Solution to Gig Economy by Wan
The theme is Barbeque 67, thought to be the first rock festival. The event was held in TULIP BULB AUCTION HALL in Spalding, given by extra letters in down clues. Solvers were to change 1a BOUTIQUE to BARBEQUE and highlight it along with numbers 6 and 7. Solvers were also to change 16 letters so as to show six acts in the grid…
CREAM
JIMI HENDRIX
GENO WASHINGTON
PINK FLOYD
ZOOT MONEY
MOVE
Entries
To enter this competition, input your solution into the website at https://cc.vellender.com before
8th July 2025. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book
from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.
Crossword News May
2025
The April Prize Puzzle was Tan Goes so Stripey by Vismut.
This tiger-themed puzzle proved to be tricky. The titles are LIFE OF PI, THE
JUNGLE BOOK and WINNIE THE POOH, the brand is FROSTIES all off which feature
tigers. RICHARD PARKER, SHERE KHAN, TIGGER and TONY. The title is another tiger
and brand TANGO ESSO. The message from the down clues is GRID ORANGE FOUR NAMES
BLACK and the first letters of these down clues read TIGERS CAN ROAR BUT CAN’T
PURR.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
Many thanks, Vismut. An amusing puzzle where the level of
difficulty was boosted by the use of some of the less frequently visited
corners of Chambers, and the merging of titles from the across clues. I did
feel the title was a jumble of something but couldn't figure out what. The new
submission method was taken advantage of with the requirement to highlight the
full grid.
A brilliant puzzle, resulting in a beautiful tiger
(especially when coloured by Excel!). Two cluing devices, with redundant words
and emerging extra letters deviously concealed by excellent clues maintained a
high level of challenge from start to finish. The theme was beautifully
exploited. The link of the tiger might have emerged earlier for me if I'd tried
picking out the message from the across clues before I'd identified all the
redundant words.
When I first read the preamble, I wasn't sure how the titles
were going to be merged, and assumed that 'how and which cells to fill' meant
filling with letters rather than colour, but after I had filled most of the top
half of the grid I could see how FROSTIES and LIFE OF PI were merged from the
early extra words, and also GRID ORANGE was presumably something to do with
colouring in. After this I tried to guess the extra words from the Across clues
I hadn't solved, saw the other two titles, and realised that each of them
contained a tiger. It took me a little while to notice I had TIGGER and the
start of RICHARD PARKER in the grid, and it helped me a little to guess where
SHERE KHAN and TONY could appear. I can see the word 'Stripey' in the title
could be related to the stripes depicted in the grid, but apart from that I
have no idea what it is supposed to mean. I can see how 'administered drug'
could be a definition for DOCTORED in 3d, but I don't like it with the words
the other way around. As for 41a, the only meaning of DARKLE I can find is 'to
become dark' or maybe 'to be dark' so I don't see how to get a definition out
of 'as light lowers'.
There were 49 entries, of which 7 were marked incorrect. The
lucky winner is Ian Hickman who will be receiving a prize of a copy of the
Chambers Crossword Dictionary which was donated by Chambers.
The new entry method worked well, although, perhaps we
should have started with a puzzle that did not demand so much shading. Although
there were some negative comments, most of the solvers were happy with the
entry method.
There is a solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2025/05/solution-to-tan-goes-so-stripey-by.html
You still have time to solve the May crossword, Gig Economy
by Wan. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2025/04/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-may-2025.html
The June Prize Puzzle will be Current Affairs by
Hedge-sparrow.
We always welcome submissions for later months.
***
The lunch to celebrate Azed’s 2750th publication was held at Wolfson
College, Oxford, on Saturday. I was not there but watched the speeches via
Zoom. One of the best reports with photos is on the Clue Clinic. https://www.clueclinic.com/index.php/2025/05/06/azed-2750-lunch/
Many more photos are on the FaceBook Crossword Centre page.
At the end of the speeches, Don Manley was able to receive
the Azed Cup for his winning clue to DRAUGHT-HOUSE (a privy) in the April
competition.
Urine had to gush out – in this?
(comp. anag. & lit.)
All of the clues submitted are available in the latest Azed
Slip.
http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html
***
The Observer has been taken over by Tortoise Media. For the moment the Azed and
Everyman crosswords continue to be available for free. The possibility of a future
paywall has not been ruled out. I have changed the link on the Crossword Centre
https://observer.co.uk/crossword
***
The Latin O Tempora! crossword in The Times has recently recorded its 500th
puzzle. An incredible achievement. Congratulations!
***
A shorter newsletter this month, but Lois and I are off for
a holiday in Kos next week and I wanted to post it before we go.
