Crossword News August 2021

 

Crossword News August 2021

 The July Prize Puzzle was Map by Urchin. The grid represented a map of Newcastle-on-Tyne and clashes could be rearranged as stations on the Tyne and Wear metro. The initial letters of redundant words read NETWORK LOGO, and the logo of the Metro is an upper-case M on a yellow background. Lines drawn to link the stations were the two lines that cross the city centre. The next destination south is Gateshead, which is the town where Urchin was born.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

I found this tough going.  Lots of clever but tricky clues, lots of dictionary referencing, and lots of gratification as each answer slowly but surely fell.  But solving the clues was the easy part, unscrambling the 'cryptic' instructions took more time, was left staring at an almost filled grid without knowing how to proceed.  Maybe it's just me, but I would hardly have expected resolving clashes would involve removing chunks of letters and anagramming them to find names of stations I've never heard of! Not sure how I stumbled on to that, but once a couple got revealed, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.  A fantastic puzzle, had me quite absorbed, and an oh-so satisfying solve, many thanks.

This was a challenging and entertaining puzzle in which the PDM took a while to arrive! Though by no means 'London-centric' (I'm from The Black Country originally) the appearance of St James, Haymarket and Monument from the clashes had me scouring London street and tubes maps for far too long! Happily, with my yellow highlighting pen I think I've incorporated the requisite logo! Howay!  Once again, thanks to both Urchin and the Crossword Centre for such a good quality puzzle.

Thanks, and kudos, to Urchin, not only for finding answers to produce clashes which could produce station names, but also for avoiding any other Ms in the grid. For a little added touch, I did my two lines in the appropriate colours.

We Geordies have been lucky these last couple of months following June's Blaydon Races themed crossword.  My first to drop in this one was Central Station. Well, of course there are a few of those around the world and I never thought we'd be focusing on one I've used countless times. As a former resident of Jesmond for nearly 20 years within a stone's throw of the Metro station. I've done many a crossword over that time and I've never seen Jesmond as a crossword puzzle answer, and doubtless never will again.  Hats off to Urchin, is he/she a fellow North Easterner I wonder? I now live in Tynemouth, 5 minutes away from the Metro station. Anyway, I hope my Metro Logos are legible.  Many thanks Urchin for a cracking puzzle. Dead canny!

There were 42 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Peter Smith of Faringdon, who will soon be receiving his prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary, which is donated by Chambers.

There is a full solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/08/solution-to-map-by-urchin.html

You still have lots of time to email your solution to Diet by Curmudgeon. As has been announced on the message board, an error in the grid will be spotted by solvers. If they wish, they may enter two letters in one cell.

The September prize puzzle will be Juggling Jellyfish by Chiffchaff.

We would welcome submissions for a puzzle for November.
***
Since the 90s, subscribers to the New York Times crosswords have had the option to open the puzzle as a .puz file in Across Lite. The NYT have announced that they will stop supporting these files on the 9 August and will replace it with their own in-house software. This has infuriated many crossword fans. https://kotaku.com/crossword-fans-are-mad-at-the-new-york-times-1847417645

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/crosswords/nyt-games-no-longer-available-on-across-lite-as-of-aug-9.html
***
Our March Prize Puzzle was Cracking by Soup. There is a very interesting interview with Soup in the Guardian blog. It is fascinating to see his research with bees and to find out how he chose his pseudonym.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2021/aug/02/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-soup
***
The death has been announced of Maki Kaji, the man credited as the creator and father of the sudoku.
One day in 1984, Maki Kaji came across a drably named game called “Number Place” in an obscure American magazine and spent an enjoyable half an hour placing numbers in the boxes of the puzzle’s geometrical grid.

“It was a very interesting puzzle, fun to solve and I fell in love with it,” he recalled. As the publisher of the Japanese puzzle magazine Tsushin Nikoli, which he had founded four years earlier, he set about adapting it for his own readers.

Kaji made a number of significant adjustments and came up with a grid of 81 squares, divided into nine blocks of nine squares, some of which already contained a figure, leaving the puzzler to fill in the empty spaces so that the numbers one to nine appear once — and only once — in every row, column and block.

