Crossword News February 2021
The January Prize Puzzle was Best Mates by Chalicea. WALLACE
and GROMIT and the films A CLOSE SHAVE, THE WRONG TROUSERS and A GRAND DAY OUT
circled the grid. Solvers were required to SHADE FAVOURITE FOOD OF FIRST CHARACTER
(SIXTEEN CELLS) which gives WENSLEYDALE CHEESE.
Results and comments will appear in the March newsletter.
A full solution is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/02/solution-to-crossword-centre-prize.html
You still have time to solve and submit an entry for our
February competition, Changing Places by Rebus. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/01/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-february.html
The March challenge will be Cracking! by Soup, A blocked
puzzle with a dauntingly long preamble, but don’t let that put you off. It
certainly is a crossword with a twist!
Soup is Hamish Symington, now studying for a PhD in
pollination at University of Cambridge, by way of a career as a graphic
designer and software developer. He has been setting for around six years; you
may have seen his puzzles in the Guardian’s ‘Genius’ slot, amongst others. He
edits 1 Across magazine (www.1across.co.uk),
started by Araucaria three decades ago. He lives in Cambridge with his patient
wife, exuberant daughter, and about 150,000 honeybees.
***
February 16th this year would have been Araucaria’s 100th
birthday. There were many tributes to mark this centenary.
A special edition of 1 Across magazine celebrates the
centenary of his birth this month. http://www.1across.co.uk/
Tom Johnson wrote a beautiful article on Fifteen squared. http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/02/16/john-graham-a-centenary-tribute/
A special themed crossword by Enigmatist and Soup appeared
in the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28370#9-across
A 3D puzzle special is published on 3DCalendar Puzzles with
a tribute. https://3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/02e-FEB-EXTRA-2021-PUZ-ENIGMATIST-Sirius-Web.pdf
I am reminded of twenty years ago when I was invited to his
80th birthday party at the Guardian offices. That was the first time
that I met John Henderson, John Halpern, Paul Bringloe and the unforgettable
Bob Smithies. After the official presentations we all met up in the nearest pub
for a great party
Next day we went to the London Eye with Tom Johnson and the
1 Across team. The photos that I took can be seen at http://www.crossword.org.uk/eye.html
Alan Connor, in his latest blog, has included a fantastic photo of the meeting
at the Guardian, Araucaria with editor, Alan Rusbridger, all the setters, and Bunthorne and Enigmatist on either side.
He has also found three lost puzzles by Araucaria.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2021/feb/15/crossword-blog-vintage-guardian-setter-araucaria-puzzles
***
John Henderson and Jane Teather are still planning to have some sort of
Listener Crossword event next month. In a recent message they said this.
This is advance notice that we’ll have some sort of online
event during the evening of Saturday 20 March. More details to follow.
In addition, we will put together a newsletter covering some
of what would normally be part of the proceedings (or just the conversation) at
the dinner. If you have any relevant news that you would normally share at the
dinner, or anything else you think people would appreciate, please send it for
inclusion — text or images are fine.
The newsletter will include obits. One of those will be for
Terry Allen (The Tall’n), about whom I know almost nothing, apart from having
solved his puzzles on more than one occasion. If any of you knew him, or has
particular memories of his puzzles, please get in touch; any contribution will
help.
***
The results of the voting for IQ puzzle of the year are now published. The
outright winner was Harribobs for his Tour de France themed puzzle, Tourist
Information. In second place was eXternal for Seize Them All. You can read the
full results here. http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/01/30/inquisitor-review-of-the-year-2019-20/
***
You may be interested in a podcast where Susie Dent and
Gyles Brandreth have a humorous chat about crosswords.
https://play.acast.com/s/somethingrhymeswithpurple/f5acdb44-59a6-11eb-9fa6-eb057a9bc4d2
***
A new free website for cryptic crosswords is Hubble Crosswords. You can access
it at https://www.hubblecrosswords.com/
***
The continuing success of the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel set up by
Mark Goodliffe and Simon Anthony has also proved to have a therapeutic effect
in these troubling times. This is the subject of this article.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/comment/cracking-the-cryptic-how-the-healing-art-of-sudoku-became-a-youtube-sensation-1.1151242?fbclid=IwAR2rvdVj6LcR8NecpAGnPa1X8xkEdWp-vDCDSN4B1qEeMiKj15kD5CxfZbU
***
When I posted a photo of the Listener Crossword Book 1970 it attracted a lot of
interest. I bought a copy when I was a student and solved about 1% of the
puzzles. The first book was edited by Alan Cash in Penguin and he later
published the Second and Third books. In 2002 there was a Times Listener
collection edited by Mike Rich and a Chambers collection in 2008 which was
edited by Derek Arthur. The sales figures for these books are very low and it
is unlikely that future publisher will be willing to take the risk of printing
another collection. Needless to say, these early editions are increasingly rare
and expensive to buy. You can see the covers of all these books on FaceBook by
joining The Crossword Centre group.
***
On the Clue-Writing Competition, the annual results for 2020 have now been
published. In a tight finish between John Tozer and Steve Randall, it was Steve
who won the prize. You can see the full result sheet at http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/ann_results.php?year=2020
Your challenge for February is a STANDARD CRYPTIC clue to
WETLANDS(8) by the closing date of MIDNIGHT GMT WEDNESDAY 24th FEBRUARY.
***
Good news for quizzers is that Channel 4 are about to broadcast a new quiz
show, The Answer Trap. With the quiz set up by Frank Paul and Bobby Seagull it
looks to be very devious. They are currently looking for contestants, groups of
two from the same household. All the details here.
https://www.channel4.com/press/news/anita-rani-present-answer-trap-channel-4
***
When Nick Hewer steps down as Countdown host, the hot bets are on Anne Robinson
taking on the role
***
There are now 213 members on the Google mailing list.
If you want to receive newsletters and clue-writing
information in your in-box you should sign up to the new Crossword Centre group
on Google. You can join this group at
https://groups.google.com/g/crosswordcentre
Crossword News will, as usual, be available on the Crossword
Centre http://www.crossword.org.uk/newsletter.html and on the blog
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/
Best wishes
Derek
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