Crossword News June 2024
The May Prize Puzzle was Singing by Chalicea. According to
Fitzgerald in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam the poet only needed 'a loaf of
bread', 'a flask of wine', 'a book of verse' and 'thou' beside me singing in
the wilderness to turn the 'wilderness' to 'paradise enow'.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
I first heard of Omar Khayyam in a mathematics class, but I
knew he also wrote poetry and strongly associate the word in the circled cells
with him. I must have seen some version of the thematic poem, but I can't
remember if it was the translation appearing in ODQ. I thought it was neat that
four of the unclued entries are 12-letter phrases from the translation. I wondered if it was deliberate that A GLASS
OF WINE could also fit at 1d. A while
after submitting my entry I noticed that the grid is a pangram, which I assume
is deliberate. It isn't something I would normally look for, but I was checking
that I had sent my entry and realised that the grid contained J, Q, X and Z so
I thought I should check if any other letter was missing.
Thank you Chalicea. There was plenty at school that was
learned because I had to but this (along with "The moving finger
writes...") was the first poetry that I learned because I liked it. My older brother had discovered it before
me. Not long after that I found myself
resident in Woodbridge, Suffolk, where (according to the blue plaque) Edward
Fitzgerald lived for a while. So I
spotted the theme very quickly and enjoyed it very much. Thank you.
A gentle solve which led to Omar Khayyam's beautiful verse.
It makes me wonder what the equivalent would be for the young lovers of today.
Maybe the loaf of bread and flask of wine would be a can of Red Bull and a bag
of Doritos? We can be thankful that he wrote it when he did. Many thanks to
Chalicea and the Crossword Centre.
Many solvers commented that this was an easy Chalicea
puzzle, but there was a record number of wrong entries. There were 66 entries,
of which 26 were marked incorrect, mainly for GLASS instead of FLASK OF WINE.
The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Graham O’Neill from
Purley, Surrey, who will be receiving a copy of Chambers Crossword Dictionary,
which was donated by the publishers.
There is a full solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2024/06/solution-to-singing-by-chalicea.html
There is still time for you to solve the June challenge,
Sage Derby by Vagans. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2024/05/june-2024-prize-puzzle-sage-derby-by.html
The Prize Puzzle for July will be White Label by Henri. Henri
is an Englishman living in France who stays connected to his mother tongue
through solving and setting cryptic crosswords. One of the top setters on
MyCrossword.co.uk with over 75 regular cryptic puzzles, Henri branched out into
setting barred thematic puzzles in 2023.
We will also be publishing a summer special in July. Mate in
Two by the Badger will be a delight for solvers who like playing chess. This
puzzle will not count for annual statistics and I will offer a prize for the
winning entry.
The Badger is now retired after a career in the financial
services industry and has recently celebrated 50 years since he did (to be more
accurate, partly did) his first crossword.
The earliest crosswords were done on rest breaks during cycle rides with
his gran in the Yorkshire moors.
Initially these were puzzles from monthly puzzle magazines and plain
crosswords from newspapers. But later,
there was an epiphany with the discovery of the cryptic crossword. Addiction followed. But it is the transition from standard
cryptic puzzles to thematic puzzles which cemented the addiction. That feeling with each puzzle when the penny
drops and suddenly the fog clears. Or
the frustration when the fog remains thick and the puzzle has to be put down
for review and a future rethink. Away
from crosswords, the other main hobby of The Badger is travelling (which fits
in very well with crosswords since both can be tackled together). The target is to try and visit all of the
Hillman 1000 wonders of the world list (worth a look for those who have not
seen it before and enjoy travelling).
Admittedly this is a truly impossible task to complete without both
winning the lottery and living to be aged 120.
But like completing a crossword which seems impossible at the outset, it
is as much about the journey as the completion.
***
I was shocked by the death of Richard Rogan, crossword editor of The Times. His
wife posted on Facebook that he had died following a heart attack.
Richard took on the role of editor in 2014. He composed many
tough Times cryptics, Quick Cryptics as Felix and puzzles in the Independent as
Bannsider. He also had 12 Listener crosswords as Aragon.
Apart from his crossword skills, he will be remembered for
his good nature, sense of humour and conviviality. He leaves a wife, Malika,
and a son, Liam.
An obituary in The Times https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/richard-rogan-obituary-innovative-crossword-editor-of-the-times-2mh3nh392
***
It is with sadness that I also note the recent death of Allan Scott, a
long-serving setter of Times Cryptic and Quick Cryptic crosswords. As Ascot he had
24 Listener crosswords published from 1977 to 2006. He will be remembered for
donating the two Listener trophies, the Solver Silver Salver and the Ascot Gold
Cup.
***
The last time we had a chess-themed crossword was in July 2004, A Chessword
Puzzle by Radix, the late Roddy Forman. It was a tour de force where Radix
invented four new chess pieces, the Amazon combined the powers of Queen &
Knight, a Crusader those of King & Knight, an Emperor those of King &
Rook, and a Pontiff those of King & Bishop. It certainly was tough. We had
only 20 entries and, marked by Roddy, there were few correct solutions.
However, one solver had cracked it and it was AJ Moore who received the prize
and a cheque for £100, donated by the setter. You can try this puzzle at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/our-toughest-crossword.html
When I looked for the solution, it had disappeared from the
internet. I asked Larry Baum if he had kept a solution and he hadn’t, but
offered to solve it. Larry soon found a way of tackling it. Just then, AJ
replied to my email and sent a copy of his solution. Of course, he files all
his entries. I shall be replacing the solution shortly.
***
The latest Azed Slip is now available on the Crossword Centre with the clues
for RATTY.
http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html
Dafydd Price Jones won first prize with this.
Thames water vole? One’s seen in River Tees and then Wye!
(a in R tt + y; ref ‘The Wind in the Willows’).
***
John Nolan’s The Very Logical Prize Puzzle is now on a new address. Make a note
of it.
https://johnnolantheverylogicalprizepuzzle.blogspot.com/
***
Tim Moorey had his 500th and final Mephisto crossword in the Sunday
Times. He fitted a farewell message and this great clue.
Wherein one could find orgasms are a plus naughtily? (7, 8)
***
The auction of Stephen Sondheim’s collection at Doyle’s of New York made almost
£400,00. The framed crossword given to Sondheim on his birthday in 2014 by John
Henderson, Enigmatist, sold for over $400.
***
Thanks to Barry Joseph for this snippet.
On April 28, 1969, New York magazine printed the results of
the competition to mark their one-year anniversary. The challenge: parody any
writer or department at the magazine.
A David Axelrod of NYC won a runner-up prize for submitting
Do I Hear a Waltz? While not a cryptic crossword puzzle, it’s a note-perfect
parody of the sort of rules Sondheim used to introduce each one of his in the
previous year.
“Answers contain six Serbo-Croatian words, a Nicaraguan
idiom, 11 words made up by the author, four outrageous puns and a far-fetched
definition of ‘tinderbox’ Three of the definitions are in Norwegian, and two
must be held up to a mirror. One letter in each answer does not fit into the
diagram. Then unchecked letters may be arranged to spell “I HATE YOU, STEPHEN
SONDHE”
***
Best wishes
Derek