He named it “Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, meaning “numbers should be single and unmarried” and it first appeared in his magazine in 1984. The puzzle swiftly became known by the abbreviation, sudoku, and Kaji as its “godfather”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/17/maki-kaji-godfather-of-sudoku-dies-aged-69-in-japan
***
On the CC Clue Writing Competition, the August challenge is to write a clue to BIBLIOMANIA. http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php

The June challenge was a Right/Left clue to NELSON/PRINCE. The winner was Tom Borland with this fine clue.

Hold lens trained on Royal pair, finding nice shot
***
Someone has pointed out that the counter on the Crossword Centre clicked over 3 million earlier this year.

Best wishes
Derek

 

Solution to Map by Urchin

 Map by Urchin - Solution

The grid represents a plan of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Letters from clashes can be rearranged to give the names of stations on the Tyne Wear Metro network. DISLI(MNED + JOS)TLE =Jesmond b(ATHY)al +pace(MAKER) = Haymarket (MAJ)or + (TESS)ella =St James. tanta(MOUNT) + ape(MEN)=Monument, d(ORM)ition + gos(SAN) =Manors. ge(NERALST)aff + eru(CTATION)= Central Station. The next station south is GATESHEAD. Initial letters of redundant words give NETWORK LOGO. The logo is upper case M on a yellow background.

Redundant words are shown in [ ]

Across: 2 SLIM in dined, 7 I + PE in PUP, 11 C(uldesa)C in REE, 13 2 meanings, 16 anag. cruel _ (m)OUS(e), 17 LIT < in PANE, 18 METTLE less M [Necking], 19 PAST + A(lbergo) &lit, 21 BATHYAL thy in Baal, 23 lei + R, 24 nap in spy [Exciting], 26 prIesTesS 27 anag. receding plans [Trade], 31 MAJOR, JO in MAR 32 TANTAMOUNT anag. TO MAN in TAUNT, 34 GOSSAN anag. SONG + A + S, 37 Hidden [Wooden], 39 Dan (Daniel) in IT, 41 I in LOPE 2, 42 RENT in WIT, 45 LINCH + PIN, 46 A + NON, 47 Hidden [Oxidising], 48 etat < in S + D, 49 GENERAL STAFF anag. flag fastener. [Rigid]

 

Down: 1 anag. slurped, 3 lexicon minus lex [Key], 4 scouts minus O, 5 2 meanings, 6 JOSTLE  T + L in Jose ref. José Mourinho, 7 PACEMAKER EM + A in PACKER, 8 T in anag. REPLY, 9 homophone EIGHTS [Londoners], 10 Lulu < + ate, 12 YUL(e) + an, 14 USHERS minus H, 15 ap in JE, 20 Homophone HEIR, 22 APEMEN me in a pen, 24 nags cycling letters [Official], 25 2 meanings, 28 O in anag. pistol, 29 NO (Japanese play) N (noon), 30 DORMITION DORM + I + INTO* [Garderobe], 31 TESSELLA LESS < in TELA, 32 I + PC in TAT, 33 N (new) in AIRS, 35 2 meanings [Officers], 36 KIN + DA, 38 Po in BID, 40 RUN < in A(quari)A, 42 2 meanings, 43 ERUCTATION anag. ROUTINE ACT, 44 T (cross) + ref.

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle August 2021

 Diet by Curmudgeon

_____________________________

Diet PDF

An extra letter not entered in the grid is generated by wordplay in every clue; read in clue order the extra letters give instructions. To resolve an error in the grid, solvers should enter two letters in one cell. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

