Crossword News March 2026

Crossword News March 2026

The February Prize Puzzle was Cover Stories by Phylax. This delightful Puzzle had the theme of characters in  the Dandy and Beano comics. The answers which much be replaced are CAT (→KORKY), DESPERATE (→DAN), BEAR (→BIFFO), MINX (→MINNIE), OSTRICH (→BIG EGGO) and MENACE (→DENNIS). These all suggest strips that have appeared on the cover of The Beano or The Dandy.

The entry KORKY must then be changed to DANDY, and BIFFO to BEANO, the comics in which they appeared.

Finally, the entry WARBLES must be changed to either CUDDLES or DIMPLES, this pair of twins having featured on the cover of Dandy between 1999 and 2000.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Thanks Phylax. A fun puzzle in more than one sense. I was fortunate in solving the NW corner quickly and seeing KORKY emerging even before I’d solved CAT. With the puzzle title, the theme was clear. A clever construction to allow both CUDDLES and DIMPLES to be accommodated. They were after my time and BIGEGGO before and I can’t really claim nostalgia, because I was Rover and Adventure, rather than BEANO and DANDY.

As a Yank, I was unfamiliar with The Beano and The Dandy, not to mention all of the characters referenced in this puzzle. As with many puzzles on this site, this was an education. I am, of course, familiar with the U.S. comic strip Dennis the Menace. I wondered if one inspired the other. But, according to Wikipedia, the American Dennis the Menace and the British Dennis the Menace are unrelated but debuted on the same day in 1951! A well-constructed and well-clued puzzle. Many thanks!

I took a couple of wrong turns before getting on the right track. Bottom left corner and 26d was my inroad. Brimming with excellent clues - 24a (Black Adder?), 38a, 7d, 10d, 33d to name just a few. I was struggling to understand the modifications required until the penny dropped. I had to google for 10d. All in all, a Beezer, (but definitely not a breeze)!

There were 54 entries, of which there were 13 with errors. The lucky winner, picked at random, was Samantha Tame, who will be receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which was donated by the publishers.

There is a full solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2026/03/solution-to-cover-stories-by-phylax.html 

As mentioned in the comments, it is 75 years since Dennis the Menace first appeared in the Beano. Our Royal Mint is issuing a 50p coin featuring Dennis and you can order one here https://www.royalmint.com/shop/limited-editions/dennis-the-menace/

There is still lots of time for you to enter the March competition, our Round Robin XVIII - Tour Party by Arcadia. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2026/02/march-2026-round-robin-xviii.html

The April Prize puzzle will be from one of our favourite setters, Half-baked by Chalicea.
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I was at the View Hotel in Eastbourne for the annual Listener Crossword Dinner. It was nice to meet up with old friends and to make new ones.

Jane Teather began the speeches with a long list go obits, Roger Hooper (Mime), Gareth Snowden-Davies (Gos), Adam Sobey (Adam) and Mike Wilson (Phalarope). John Henderson then read obituaries to David Harry (Dilwitch) and Brian Head (Brym) who founded the Crossword Club and was editor for almost 47 years.

Shane Shabankareh then announced the winner of the Radix Auditorum, which goes to the most successful new solver. The winner was Jacob Warbrick, who started solving the Listener last January and had a run of 40 correct entries.

The Solver Silver Salver goes to the solver who has the longest run of all-correct entries, with previous winners deferring. The unbeaten record-holder is Simon Long with a run of 412. This year the winner was Daniel Goldberg with 283. He gave a most amusing speech and opened the suitcase that he takes everywhere to help with solving, containing the BRB, Bradfords, ODQ, envelopes, calculator, pens, pencils, eraser etc!

There were 6 all-correct who had to choose 5 of their favourite puzzles in 2025. There were 10 puzzles that had only one nomination. The chosen winner was no. 4880 Listen! by ‘Eck. I look forward to seeing how many got this right, as I failed miserably and was stumped, even after seeing the solution.

Also highly rated were Mounts by Pointer and Forever by Twin.

Former marker, Neil Aspland, then took the mike and told us about his year in the role. He explained how he marked entries and how he gradually dropped behind on feedback and data.  In the end he had help from Roger Philips and Ed Hall. He promised that all the setters would be receiving feedback soon. I had a chat with the current marker, Andy Mullins, who said that he is coping well and reckons on two hours a day for marking. He suggested that email entries may be instigated in the near future.

We had been solving one of Enigmatist’s picture quizzes during the meal. It was based on sisters with the final entity one of the Seven Sisters cliffs near Eastbourne. Solvers had to write a clue to Seven Sisters. The Bronze Casket went to the table that wrote this clue.

Shaking Stevens rises for several stars

The event was perfectly organised by Jane and John. The hotel was nicely situated and we found the staff very helpful. Jane has asked for suggestions for next year’s venue. Eastbourne was lovely and it was nice to walk along the prom on a sunny Saturday morning. However, apart from the Paris dinner, it was the longest journey for us and our trains home, including a bus replacement section, meant for an 11-hour trip.
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The Magpie has published their statistics for last year. Who were the top solvers in 2025? All of these were all correct.

1= Matthew Auger 12 12 72 [225.5]
1= Tim Burt 12 12 72 [262.2]
1= Richard Chamberlain 12 12 72 [240]
1= Liam Hughes 12 12 72 [263.3]
1= John Reardon 12 12 72 [251.6]
1= Darren Roberts 12 12 72 [251]
1= Michael Shuter 12 12 72 [256.5]
1= Mark Suddaby 12 12 72 [263.5]
1= Neil Talbott 12 12 72 [264*]
1= Adam Vellender 12 12 72 [263*]
1= Clive Walker 12 12 72 –
1= Will Walker 12 12 72 [264*]
1= Philip Wood 12 12 72 [204.5]
1= Nick Yannacone 12 12 72 [240.3]
15 Ken Harvey 12 12 70 273.

Which was the most popular puzzle of Year? 1 Dire Straits by Nebuchadnezzar 18.83% 2 Predicament by Mash 10.28% 3 In a Perfect World by Mr E 7.72% 4 Shaken by Twin 7.24% 5 Magpie by Twin

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In the Inquisitor crosswords, solvers were invited to vote for their favourite puzzles of 2025. The clear winner was Harribobs with Pictures at an Exhibition, a work of
genius: a reproduction, in a crossword puzzle, of Mondrian’s Composition A. 
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The results are in for the 2025 APEX puzzle, set by Phi. Solvers were asked to write a clue to AMPHIGORY (nonsense verse), omitting one letter.
Winning clues to AMPHIGORY (LL):

1st Short rhyme with pig and ring, possibly work of Lear? Mark Oshin

2nd My pig Nora regrettably misses
A bit of nonsense such as this is Rob Pinnock

3rd Ropy ham acting finally ruined production of Lear Chris Leyland
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The 48th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be held on April 10-12, 2026 at The Marriott in Stamford, CT.
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On the 19^th March it is The Observer’s Puzzle Centenary event. 6.30pm. An evening of live solving, a Q&A panel with our setters, and the premiere of our new film. Azed himself Jonathan Crowther will be there. If you are going I would be interested in knowing how it went.

Best wishes
Derek Harrison