bank …
The fourth general meeting of council considers a device used in other countriesThe Crossword Council is an occasional feature where we pretend to take ourselves overseriously and consider a potential...
View ArticleCrossword blog: Boris’s bendy bananas – and do we say ‘stroke’ or ‘backslash’...
We recall Boris Johnson’s 90s Brussels-bashing and explore the etiquette of how to say URLs in our look at the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to...
View ArticleMeet the crossword setter, plant scientist Soup: ‘A successful clue needs...
The latest in our series where we turn the tables on the torturers. Under the spotlight this time is the insect pollination expert Hamish Symington, AKA SoupThe Guardian’s newest cryptic setter, Soup,...
View ArticleCrossword blog: the many pronunciations of ‘garage’ and ‘eyrie’
We look at words with multiple pronunciations and share distractions in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our...
View ArticleCrossword blog: a crossword can be 30 worlds in miniature
I can recommend two books, which have reminded me to slow down and savour my crosswordsA little sentence can hold a world.Four hundred years ago, Joe Moran tells us in First You Write A Sentence, “the...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: arguing about the names of flowers
Carnations, Olympians and your clues for GARAGE in the best of the broadsheets’ crypticsIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners’ series. The setter’s name often...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: Scotch eggs are, by definition, substantial
It’s an all-Scottish menu in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners’ series. The setter’s name often links...
View ArticleMeet the crossword setter, Phi: ‘Each clue should be a little story’
In this series, we turn the tables on the torturers. Under the spotlight this time is Paul Henderson, AKA PhiPhi has passed many milestones: 1,500 Independent puzzles; 300 in the BBC Music Magazine; 50...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: setters’ favourite names – Eli, Cher and Erato
We make room for some old friends in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners’ series. The setter’s name...
View ArticleCrosswords for beginners: meet the letter M
We reach the halfway point in our interviews with letters of the alphabet about what they get up to in cryptic cluesYou’ve met A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K and L. Now it’s time for the voiced...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: the real-life Darby (and Joan?)
We poke around in some old slang in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners’ series. The setter’s name often...
View ArticleCrossword blog: a really, really hard puzzle
We catch up with Enigmatist, who has been bending brains in the ListenerAround these parts, we only occasionally mention the weekend puzzles without black squares; when we do, I usually advise that...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: what are we calling Burma these days?
Official names of countries and Dominic Raab’s holiday destinations feature in our pick of the best of the broadsheet crypticsIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our...
View ArticleCryptic crosswords for beginners: end points from Land’s End to verbal bottoms
Our series for those tempted or daunted by cryptics reveals what’s going on when you’re asked to use last lettersIn the example clues below, I explain the two parts of each: the definition of the...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: from Jamaica to Eswatini
Dodgy etymologies and a new setter in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name...
View ArticleCrossword blog: Anne R Bradford – in memoriam
We salute the woman who, stumped by a Ximenes clue in 1957, began work on what would become the crossword solver’s most indispensable bookI hope that a publisher will continue to update Bradford’s...
View ArticleCrossword roundup: can you have too many hammocks?
We try to take it easy in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic cluesIn the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name often links to...
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