Across

1 Mother's expression of grief returning Jeddah's salutation (6)

5 Appropriate technology securely binds cervical vertebrae (7)

13 Absurd idealisation without orderly stand for Pope who crowned         Charlemagne (6, two words)

14 Displays Arab vessels in public flying demos (8)

16 Be incumbent on one pursuing a false statement (5, two words)

18 Turin ultimately abandoned southern birds (4)

19 A posh cop-out from time to time for an amusing person (5, two words)

20 Earnestly troubled losing last wandering sea-eagle (4)

22 After sin in Israel check first of verdicts (3)

23 Not once initially working, that is as recent arrivals (6)

25 Balmoral's enclosure planted with woody perennials (4)

26 Glut in this manner at Holyrood (3)

28 Nerve centres principally managed over time by men are almost worry free (10, two words)

33 Asian cinnamon trees (excluding India) for Spanish dwellings (5)

35 Immersed in "Fiat Lux" Wesleyans retrospectively feel jubilation (5)

36 Ordinary life story's charm (3)

37 Capable of success overturning corruption (4, two words)

38 Incline to a point of view about a leguminous plant (4)

39 Entirely other form of gene possible (6)

41 Release from restraints one local wine container before the day (6)

45 Breakbone fever going round; beginning of danger removed. Well done! (4)

46 Curiously deliberating, get sadly lost involving two lines (8)

47 Attempt originally to cook in hot fat (3)

48 Using a gun, joins military men (7)

49 Misused shekels for Sikh hairdos and beards (6)

Down

1 Pirates strike with heavy impact in places (7)

2 Landed at foremost of large international terminals (4)

3 For Spenser, equally readily using further onions occasionally (6)

4 Raise for discussion south-eastern elk (5)

6 Concocted ale isn't a medicinal drink made from barley (6)

7 The French male taken in by illuminated jaunty rhythm (4)

8 Distinct quality surrounding boring piece in German examination (6)

9 Son pondered about base way of escape through hedge in the country (6)

10 Eastern deity's sense of self-esteem (3)

11 Got wind of some arisen she-devil (6)

12 Set routine of social security payment not entirely over (6)

15 Dislike excessive speed (4)

17 Italian Romantic poet from Rialto so distressed (7)

21 Kelp's tawny brown in ocean gale (9, two words)

24 Ultrabasic igneous rock's Old English location (8)

27 Primarily ask medic to permit walk at an easy pace (5)

28 Woman almost crazy for Revolutionary leader (3)

29 A European porter redeployed; he carries a candle (7)

30 Team game with US bullet size makes mistakes; these might erase them (7)

31 Passion on board ship for food fish (7)

32 Company brass misused for heads of Irish clan families (6)

34 Singular hold of period of moroseness (4)

40 Lots of love around the Spanish lounge (4)

42 Offer to establish university rejected (3)

43 French farm birds that have become extinct (3)

44 Weary work toils essentially for nothing (3)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format describing the completed grid  to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th September 2021. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News July 2021

 

Crossword News July 2021

The June Prize Puzzle was June Journey by eXternal.  Correct letters give SCOTSWOOD ROAD, PARADISE, COLLINGWOOD STREET; incorrect letters give BALMBRAS, MECHANICS HALL, ARMSTRONG’S FACTORY. These are locations in the song BLAYDON RACES in which the narrator receives a broken NOSE and two black eyes. This was an original concept where all entries were affected and both correct and incorrect letters gave the theme.

Here are some of the many comments from solvers.

Many thanks for a most original puzzle. Our solution is attached.  I've just enjoyed blacking a couple of eyes in a puzzle that worked well, as once we had the theme down the diagonal, the solving was massively speeded up by the places we could insert in the misprint letters, helping us solve the rest.  Clever, different and good fun.

Another absorbing puzzle from the Club, thank you and special thanks to eXternal.  It was a novel (to me) approach that left the grid filled with non-words and I was glad to have the locations letters to help.  You do not need to be a Geordie to know of the song but for the more specific knowledge I was grateful to Google.  The black eyes and broken nose was a nice idea.

This was a very entertaining puzzle with great surfaces and well-woven clues.  Entries with misprints in the grid was a twist that threw me (lost time at first putting in the correct answers!) before I realised what was expected.  Made it a bit easier though since clashes did not arise requiring resolving.  The route to unravelling the endgame proved both interesting and informative.  Thanks for the fun, a good workout after a long vacation.

There were 56 entries, of which 17 were marked incorrect. This was a high percentage of errors...highlighting omissions/errors (highlighting letter "Is" rather than the appropriately placed "Os") and grid entry errors probably due to the grid containing non-words.

The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was David Beamish, who will soon be receiving a prize of a copy of Chambers Crossword Dictionary, donated by Chambers.

A full solution is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/07/solution-to-june-journey-by-external.html

You still have time to email your solution to Map by Urchin before the closing date of 8^th August.

The August Prize Puzzle will be Diet by Curmudgeon.
***

John Henderson and Jane Teather are hoping that there will be a real York Sloggers’ and Betters’ weekend this year on Friday 29 to Sunday 31 October, with the main event on Saturday 30 (and the usual diehards at the station on the Sunday).

