Crossword News January 2022
Happy New Year!
Last month we had three seasonal puzzles. The Prize Puzzle
was Seasons Greetings XIII by Eclogue. Rings two and four provide: A DOLL’S
CRACKED MIRROR, ROLL OF STICKING PLASTER, A COFFIN NAIL, THREE BAD SIXPENCES
and A MENTHOL CONE, all ingredients of the Starkadder Christmas PUDDING in
Stella GIBBONS’ short story “CHRISTMAS AT COLD COMFORT FARM”.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
Wow, that's some pudding - had not encountered this
before! Thanks to the crew for the
customary Christmas puzzle, another traditional seasonal treat to look forward
to each year.
What a wonderful antidote to a cold and miserable weekend
(not to mention being a bit off colour following my booster [but well worth
it.]) This puzzle was a joy. Consistently good cluing, mixing in the
occasional unfamiliar word, made up a really good recipe; unlike the subject of
the puzzle. My memories of Cold Comfort
Farm were limited (the ever simmering pot and the woodshed within which there
lurked something nasty) so it was a welcome refresher, thanks to Google. A high quality book and a high quality
puzzle. Thank you Eclogue.
A neat exploitation of an interesting theme. While I have read Cold Comfort Farm, the
prequel had passed me by, so needed some internet help to complete the
items. Good fun piecing it together, so
thanks to Eclogue for maintaining this seasonal tradition.
There were 53 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect. The
lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat was Jack Nichols, who will soon
receive his prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary.
There is a full solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/01/solution-to-seasons-greetings-xiii-by.html
The December Special was Ring Cycle by Hedge-sparrow. The
theme is the set of seven O ANTIPHONS (also known as the Great Os of Advent),
which are Magnificat antiphons used at vespers on the final seven days of
Advent. The title of each antiphon
comprises the word O followed by a Biblical name of Christ. Six of the Biblical names – SAPIENTIA,
ADONAI, RADIX JESSE, CLAVIS DAVID, ORIENS AND REX GENTIUM, appear as unclued
entries in the grid. The seventh,
EMMANUEL, occurs hidden in the final grid in the shape of an O (to be indicated
by solvers).
Here are some of the many comments from solvers.
Brilliantly conceptualised and designed, this puzzle is
perhaps one of the most entertaining I've attempted from these pages. The wordplay and surfaces were an absolute
delight, kept going back to read them over even after solving. True, extra letter in clues give
possibilities, but using them in the right places to good effect is an art
which the setter has accomplished extremely creatively. A very apposite theme
given the season. Many thanks.
Another intriguing theme, and how appropriate for Advent. I
had some early good fortune in getting several letters of the across answer in
the top row, and "_AD_XJ ..." seemed likely to be RADIX followed by a
second word beginning with J. That soon led me to the theme. Brewer's was no
help as it was only after I had finished that I discovered that the relevant
entry was indexed under "Seven" (and cross-referenced from
"O") - nothing under "Advent", "Antiphon" (not
featured at all) or "Vespers"!
Many thanks for an enjoyable puzzle with a difficulty level
that was just right for me, as well as a theme with which I was entirely
unfamiliar!
There were 56 entries, of which 2 were marked incorrect. The
lucky winner was Graham O’Neill, who will be receiving a prize book.
There is a solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/01/solution-to-ring-cycle-by-hedge-sparrow.html
The December bonus puzzle was What’s it Look Like? by Artix.
In this puzzle the bars gave the letters of BUBLÉ and the unclued entries were albums
of Michael Bublé. CHRISTMAS had to be highlighted as an answer to the title,
referencing the single, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
Artix excelled in constructing this. You looked initially,
thought a simple little bonus puzzle, then thought Artix - perhaps not. I found
this by far the most difficult of the three December puzzles, with its clever
clues, obscure answers, definitions only, word play only etc. So much in such a
small grid. When I figured out the TO BE LOVED answer I did think it might be a
song and apparently Adele has recently issued it, but too recent to have made
it into this puzzle. When CRAZY LOVE emerged, it was the internet to the rescue
leading me to Michael Bublé, but it was only when I put the bar pattern on a
blank grid that I saw it was spelling out his name.
Interesting mechanic with the short answers (and clever how
the alphabetical order even made things like "Number" deducible quite
quickly) - I found this a really fun gridfill. Having the nine-letter answers
meant that not too much cold-solving was required before checking letters
started to assist too. Groaned a little bit when the theme became apparent (not
my musical cup of tea!) but still a very fun carte blanche. Thanks.
This puzzle proved to be a tough challenge. There were 32
entries, of which 2 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner was R Benz, who
will soon be receiving a prize book.
There is a solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/01/solution-to-whats-it-look-like-by-artix.html
You still have lots of time to solve this month’s Prize
Puzzle, Obi by Wan.
The February Prize Puzzle is by a new setter. Missing
Letters by Conto is a blocked grid with a twist. Based up in Fife, Conto
started setting seriously in 2019. Since then, he’s been published by 1 Across
magazine, Magpie magazine, and on Alberich’s puzzle website. You can also see
some of his more experimental puzzles on mycrossword.co.uk.
***
A new word game has quickly become very popular. Wordle is the invention of
Josh Wardle, an engineer at Reddit. Basically, it is a guessing game to find a
five-letter word. You get 6 guesses. If a letter in your guess is in the word
it turns yellow, if it is in the correct position, it turns green. You have
probably seen people tweeting their results. Nicely you can only play once each
day. Find out more in this Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/dec/23/what-is-wordle-the-new-viral-word-game-delighting-the-internet
***
An essay by R H Jackson, entitled Beastly Clues, is a detailed view of the
early days of crosswords and the
involvement of T S Eliot and Torquemada. Well worth reading at https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/beastly-clues
***
I hear, from a reliable source that the crossword setter o the Irish Times is
retiring and editors are looking for a replacement. The Crosaire cryptics, with
their famously non-Ximenean clues, are currently set by Crosheir. The thought
of composing 6 puzzles every week seems a task too onerous for most setters!
***
There is a review of the 2021 Inquisitor crosswords on Fifteen Squared. You can
read the votes and opinions of solvers at https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/12/31/inquisitor-review-of-2020-21-by-nimrod/
***
On the clue-writing site the challenge for January is a normal clue to
UNDERGROUND (11), entries in before 31 January. http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
Ed Hall won the November competition with this clue to
SOUSAPHONE.
Use a spoon when consuming hot liquid – blow on it! (10)
Best wishes
Derek
No comments:
Post a Comment