Crossword News April 2021
The March Prize Puzzle was Cracking! by Soup. This clever
puzzle took the form of a safe dial. Turning the dial correctly revealed the
three items, gem stone, secret papers and money box. Here are some of the
comments from solvers.
This was a challenge with testing clues and an endgame that
required patience to execute but with a rewarding denouement. I cannot begin to
imagine how Soup constructed this - maybe he has supernatural powers! Congratulations to Soup and to the Crossword Centre
for continuing to supply high quality puzzles.
Well this has certainly kept me occupied for a while. The initial grid solve was fairly
straightforward. The repositioning of
the letters was a bit of a slog and did not immediately reveal the missing
items. I later realised that I must have made an error in one of the circles
but I was near enough to make my guesses.
Thank you Soup for a challenge of a slightly different nature.
I really enjoyed this - it very much put me in mind of Kea’s
fantastic Listener ‘Safe-cracking’ but a much faster solve! Hats off to Soup on
the construction - I’ve no idea how you would even start. I did like moving all
the rings around and seeing the safe revealing its contents. Thanks Soup for a really fun puzzle.
There were 55 entries to this tour de force, of which 4 were
marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat was John
Doylend from Bungay, who will soon be receiving his prize of Chambers Crossword
Dictionary which is donated by Chambers.
There is a full solution and video at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/04/solution-to-cracking-by-soup.html
You have plenty time to solve our April puzzle, Round Robin
XIII and email your solution. Remember to vote for your favourite clue. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/03/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-april-2021.html
It is very sad to note that one of our regular clue writers, CG Rishikesh, has
recently died. Rishi was the longest running crossword setter on The Hindu
newspaper and will be sadly missed.
The May Prize Puzzle will be Confusion Down Under by
Flowerman.
We would welcome submissions of puzzles for September and
October.
***
The Listener Crossword Dinner was held on Zoom with Jane Teather as host. It
began with some obituaries. Jane noted the passing of Atlas (Mick Polley),
Chris Butler, Symphonia (John Dawson) and The Tall’n (Terry Allen). Don Manley gave a tribute to Richard Palmer (Merlin)
and he has kindly allowed me to publish it here.
Richard Palmer MBE (31 March 1947- 25 December 2020)
Richard Palmer and I
met nearly 50 years ago when he joined The Institute of Physics Publishing
Office in Bristol. It quickly became obvious that we shared a passion for
crosswords and we became rival competitors in the new Azed clue-writing
competition in 1972, both winning prizes early on, Richard first then me.
Richard was a joint annual champion in the 1972/73 first season along with
Colin Dexter and Alec Robins. The Ximenean tradition shaped our clue-writing
styles for all the subsequent decades.
In 1975 Richard won the Azed monthly cup for two successive
months and placed that cup on his wedding cake when he married his office
sweetheart Marilyn. Later that year an opportunity for both of us to set barred
puzzles was provided by The Azed Book of Crosswords in which Azed’s solvers
contributed puzzles. I made a puzzle in the shape of an A and Richard one in
the shape of a Z, thereby emulating Azed who had made up a crossword in the
shape of an X to honour Ximenes. Richard
decided he would have a go at setting a Listener puzzle and had his first one
Arosti, checked by Jim Evans and published in October 1975. It was a fairly
straightforward letters latent puzzle spelling out LISTENER CROSSWORDS. Richard
duly attended the Listener Dinner at Ye Olde Cock Tavern in Fleet Street where
he met Azed. I was distinctly jealous and it took me a year to catch up with
him, when my own first Duck puzzle saw the light of day. We subsequently went
to Fleet Street together to join about twenty old codgers for something like an
average school dinner.
Richard and I set crosswords for some of the same
publications over the years, among which were Games and Puzzles and the lesser
known IEE News, IEE being The Institution
of Electrical Engineers.
Eventually we both contributed puzzles to the Telegraph. Richard’s
mother (who survives him) was a keen Telegraph solver who worked at Bletchley
Park.
Richard set fifteen Listener puzzles, the peach of which was
his Royal Flush puzzle of 2002 celebrating the Golden Jubilee by incorporating
all the kings and queens of England – and even the Commonwealth. The puzzle
survives in The A-Z of Crosswords by Jonathan Crowther. Richard won prizes from
Azed right to the end and my last message to his hospital bed on Christmas Eve
was that he had won a second prize for STUDENTY. He told Marilyn that he was relieved not to have won first
prize because posting off the cup was a faff.
So much for Richard and crosswords, for now. There are other
things you should know. Richard spent all his working life at The Institute of
Physics and was awarded the MBE in 2006. He was an exceptional bridge player
and a very good chess player. On the day of his funeral his beloved Leicester
City were top of the table. He was a cricket fanatic too. More than all that,
our families were big pals, never very far apart though our career paths
diverged. Richard and Marilyn had a daughter Claire, and a son Andy to whom I
am a godfather. He was a proud grandfather and loving husband to Marilyn who
remains a close family friend. No longer can Richard and I compare clues and no
longer can I phone for hints when I have filled in a Listener puzzle and cannot
see what to do next. I am missing Richard – that’s for sure.
Don Manley Oxford, March 2021
Shane Shabankareh then announced that the winner of the
Radix Auditorum claret jug for the best first-time solver was Australian, James
Lever. He had started solving at the end of January and managed an incredible
43 correct out of 46 entries. Then to the Solvers’ Silver Salver was awarded to
Peter Blayney. Apparently, there were some all-correct solvers who stumbled in
2020, one of whom was Neil Talbott, who, after almost 4 years of perfection,
failed to beat the record set by Simon Long.
Peter Blayney reported on the voting for the Ascot Gold Cup.