For details, and to register your interest, see:

http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/06/28/sb-york-2021-friday-29th-and-saturday-30th-october-2021/
***
I have been recommended to read a novel which might involve crosswords. The blurb begins thus: “Seventy-seven-year-old Judith Potts is blissfully happy. She lives alone in a faded mansion in Marlow, sets crosswords for The Times, and there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. When the local police don’t believe her story, Judith and two unlikely friends decide to investigate for themselves. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.” The Marlow Murder Club is published by Harper Collins this month.
***
When a friend was clearing a house, they found a copy of the Listener from January 1968. They thought that I would be interested in the crossword and sent me a scan. The crossword was Triagrams III by Sam. It was fascinating to see how clue-writing has changed in 50 years. The grid, although not symmetric, is very clever as it is not easy to find words that can have at least three anagrams. If you would like to try the puzzle it is on the blog.
Triagrams III by Sam

***
Joke of the week tweeted by Cracking the Cryptic showed Pooh and Piglet.

“What’s the strangest thing that has happened to you, Piglet?”

The strangest thing that happened to me, Pooh, was when I worked at the United Nations and I was aske to get Kofi Annan a gram of cocaine. I picked up the phone. “Kofi,” I said, “right now the only one I can think of is ‘oceanic’.
***
On the Clue-writing Competition site your challenge for JULY is a STANDARD CRYPTIC clue to MACARONI (8) by the closing date of MIDNIGHT BST FRIDAY 30th JULY.

In the competition for TOERAG, Peter Milne was voted winner with this.

Love great wobbly bum

2^nd Anthony Nannini
Dog got ear treated

3^rd Tom Borland
No fellow of great rank

As we mentioned last month, Azed chose the same word to clue in his June competition. The winner was that Don Manley again.

 Tinker’s no. 1, tailor’s no. 2 – ergo, in organised sequence, I’m no. 7
(anag. incl. t, a; ref. beggar man in nursery rhyme).

In his slip, Azed had this to say. “A few of you drew my attention to the fact that the word was set at the same time for an on-line clue-writing competition. The odds against such a thing happening must be great, but I didn’t look to see if regular Azed competitors had entered both competitions and if so whether they had produced different clues in each case. I know of only one who produced a different clue for this comp (with signal success!). I’ll say no more. There are now plenty of crossword-related websites, competitive and otherwise, but I rarely consult them.”

Best wishes
Derek

Solution to June Journey by eXternal

 June Journey by eXternal - Solution

Correct letters give SCOTSWOOD ROAD, PARADISE, COLLINGWOOD STREET; incorrect letters give BALMBRAS, MECHANICS HALL, ARMSTRONG’S FACTORY. These are locations in the song BLAYDON RACES in which the narrator receives a broken NOSE and two black eyes.

NOTES:

