RR XIII – 13th R0und R0bin
Monday, 29 March 2021
Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle April 2021
Sunday, 21 March 2021
Listener Crossword Dinner
Screenshots from the Listener Crossword Dinner on Zoom
Tuesday, 16 March 2021
Crossword News March 2021
Crossword News March 2021
The February Prize Puzzle was Changing Places by Rebus. The
perimeter was filled with names words associated with NELSON and the completed
central square spelled TRAFALGAR. Thus, changing places, Trafalgar square was
in a square of Nelsons. What was required, hinted at by the R in the centre,
was right eye, right arm, the parts that Nelson lost.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
Creatively conceptualised puzzle with entertaining
clues. The main challenge was in
unscrambling and slotting in the perimeter answers, where I had some starting
problems. Was looking for stuff
(monuments, places, streets etc) connected with Trafalgar Square (of which
there's quite a selection to be had) but nothing seemed to fit. Of course, the Nelson connection became
apparent soon enough - my presumption may have had something to do with the
puzzle title, and I've still not satisfied myself about how that relates to the
rest of the puzzle and theme. Thanks
Rebus and organisers for a stimulating challenge.
A neat idea with the centre R’s double significance a clever
touch. An enjoyable solve but with an
incompleteness for me in not being able to definitively solve the first
perimeter clue. It looks like it should
be “reef” but I can’t see the thematic significance, so I look forward to
seeing the solution and no doubt finding out what I’ve missed.
Not confident about the 4 words!
With the 9-cell thematic area spelling TRAFALGAR and the
perimeter answers all being examples of NELSONs, I inferred "the key
perimeter answer" to be HORATIO. A little research tells me that Lord
Nelson suffered loss of/damage to his RIGHT ARM and RIGHT EYE. I hope that is
what Rebus had in mind.
There were 46 entries, 9 of which were marked incorrect (4
because of the 4 words). The lucky winner, picked from
the electronic hat, was Bill Stewart from Leicester and he will soon be
receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which was donated by Chambers.
A full solution is
available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/03/solution-to-february-prize-puzzle-from.html
A technical problem meant that I was unable to publish the
results of the January challenge, Chalicea’s Wallace and Gromit puzzle. Here
are some of the comments from solvers.
Off to a good start! Please find attached my entry for “Best
Mates” by Chalicea. A lovely theme and well presented. Fortunately, The Wrong
Trousers leapt into my head and I didn’t need to fiddle around with the extra
letters as the theme revealed itself.
Another lovely puzzle from Chalicea, she's one of my
favourite setters. I like how she uses such an array of cultural themes from highbrow
to popular and fun, such as this one.
28d was clever!
Thanks to Chalicea. A typical puzzle from this setter,
perhaps on the easy side, but with enough clues to make you think. After
solving a few of the down clues, the potential GROMIT was rather obvious. There
were not too many films to choose from, further restricted by the amount of
space available round the perimeter, so filling that was on the easy side as
well. Nonetheless, a pleasant start to the year.
There were 66 entries, of which 7 were marked incorrect. The
lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Roslyn Shapland from Ilkeston
and she will soon be receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which
was donated by Chambers.
You still have time to solve this month’s Prize Puzzle,
Cracking! by Soup. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/02/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-march-2021.html
The April puzzle will be our
thirteenth Round Robin, with a grid designed by John Nicholson and clues
written by 45 volunteer clue-writers.
We have puzzles in the pipe-line for the next few months but
would welcome submissions for later in the year.
***
There is a fascinating article by Norman Miller on the BBC dealing with all
aspects of cryptic crosswords, Cryptic
Crosswords- a Puzzling British Obsession.
***
There will be a Listener Crossword Dinner, of sorts, on 20 March via Zoom. John
Henderson and Jane Teather will be organising a quiz and there will be brief
announcement of the awards.
***As it
would have been the 85th birthday of Georges Perec this month, Charlie Methven,
the setter Chameleon, published a crossword in his honour. In the style of
Perec’s novel La Disparition, the crossword avoids the letter E in both clues
and answers.
You can try the puzzle here http://crossword.info/chameleoncrosswords/ChameleonPerec
As well as writing novels, Perec
was a regular crossword compiler and a collection of his puzzles is available
on Amazon - Les Mots Croisés
He was bored by the definition-only clues common in French crosswords
and used wordplay in his clues. One clue that he admired was
Do (11)
I have put one of Perec’s
crosswords on the blog, if you would like to try. I have added a link to the
solution, if you get stuck. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/georges-perec.html
***
On the Clue-writing competition the March challenge is to write a clue to
CORNFLAKES.
The winner of the January
competition, a clue to DISTAFF, was Richard Saunders.
Aid to spinning fast if beginning
to dance waltzes
***
There are now 217 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
Solution to clue – DEMISOMMEIL
(Half of DODO (sleep)
Tuesday, 9 March 2021
Solution to the February Prize Puzzle from the Crossword Centre
Solution to Changing Places by Rebus
Friday, 26 February 2021
Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle March 2021
Cracking! by Soup
Friday, 19 February 2021
Crossword News February 2021
Crossword News February 2021
The January Prize Puzzle was Best Mates by Chalicea. WALLACE
and GROMIT and the films A CLOSE SHAVE, THE WRONG TROUSERS and A GRAND DAY OUT
circled the grid. Solvers were required to SHADE FAVOURITE FOOD OF FIRST CHARACTER
(SIXTEEN CELLS) which gives WENSLEYDALE CHEESE.