There were 18 other all-correct solvers who were asked to vote for their 5
favourite Listeners of 2020. In the end 26 puzzles got at least one vote. The
winner was Tip Top Condition by Twin (Colin Thomas). This puzzle was remarkable
in that the first set of down answers could be spelled with an I or an O. This
was resolved by a message to write the puzzle’s number in binary.
The voting was as follows.
1. 4630 Tip Top Condition by Twin
2. 4638 Head Start Clues by Elgin
3. 4606 Isolated in May by Dysart
5= 4617 Selfie by Sabre
5= 4609 Where Next? by Harribobs
6. 4604 Tour de Force by Kea
7. 4627 Flappy by Shark
8. 4597 Bunch of Fives by Brock
9. 4595 Equity by Elap
10 4603 In Round Numbers by Colleague.
Jane Teather then turned to the quiz. Guests had had 24
hours to solve one of Enigmatist’s devious quizzes. Matching up two sets of 13
pictures gave places where previous Listener Dinners had been held. The quiz
was ‘Beginnings’ and the initial letters of those places in order gave HONEYDEW
MELON, which had been the starter at the very first dinner. You then had to
write a clue to it. A short list of 5 clues were shown and we voted. I was relieved
that my clue had made it to the short list but, in the end it came 4th.
Winner was the clue by Oli Grant’s team who will be receiving the Bronze
Casket.
Cook stuck with this for the lockdown menu? Yes!
The event was over in an hour, with 105 guests. Thanks go to
Jane and John for organising such a great evening.
I managed to take some screenshots of the prize winners and
you can see them here https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/03/listener-crossword-dinner.html
***
Last Christmas Phi published his annual Apex puzzle. It was a tricky challenge,
based on the phrase MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON. Solvers had to write a Letters
Latent clue to the Playfair code word, SECURITY. The results are now available
and I am delighted to have secured a podium place among such a distinguished
field.
Winning clues to SECURITY (with a latent letter)
1st Collateral
has Cruise playing the lead in thriller Philip
Marlow
2nd Earlier
over-confidence is vanishing as tense EU crisis develops Kevin
McDermid
3rd Bond picture
is out with premier’s opening suspended for a year Derek
Harrison
***
Committed puzzlers will be keen to get their hands on The Golden Treasure of the Entente Cordiale.
Michael Becker is offering a prize of a gold casket valued at over £5,000 to
anyone who can solve the clues that are hidden in the book. A French version
and an English version of the book are published on 8 March, with each
containing different clues leading to two separate locations. Each book
contains nine puzzles, made up of illustrations by Becker, and secret text
hidden in the accompanying story, written by Pauline Deysson. Readers must
crack the hidden code in the illustration to find the missing text, which will
help them solve the conundrum. Once all nine puzzles are solved, readers will
be able to find where two geode crystal keys have been buried, one in the UK,
and one in France. The hardback edition is expensive at £27.99. You can read
more in this Guardian
article.
***
To celebrate the appearance of Alan Turing on the new £50 note, GCHQ have
published a series of puzzles that they say are their most difficult ever. If you
want to see if you could qualify as a spymaster you can try the puzzles here.
https://www.gchq.gov.uk/information/turing-challenge
***
Crossword setter Bluth, better known as stand-up comedian Dave Gorman, is
continuing to set high standards. His Independent puzzle on 16 March had so
many constraints that it was incredible that he could get so much thematic
material in and manage a fantastic Nina in the completed grid. Try it here https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent?puzzleDate=20210316#!202103
***
I was leafing through a copy of Anatomy of the Crossword by D St P
Barnard which I found on my bookshelf. Published in 1963 it was one of the
first attempts to dissect the crossword, following Ximenes on the Art of the
Crossword (1961). I was bemused by the section that Barnard calls the Paragrammatic
Parabole, I was wondering what present-day solvers would make of them. I
will give the answers at the end of this newsletter.
1. Ass! He’ll probably go and
fall in it (5)
2. As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Fs, Gs (5)
3. Instructio.. (6)
4. Poisonous bully beef? (5)
5. - - - (it certainly must be impolite) (6)
6 ‘O Winne!’ That’s how to make a certain person agreeable! (3, 3, 5)
***
I received an email from Joe Williams, Kentucky, asking if I had a solution to
Gallimaufry by Ximenes. I could not find one so I tried solving it. What a
mammoth task but there were some brilliant clues which had stood the test of
time. I have put a copy on the blog https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/gallimaufry-by-ximenes.html
If you want a solution, you can
email me.
***
29 March saw the final of the BBC2 quiz programme, Only Connect. On the Puzzle
Hunters team was a Listener crossword setter, Paul Taylor, who has published
under the pseudonym Apt. You can watch the final on YouTube. https://youtu.be/7ps8O5aTvsc
***
On the Clue-Writing Competition your challenge for APRIL is a STANDARD CRYPTIC
clue to ODYSSEY (7) by the closing date of MIDNIGHT BST WEDNESDAY 28th APRIL.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
***
There are now 223 members on the Google mailing list.
If you want to receive
newsletters and clue-writing information in your in-box you should sign up to
the new Crossword Centre group on Google. You can join this group at https://groups.google.com/g/crosswordcentre
Crossword News will, as usual, be
available on the Crossword Centre http://www.crossword.org.uk/newsletter.html
and on the blog https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/
Best wishes
Derek
Clue answers.
1. ABYSS (A by SS)
2. NOTES (not Es)
3. LESSON (LESS on)
4. TOXIN (ox in TIN)
5. MOROSE (O in Morse (code))
6. WIN ONE OVER (WIN in ONE!)