Across

SB 1 spaing/bpaing PAIN in B(ein)G

CA 6 discus/disaus hidden BonDI’S AUStralian 

OL12 transport/transplrt TR+(R,PLANTS)*

TM13 apart/aparm PA<,ARM

SB14 situla/bitula BIT,UpLeAk

WR15 winy/riny RAINY-A

OA16 amours/amaurs A,MA(U)RS

OS17 in order/insrder DINERS*,R

DM18 adds/adms ADAMS-A

RE21 uglier/ugliee U,GL(I)EE

OC23 goes in/gcesin G,CE,SIN 

AH27 phng/pang PH,NG

DA29 abraded/abradea A,BRA,DEA{d}

PN31 sold up/soldun S(OLD)UN

AI32 agha/aghi AG,cHaIr

RC33 atonec/atoner AT ONCE with C moved back

AS34 bacon/bscon BS,CON

DH35 demivolte/hemivolte HE,MI(VOL)TE

IA36 aspire/aspare AS,PARE

SL37 fusils/fulils F(UL)ILS

Down

EL2 pepino/plpino PL,PIN,O

CA3 clansmen/alansmen ALAN’S,MEN{d}

OR4 nomady/nrmady NR,MAD,Y

LM5 galleon/galmeon GA(L)ME,ON

LS7 ilium/isium AMBITIOUS*-BOAT*

IT8 spirals/sptrals S(P(TR)AL)S

NR9 unlime/urlime {s}UR{e},{s}LIM{y},{b}E{d}

GO10 stao/stag OATS<

WN11 waring/naring AN<,RING

OG19 diadochi/diadgchi DI(AD)G,CHI

OS20 oogonia/osgonia AI,NOG,SO<

DF21 unbuild/unbuilf BOUNTIFUL*-TO*

SA22 easing/eaaing E,AGAIN with G down

TC24 thetes/chetes CHE,SET<

RT25 Irn Bru/irnbtu I,RN,BUT{e}*

EO26 reheel/rehoel RE(HO)EL

ER28 cleve/clevr CLEVER-lower E

TY30 taha/yaha HAY<,A

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle July 2021

 Map by Urchin

PDF version

The grid represents a map which solvers must identify. Some answers clash. In 11 clues redundant words must be removed before solving. Their initial letters indicate which letter replaces the clashes, usually leaving non-words. Solvers should colour the clashing cells appropriately and draw 2 lines through them, each touching the perimeter at both ends. Finally, solvers should write, below the grid, the next destination south. Numbers in brackets indicate grid lengths.

Across

2 Ate sandwiches diet - the bard's erased (6)

7 Little dog entertaining one with games, say? (6, 2 words)

11 Survey ends of cul-de-sac in Ruairidh's yard (5)

13 Mum's piece of skirt (4)

16 Pussy is cruel playing with mouse endlessly (8)

17 Roofing cover settled back in a length of wall (7)

18 Jock's aim - necking spirit with no money (5)

19 After starter in albergo? (5)

21 Your local is possessed by god of the deep seas (4)

23 Moldovan ready with reading lesson in Glasgow (4)

24 Fashionable card game in exciting spot (6)

26 Priestess regularly displays crowning qualities (3)

27 Receding trade plans reformed and spruced up (13)

31 Officer's lass hiding blemish? Just the opposite! (3)

32 Nothing less than crazy to man consumed by dig (6)

34 Rock song with a special composition (4)

37 Big wooden box captures African tribe (4)

39 Elements of Chromosomes - a book steeped in sex (5)

41 Ed's bounded over one track (5)

42 Ingenuity about opening for Californian flier (7, 2 words)

45 Following ridge in the country, fix something that's essential (8)

46 I can't understand a French negative (4)

47 Rust found in section of structure oxidising downwards (5)

48 Reversing rank between Sweden and Germany is settled (6)

49 Officers repaired flag with rigid fastener (6)

Down

1 Clumsily slurped little bits of fruit (7)

3 Symbol in dictionary that's lost key law (4)

4 Spies hiding over tails (5)

5 Man in the bible who made trousers (4)

6 Elbow Mourinho out of top of the league (4)

7 One making bundles must take measure with advanced electronic device (5)

8 Time to enter odd reply with impudence (6)

9 Londoner's boat races picked up islands (5)

10 Scottish singer coming up with worried scream (7)

12 With most of festive season an oriental bloomer (5)

14 Junkies taking heroin from court officials (5)

15 Before a meal in Pierre's I play a trick (4)

20 Dictator's successor could be broadcast (3)

22 Primates getting setter in a Jamaican farm (4)

24 Jag worries cycling official (4)

25 Perform part of play (3)

28 Sportsman shot pistol over nothing (7)

29 Play before midday? Not for a Sicilian. (3)

30 Passing bedroom I crashed into garderobe (7)

31 Little piece of mosaic, smaller retreating in network (5)

32 Game I must get computer in to flog (6)

33 An affectation of superiority's new in Leith's clubs (5)

35 Prison officers move around (4)

36 Sort of family with father in the sticks (5)

38 Jerry in offer for stand (5)

40 Amphibians manage to rise in extremes of aquaria (5)

42 Old penny for a sail (4)

43 Routine act elaborated for emission (4)

44 Cross judge could be banned (4)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format describing the completed grid and the word under the grid to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th August 2021. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News June 2021

 Crossword News June 2021

The May Prize Puzzle was Confusion Down Under by Flowerman. This was probably the toughest puzzle of the year. Clashes could give either ARTHUR or MARTHA, a phrase used in Australia to show a state of confusion. Letters extracted gave ALLOSOMES IN GRID. Allosomes are sex chromosomes. Males are XY and females XX. There is already one X in the grid and ENACTED can be changed to EXACTED, thus resolving the grid as female and MARTHA to be the resolution of the clashes. There is nowhere that a Y can be used.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

