Crossword News January 2023
The December Prize Puzzle was Seasons Greetings by Eclogue.
On a carte blanche grid, solvers had to enter blocks symmetrically to form a
cross. A large X had to be drawn through the four X’s to form a CROSS word.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
That was a great challenge. First having to cold solve a
majority of clues without initially knowing the enumerations, then the clashing
letters which made constructing the grid more involved. The ingenuity of
setters like Eclogue who put things like this together is impressive. Thanks
for some great entertainment.
Many thanks to the CC team and setters for these interesting
challenges provided year round, year after year. I always look forward to these puzzles, and
once solved, eagerly waiting for the next.
Do appreciate the efforts that go into this. Advance wishes for the festive season,
wishing all of you a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.
A very enjoyable challenge. It required a bit of thought to
identify the shape required, with confirmation of it delayed by the many
clashes, but once this was nailed down the rest of the puzzle fell quickly.
Many thanks, Eclogue!
This proved to be a tough challenge. There were 38 entries,
of which 8 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic
hat was Dave Howell from Ilkley, who will be receiving a prize of Chambers
Crossword Dictionary, which is donated by the publishers.
There is a full solution and notes at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/01/solution-to-seasons-greetings-xiv-by.html
You still have plenty time to solve the January challenge,
Leading Character by Vismut.
The February Prize Puzzle will be Cross
Contamination by Coot.
Coot took up setting crosswords as a lockdown hobby. He has published many
puzzles on mycrossword.co.uk and has recently been ‘promoted’ from Big Dave’s
Rookie Corner. Professionally, Coot is an independent consultant in the energy
industry, currently working on projects aiming to replace natural gas in homes
and businesses with environmentally-friendly hydrogen.
***
We now have all the results of our monthly
competitions for 2022 and can announce the winner of the prestigious Crowther
Cup. Many thanks to Robert Teuton for collating the results.
The Crowther Cup
2022
The All-correct List has grown to a
total of 9 people this year. In order of last time since
an error/omission they are:
- Matthew Auger
- Brian Betker
- Andie Johnson
- Philip Wood
- Gerry Murtagh
- Keith Williams
- Ronan Cullinane
- Adam Vellender
- Bhalchandra Pasupathy
The list of previous winners now
stretches down through the top 6! So the next in line is someone whose
last error was in July 2021...
...congratulations to Ronan
Cullinane!
Close behind were those entrants with
just one error/omission:
- Rod Bell
- Craig Fothergill
- Julian Stradling
- Clive Walker
- Glyn Watkins
After this:
- 10 correct - 6 people
- 9 correct - 7 people
- 8 correct - 8 people
- 7 correct - 4 people
Many thanks to all entrants for their
continued support!
Robert can supply details of anybody's individual
record for 2022 if they so wish. If you would like your record, you can email him
at toots@tinyworld.co.uk.
A fascinating article in the Guardian lists all their crossword setters and
gives a comprehensive history of their puzzles.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2023/jan/10/a-timeline-of-guardian-crossword-puzzles
They still need more information on these, Nimrod, (not John Henderson), Hippo,
Trumper, Robespierre, Grumbuskin, Keri, Chaucer and Kookaburra..
***
Last month I published an old puzzle by Torquemada. I enjoyed solving his
‘Knock-Knock’ puzzle and it did make me laugh. I was amazed at the interest in
the crossword.
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/knock-knock-by-torquemada.html
If you had a go at solving it, I have, as promised, now
posted a solution with some explanatory notes.
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/solution-to-knock-knock-by-torquemada.html
If anyone can help with more explanations, I would be
grateful. I hope to publish another vintage crossword next month.
***
In case you have missed it, the Financial Times have started to present their
setters.
https://www.ft.com/content/e612088c-d6e3-454d-a065-257fce1d6281
***
The latest Azed Slip, for the ‘Christmas Cards’ competition are now available
on the Crossword Centre.
http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html
***
On the CCCWC, the winner of the competition for PAPILLON was John Doylend with
this clue.
Quivering lip on lap dog
This month’s competition is to write a clue to METROPOLIS.
***
I still use the Chambers CD-ROM on my PC and I find it very useful. The problem
might be that on modern laptops there is no way to load a CD. I have got round
this by copying the Chambers from my old PC onto a memory card and loading it
onto my new one. As long as you have the code, it works fine on Windows 10.
***
Radio and TV presenter, Colin Murray, will be the next host of the TV show
Countdown.
***
On a personal note, our trip to see family in Portugal for Christmas did not go
to plan. When we set off the temperature was -7º. On our second day in
Portugal, I received a phone call from our neighbour to tell me that water was
gushing from our house. A frozen pipe in the garage had burst. Fortunately, our
neighbour has our keys and was able to turn off the water. Unfortunately, the
water had soaked our fuse-box, which had to be replaced. On the next day, my
wife and I tested positive for Covid, which put a damper on our festivities.
Now home and well, we hope for a better new year. Happy New Year to all!
Best wishes
Derek
