Crossword News December 2024
The November Prize Puzzle was Rising Costs II by
Hege-sparrow. This was a fascinating puzzle with a theme that was new to me. The
theme is the artwork “TIME AND TIDE BELL” by Marcus VERGETTE, comprising (so
far) double bell installations at thirteen coastal locations around the
UK. The bells ring around high tide at
each location; over the years, rising sea levels caused by climate change will
alter the ringing pattern of the bells, and provide a reminder of the
deleterious effects of climate change. The thirteen locations are BOSTA BEACH,
REDCAR, MORECAMBE, CEMAES, MABLETHORPE, HAPPISBURGH, ABERDYFI, HARWICH, TRINITY
BUOY WHARF, APPLEDORE, VENTNOR, PAR and BRIXHAM.
Six of these locations – BOSTA BEACH, MORECAMBE, ABERDYFI,
HAPPISBURGH, APPLEDORE and VENTNOR occur as jumbles of extra words in
clues. Six more – REDCAR, CEMAES,
MABLETHORPE, HARWICH, PAR and BRIXHAM occur as clashes of crossing
entries. The final location – TRINITY
BUOY WHARF – occurs as a combination of both these gimmicks.
Extra letters from wordplay spell “NEVER SEND TO KNOW FOR
WHOM THE BELL TOLLS”, part of a quotation from the poet John Donne, which seems
(at least to Hedge-sparrow) a fitting accompaniment to Vergette’s artwork.
Here some of the comments from solvers.
Quite the tour de force from Hedge-Sparrow with a seemingly
poetic touch to the title. Was fun figuring out all the twists and
turns. Nice clues and a great theme. Could get to the quotation
fairly easily even with gaps, but not being a direct reference a lot of work
was still needed to unravel the thematic intent, also given that it was
initially not obvious that replacement letters would lead to non-words.
Very educational subject chosen, one that I was not familiar with, proved
extremely satisfying to tackle and solve. Many thanks.
Many thanks to Hedge-Sparrow for a relatively challenging
puzzle and for introducing me to a project I had never come across. While some
of the place names emerged fairly easily from clashes, I doubt I would have
managed to sort out several of the jumbles without the aid of the relevant
internet articles.
This is a masterpiece! Brilliant construction – getting the
13 bells all located appropriately in the grid. It has very difficult but
fair clues throughout. Bravo!
There were 40 entries of which 2 were marked incorrect. The
lucky winner picked from the electronic hat, was Peter Smith from Faringdon,
who will be receiving a copy of Chambers Crossword Dictionary donated by the
publishers.
There is a solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2024/12/solution-to-rising-costs-ii-by-hedge.html
We can now publish the results of the November competition,
Location by Gnomie. Here are some of the comments from solvers.
I found this a delightful puzzle with a theme that was
familiar, even to a unpoetical fellow such as myself. Some interesting
words had me reaching for my Chambers but all clues were fair and
soluble. I nearly omitted to erase MACAVITY from the perimeter quotation
too but having re-read the instructions I am fairly sure that this was
required. Thank you.
A very enjoyable perimeter puzzle, with good clues
throughout. I spotted the theme through the perimeter quotation, but there was
enough information in the misprints or in a grid search to identify the
culprit in those ways too. Many thanks to Gnomie and The Crossword Centre.
An excellent puzzle from Gnomie with a nicely-realised
theme. The message revealed offered two new names for the theme that I was
unaware of - my loss! An enjoyable solve.
Thanks to Gnomie and the Crossword Centre.
Although everyone agreed that this was an easy puzzle, it
still provided the highest error rate. There were 51 entries, of which 24 were
marked incorrect for failing to erase one or both of the Macavitys. The lucky
winner picked from the electronic hat was Geoff Telfer from Shipley, who will
be receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary, which was donated by the
publishers.