This crossword has kept me entertained for nearly 3 weeks!  I repeatedly got stuck but after a break more progress was made.  My ideal crossword - difficult but always offering encouragement.  I had to google to discover the Australian phrase and with SHE and MRS in the grid I was pretty certain that I was looking for another X to go with the one in AAXES.  When I lighted upon ENACTED that easily changed to EXACTED I could not help but feel a bit of an anti-climax.  Or, have I picked the wrong entry to change?  I certainly had no need to check it out in Chambers, so maybe I have.  Apart from that final doubt, this was a superb puzzle. Thank you Flowerman.

The puzzle's end-game took a long time to resolve. The Arthur/Martha 'confusion' was revealed part of the way through the grid-fill. The instruction that 'five sets [of three consecutive letters] can be arranged' set me off seeking 9,2,4 anagrams the 15 letters - about 20000+ possibilities.... ! Realisation dawned a week or so after the grid-fill and ALLOSOMES IN GRID emerged, but then I couldn't find 'ALLOSOME' in Chambers either as a separate entry or under 'ALLO-'. Googling produced the word as an alternative to 'Chromosome'. So........ I hope that by changing 'ENACTED' to 'EXACTED', giving me two 'X's in the grid has allowed MARTHA to emerge triumphant.......Clever stuff indeed! Thanks to Flowerman and the Crossword Centre for a challenging puzzle.

Well, I waited until the last minute to submit this entry, hoping that a more satisfactory solution might occur to me, but no!!  The phrase I identified was "allosomes in grid" (is that even correct?).  Besides my eventual entry, I also considered various other possibilities that might indicate Male (Arthur) or Female (Martha) or perhaps a bit of both, including some that seemed to be hinted at, but I couldn't discern anything else that was remotely feasible!  In the end, changing 21D ENACTED to EXACTED to give two X's in the grid (indicating XX = female = MARTHA) was the best I could come up with!  Many thanks to Flowerman for a great workout, and I look forward to finding out the real solution soon.

There were 29 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Philip Wood, who will be receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary.

A full solution with notes is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/06/solution-to-confusion-down-under-by.html

You still have until 8 July to send an entry to this month’s puzzle, June Journey by eXternal.

The July Prize Puzzle will be one of mine. I hope you will enjoy Map by Urchin.
***
I am sure you will enjoy this Indie puzzle by Rodriguez as solved by Simon Anthony on Cracking the Cryptic. A fantastic grid!
https://youtu.be/NEMRKMA1vLA
***
I have mentioned the puzzles compiled by Dave Gorman in earlier newsletters. You can find out much more about the setter, Bluth, in this interview with Alan Conor.
***
I have been alerted to this letter in Private Eye complaining about a clue in the Cyclops crossword.

Sir,
Having fondled a few scrotums in my time, I dispute the answer to 15 ac in Eye crossword No. 701. They are WRINKLY not CRINKLY. Crinkly can only be used to describe crepe paper. I would get out more but the country has gone nuts.
Danielle
London

Cyclops writes: The dictionaries I use (Chambers and Collins) have crinkly and wrinkly as more or less interchangeable. They also show both as meaning “an old person” . Sadly, “scrotum” is not cited as an example, so I based my secondary definition on personal observation. (OK, maybe my skin in that particular location is like crepe paper.) I hadn’t noticed when clueing that the first letter of the answer did not cross with another answer – so, I have to concede that either CRINKLY or WRINKLY would have fitted.

In the next issue there was this comment in Pedantry Corner.

...I don’t get out much, so my sheltered life has never required me to use the plural form of “scrotum”. However, surely it should be “scrota” rather than “scrotums”?
John Swan, Whitley Bay.
***
On the Clue-Writing Competition the results are in for the April task, a clue to ODYSSEY. This was a resounding win for Don Manley with a neat anagram and extraction clue which echoes current government advice.

Do say yes to travel, but not a long journey (7)

Voting is about to end for clues to TOERAG. What are the odds on Azed choosing the same word for his June competition! It will be interesting to compare the winning clues.

The June challenge is for a Right & Left clue to NELSON/PRINCE. Entries close on 30 June.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php

There are now 234 members on the Google mailing list.

Best wishes

Derek