Results and comments will appear in the March newsletter.
A full solution is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/02/solution-to-crossword-centre-prize.html
You still have time to solve and submit an entry for our
February competition, Changing Places by Rebus. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/01/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-february.html
The March challenge will be Cracking! by Soup, A blocked
puzzle with a dauntingly long preamble, but don’t let that put you off. It
certainly is a crossword with a twist!
Soup is Hamish Symington, now studying for a PhD in
pollination at University of Cambridge, by way of a career as a graphic
designer and software developer. He has been setting for around six years; you
may have seen his puzzles in the Guardian’s ‘Genius’ slot, amongst others. He
edits 1 Across magazine (www.1across.co.uk),
started by Araucaria three decades ago. He lives in Cambridge with his patient
wife, exuberant daughter, and about 150,000 honeybees.
***
February 16th this year would have been Araucaria’s 100th
birthday. There were many tributes to mark this centenary.
A special edition of 1 Across magazine celebrates the
centenary of his birth this month. http://www.1across.co.uk/
Tom Johnson wrote a beautiful article on Fifteen squared. http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/02/16/john-graham-a-centenary-tribute/
A special themed crossword by Enigmatist and Soup appeared
in the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28370#9-across
A 3D puzzle special is published on 3DCalendar Puzzles with
a tribute. https://3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/02e-FEB-EXTRA-2021-PUZ-ENIGMATIST-Sirius-Web.pdf
I am reminded of twenty years ago when I was invited to his
80th birthday party at the Guardian offices. That was the first time
that I met John Henderson, John Halpern, Paul Bringloe and the unforgettable
Bob Smithies. After the official presentations we all met up in the nearest pub
for a great party
Next day we went to the London Eye with Tom Johnson and the
1 Across team. The photos that I took can be seen at http://www.crossword.org.uk/eye.html
Alan Connor, in his latest blog, has included a fantastic photo of the meeting
at the Guardian, Araucaria with editor, Alan Rusbridger, all the setters, and Bunthorne and Enigmatist on either side.
He has also found three lost puzzles by Araucaria.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2021/feb/15/crossword-blog-vintage-guardian-setter-araucaria-puzzles
***
John Henderson and Jane Teather are still planning to have some sort of
Listener Crossword event next month. In a recent message they said this.
This is advance notice that we’ll have some sort of online
event during the evening of Saturday 20 March. More details to follow.
In addition, we will put together a newsletter covering some
of what would normally be part of the proceedings (or just the conversation) at
the dinner. If you have any relevant news that you would normally share at the
dinner, or anything else you think people would appreciate, please send it for
inclusion — text or images are fine.
The newsletter will include obits. One of those will be for
Terry Allen (The Tall’n), about whom I know almost nothing, apart from having
solved his puzzles on more than one occasion. If any of you knew him, or has
particular memories of his puzzles, please get in touch; any contribution will
help.
***
The results of the voting for IQ puzzle of the year are now published. The
outright winner was Harribobs for his Tour de France themed puzzle, Tourist
Information. In second place was eXternal for Seize Them All. You can read the
full results here. http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/01/30/inquisitor-review-of-the-year-2019-20/
***
You may be interested in a podcast where Susie Dent and
Gyles Brandreth have a humorous chat about crosswords.
https://play.acast.com/s/somethingrhymeswithpurple/f5acdb44-59a6-11eb-9fa6-eb057a9bc4d2
***
A new free website for cryptic crosswords is Hubble Crosswords. You can access
it at https://www.hubblecrosswords.com/
***
The continuing success of the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel set up by
Mark Goodliffe and Simon Anthony has also proved to have a therapeutic effect
in these troubling times. This is the subject of this article.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/comment/cracking-the-cryptic-how-the-healing-art-of-sudoku-became-a-youtube-sensation-1.1151242?fbclid=IwAR2rvdVj6LcR8NecpAGnPa1X8xkEdWp-vDCDSN4B1qEeMiKj15kD5CxfZbU
***
When I posted a photo of the Listener Crossword Book 1970 it attracted a lot of
interest. I bought a copy when I was a student and solved about 1% of the
puzzles. The first book was edited by Alan Cash in Penguin and he later
published the Second and Third books. In 2002 there was a Times Listener
collection edited by Mike Rich and a Chambers collection in 2008 which was
edited by Derek Arthur. The sales figures for these books are very low and it
is unlikely that future publisher will be willing to take the risk of printing
another collection. Needless to say, these early editions are increasingly rare
and expensive to buy. You can see the covers of all these books on FaceBook by
joining The Crossword Centre group.
***
On the Clue-Writing Competition, the annual results for 2020 have now been
published. In a tight finish between John Tozer and Steve Randall, it was Steve
who won the prize. You can see the full result sheet at http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/ann_results.php?year=2020
Your challenge for February is a STANDARD CRYPTIC clue to
WETLANDS(8) by the closing date of MIDNIGHT GMT WEDNESDAY 24th FEBRUARY.
***
Good news for quizzers is that Channel 4 are about to broadcast a new quiz
show, The Answer Trap. With the quiz set up by Frank Paul and Bobby Seagull it
looks to be very devious. They are currently looking for contestants, groups of
two from the same household. All the details here.
https://www.channel4.com/press/news/anita-rani-present-answer-trap-channel-4
***
When Nick Hewer steps down as Countdown host, the hot bets are on Anne Robinson
taking on the role
***
There are now 213 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