Crossword News January 2023

 

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.
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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..
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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.
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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

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The latest Azed Slip, for the ‘Christmas Cards’ competition are now available on the Crossword Centre.
http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html
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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.
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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.
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Radio and TV presenter, Colin Murray, will be the next host of the TV show Countdown.
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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