Best wishes
Derek
Crossword News April 2025
The March Prize Puzzle was RR XVII = Round Up. Extra letters
produced by wordplay in the clues give SEARCH WITH FOUR SYM ENTRIES – TITLE OF
BOOK – THE FEAT. The four symmetrical entries are FRANK HEATH GYPSY MOTH.
Solvers had to change five entries to provide the title of Heath’s book FORTY
MILLION HOOFBEATS and the feat FORTY-EIGHT STATES. The title cryptically
suggests going round on horseback.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
An ingenious puzzle with a theme previously unknown to us -
very entertaining. Though not requested, we felt the need to highlight relevant
entries.....We found the clues to be generally challenging with each
contributor submitting a 'prize-winning' clue. The variety of clueing styles
added to the trickiness, but all were fair and we think we've sorted them
correctly. Thanks to the setter and all
contributors - good fun.
As usual with the Round Robin puzzles, this was a real
mixture of clues which does make for an entertaining solve. I found a few of
the extra letters difficult to tease out, making the end message a bit
difficult to decipher but I got there in the end. The 4 most likely candidates
for the book title soon leapt out and a bit of internet research provided the
rest of the information. This was a totally new subject and interesting to read
up on. The grid construction is impressive with the changed lights retaining
real words which helps to confirm a correct solution.
Another great challenge, I completed the grid a fortnight
ago but the final step eluded me until yesterday. I have to admit to a
scientific approach of taking all the symmetrical quads then testing them with
a google search, as I had never come across this pioneering story before! I'm
glad I have now, because it's intrinsically interesting.
There were 41 entries, of which 15 were marked incorrect. 11
of the 15 errors involved ARIES for ARIEL...probably overlooking the wordplay -
"bunch of letters" - that led to ARLA (Association of Residential
Letting Agents) - not just a random bunch of letters.
The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Andrew
Varney, who will be receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary, which
was donated by the publishers.
Solvers were asked to vote for their favourite clues. The
clear winner, with 20 points, was the clue to DOWNBEATS by Jugular, Tim Coates.
Two bad ones, surprisingly they are the opposite of arses
2nd SECRETA 15 points Geri Cashell
3rd FRISKAS 14 points David Whyte
4th TESLA 14 points Terrence Brennan
5th MOORISH 11 points Colin Thomas
I will be sending Tim a prize copy of Armchair Crosswords by
Afrit. Thanks are due to Wan for designing the grid and to all the volunteer
clue-writers who make the Round Robin such a unique puzzle. The next Round
Robin is already accepted for next year. This was the final puzzle for marker
Robert Teuton and I am sure we would all like to thank him for his sterling
work.
As usual, we welcome submissions of puzzles.
There is a solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2025/04/solution-to-round-robin-xvii-round-up.html
You still have time to solve our April puzzle, Tan Goes so
Stripey by Vismut. The new entry system is working well and we have 27 entries
so far. For anyone having problems entering a solution on a phone or tablet,
you can now enter the answers and there is a box where you can describe the
final grid.
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2025/03/april-2025-prize-puzzle-tan-goes-so.html
The May Prize Puzzle will be Gig Economy by Wan.
***
The 47th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament took place on the
first weekend in April. The winner of the event was the 2024 champion, Paolo
Pasco, who completed the final grid in 3 minutes 40 seconds. All the results
are here https://www.crosswordtournament.com/2025/index.htm
A more personal account is from Adam Roberts.
https://amateurgourmet.substack.com/p/i-went-to-the-american-crossword
***
The Azed 2750 lunch will be held in Oxford on Saturday 3rd May. If you are
unable to be there, Dave Tilley has volunteered to stream the event on Zoom.
Viewers should be able to tune in to see Azed and the guest
speakers from around 15:45 using the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6528014392?pwd=aTF4ZnY1R0RsNkp3NmFocjltOSttQT09&omn=82029835893
Meeting ID: 652 801 4392
Passcode: 9673
***
Jane Teather has now put the Table Quiz from the Listener Dinner on her website.
https://www.jetdoc.co.uk/crossword-and-quiz-links
Shirley Curran has allowed us to see all her photos from the Dinner and in the
pub on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194321761@N03/albums/72177720324458416/
***
LISTENER STATISTICS, plus a personal solving record, for last year may be
requested by email to marker@listenercrossword.com, or by sending a stamped
addressed envelope measuring at least 230mm×160mm (overseas stamp exempt) to N
Aspland, 19 Fairfax Drive, Pontefract, WF8 1NU,
***
And finally, was there an April fool crossword this year?
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2025/apr/07/the-guardians-april-fool-crossword-explained-plus-the-other-papers-fooling
Best wishes
Derek Harrison
