Crossword News May 2023
The April Prize Puzzle was our fifteenth Round Robin
crossword. The theme of Round Robin XV is the first game at the old Wembley
Stadium - the FA Cup final in 1923. It is estimated that more than double the
capacity of the stadium crammed in to see the game, with many standing on the
touchline. The apt-named PC Scorey on his horse Billie became the defining
image of the game, which became known as the White Horse Final. There is a
White Horse Bridge at the new Wembley stadium in recognition of the game.
Solvers were to replace four entries with WHITE HORSE FINAL FACUP.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
This ticked all the boxes for a thematic puzzle of this
type: an impressive grid, a tricky fill, and a nostalgic theme on its
anniversary. Many congratulations to the setter - this puzzle would have graced
the Listener series.
This was a tricky solve in part due to the wide variety of
clueing styles and the (not always easy) choice of which letters to omit. The
presence of blank cells in the top and bottom rows was a further complication.
Having said that, it was very satisfying to achieve a solution and the final
act of changing four initial entries was an ingenious finale - I remember
seeing newsreel pictures of the event! The grid constructor deserves
congratulations. There were one or two clues that I found testing and I'm not
totally convinced I've parsed them correctly (eg 20a, 7d), but thanks to all those
who contributed clues.
A very clever centenary theme, with the first three
replacement words not too hard to find (helped by Wikipedia) once the theme had
been identified, and the fourth not difficult given that it was a
"phrase" with only five letters in all. Warm thanks to John
Nicholson.
Brilliant grid construction; an absorbing task; a top-notch,
entertaining set of clues. Many thanks
to all involved!
There were 43 entries and no errors. The lucky winner picked
from the electronic hat was Ian Simpson from Edinburgh, who will be receiving a
prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary.
Solvers were asked to vote for their favourite clues and the
results were as follows.
Three clues stood out right from the off and were vying for
top spot all the way through the voting, with just 3 points between the three
in the end:
1. 24pts - TAONGAS - Robert Teuton
2. 22pts - TACTICS - Phylax
3. 21pts - MISSED - Simon Shaw
4. 15pts - ABSURD - Dafydd Price Jones
5. 10 pts - TEAPOT - Jamie Thunder
Robert will be receiving a prize donated by the Crossword
Centre.
Regarding the theme of the puzzle, Wan writes -
...I knew of this final but spending some time reading about
it is absolutely fascinating! I liked
that the mounted policeman on Billie had a rather appropriate name,
Scorey. I did not realise till now that
the new Wembley Stadium has a White Horse Bridge. I loved the fact that Pathe News was banned
from the stadium but a gentleman in disguise (would he have been recognised
otherwise?) entered the ground with a camera hidden in a (West Ham) hammer
mascot! The Pathe news footage is
incredible and they show off their cameraman with his 'mascot' during it! If you haven't seen it here it is: White Horse Final...
There is a solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/05/solution-to-round-robin-xv-over-capacity.html
This month’s challenge is Coronation by Chalicea. If you
haven’t tried it yet, let’s make it a record entry. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/04/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-may-2023.html
The June Prize Puzzle will be Full of Beans by Road Gamer. Road
Gamer is a collaboration between a chess-loving father (Arcadia) and his
bridge-loving son, descendants of a mother/grandmother who was a keen games player
and avid fan of the Listener Crossword back in the 1960s and 70s. This
particular crossword puzzle derives from a Christmas present from son to father
a few years ago, one of a series of such presents. Most of them include
contents suitable only for entertainment within the family, but we thought that
Full of Beans could be adapted for sharing with a wider public.
***
Exciting news of my latest project.
As many of you will know, I was a big fan and a friend of Eric Chalkley, the
crossword setter Apex. Although I only met him on a few occasions we
communicated by writing letters. I kept all his letters and recently I started
reading them again. I had three scrapbooks, two large files and three box files
of letters and puzzles. It was suggested to me that the letters would make a
good story. They would certainly make fascinating reading for anyone with an
interest in the history of crosswords.
I have typed up most of the letters from 1978 up to 2005 and
I am having the collection printed privately. I have added a previously
unpublished essay by Apex, many of my illustrations and 8 crosswords which are mentioned
in the letters.
I am keeping the price the same as we had for Armchair
Crosswords by Afrit which was £8 plus £2 for UK p & p. I will be sending
details of how to pay soon.
My first attempt at creating a website was the Apex Web Site
and Eric’s enthusiasm kept me updating the site which became the Crossword
Centre. Anyhow, if you think you might be interested in buying a copy, please
let me know so that I can have some idea of the quantity. Friends who have had
an early reading have described it as “fascinating” and “absolutely riveting”. The
Apex Letters is now at the printers.
When I started the Apex Web Site in 1997, he sent me lots of puzzles for the
site. There are about a dozen on the site but I never published his Definition
and Letter-Mixture puzzles. I suppose that style of clue has gone out of
fashion but I tried one of his ‘Quiz’ puzzles recently and found it lots of
fun. I have now added ‘A Light-Hearted Quiz by Apex’ to the blog and you can
try it for yourself at - https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/a-light-hearted-quiz-by-apex.html
***
It was a year ago that Neil Shepherd, the setter known as Alberich, died. It
was thought that his wonderful website would close. It may be that his website
provider is waiting for the annual fees to be paid. However, William Snow has
found that this link still works.
https://xteddy.org/mirror/alberichcrosswords/www.alberichcrosswords.com/
I am not sure that it will always work but it might be a
chance for you to save some of the content.
***
New on the Crossword Centre is a SEARCH button, available on Chrome or
Microsoft Edge. It allows you to search in the Crossword Centre and find the
page you need. I have found it very useful.
***
I am trying to clear some space in my bookshelf and have put some books for
sale.
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/rare-books.html
***
I missed this article in the FT, but enjoyed reading Oliver Roeder describing
the difference between US and British crosswords. I also liked reading the comments.
https://www.ft.com/content/5ccdcfb9-3b9b-4136-a9d9-5079cb774150
Best wishes
Derek