You still have lots of time to complete the December Prize
Puzzle, Seasons Greetings by Eclogue. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2024/11/december-2024-prize-puzzle-seasons.html
The Christmas Checkerboard Challenge by Arcadia has attracted
a lot of interest. You can get a copy here. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2024/11/christmas-checkerboard-challenge-by.html
The January Prize Puzzle will be Twin Beaks by Jugular. Jugular
was born in England but for the last 40 years has lived in Australia where he
has picked up some interesting additions to the English language, not all of it
found in Chambers. He is a retired Aeronautical Engineer who has enjoyed the
punny funs of cryptic crosswords all his life, but only since his retirement
has found time to try and construct the fiendish things. He has a few examples
of what not to do on MyCrossword.
***
In 1978 the Listener Crossword editor, Mike Rich issued the first report of the
annual statistics. I remember as my name appeared in the list of solvers. At
that time all entries were sent to his home address in Ripon. Five years later
a new marker took over and that was John Green, a solver who had been instrumental
in founding CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. John has been the marker for 39
years, meticulously checking an average of 400 entries each week and keeping
accurate statistics. He writes a page of notes for every solver, noting their
errors, their entries and the ones that they did not enter. It is a huge task
and John Green has maintained an incredible record; even more incredible is the
fact that John does not use a computer or the internet.
Last week, Roger Phillips announced that John will be
retiring at the end of the year and he is looking for someone to take over the
role. You can see what the job entails by looking at the job description.
https://www.listenercrossword.com/List_Marker.html
We wish John a long and happy retirement. He thoroughly
deserves it.
***
We are urgently looking for volunteer clue writers for our next Round Robin puzzle.
John Nicholson posted this on our message board.
It is that time of year again when we recruit volunteer clue
writers for what will be the 17th round-robin puzzle. For those
not familiar with the process, we ask willing members to write a clue each
towards a thematic puzzle. Solvers can vote for their favourite clue and the
setter whose clue gains the most points receives a prize.
If you have taken part before we hope you will again, and if you haven’t.
please do give it a try. This time clues will have a gimmick - the wordplay in
each clue must render an extra letter, which will go towards a message. As
always, I have the answers on a list and issue them in that order. You will be
given the answer and the extra letter your clue must render. If you are in any
doubt about the gimmick, just say when you contact me and I will be happy to
explain.
The puzzle is provisionally scheduled as the March prize puzzle on the site.
You can contact me by email gironanick@yahoo.com
***
At the time of the year when Words of the Year are announced, Australia’s
Macquarie Dictionary came up with a surprising
choice. Australia’s oldest dictionary of Australian English has chosen
“enshittification” – a slang term referring to the deterioration of products
and services online – as the word of 2024. Macquarie Dictionary said the term –
which it defined as “gradual deterioration of a service or product brought
about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an
online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking” – beat out shortlist
picks such as “looksmaxxing”, “overtourism” and “sigma”.
The Oxford Dictionary named Brain Rot as their word of the
year. ‘Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s
mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of
overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be
trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to
such deterioration”. https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/
***
In the Spanish Scrabble championship, the winner was New Zealander Nigel
Richards who does not speak Spanish. “This
is an unbelievable humiliation,” fumed the broadcaster Cadena Ser, saying that
it had failed to interview Richards “because there was no way to do so as he
doesn’t speak Spanish”.
Known as the Tiger Woods of Scrabble, Richards, 57,
“demonstrated an exceptional ability to recall Spanish words”, it was claimed,
to beat more than 150 competitors representing 20 countries.
https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/new-zealand-scrabble-title-spanish-language-65j0kgjsv
***
Since the death of Anne Bradford, her daughter Gillian has continued the work
of editing and adding to the Crossword
Solvers’ Dictionary. The new edition was published in September and is
available on Amazon at £21.75 hardback and £11.99 paperback.
***
The GCHQ Christmas Challenge for 2024 is available now and you can download the
puzzles from https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/christmas-challenge-2024
***
The results of the Azed competition for CALOTTE are available on the Crossword
Centre. http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html
The winner was M. Barley:
See this covering His Excellency’s head when holding masses
(a lot in c + t(his) + E, & lit.).
***
It is with great sadness that I note the death of Charles Curran, the husband
of Shirey Curran. He was a regular attender of the Listener Dinner and was the
first tester of Shirley’s crosswords. He was a lovely man. My deepest
condolences go to Shirley and her family.
***
I wish everyone a happy Christmas.
Best wishes.
Derek
