3D Crossword Solution – January 2025

January 2025 puzzle page

Clues by Imogen and Grid by Calluna

Theme: Inspector Morse. Four January anniversaries: publication of Last Bus to Woodstock, the first Inspector Morse book by Colin Dexter (1975); first episode of Inspector Morse on ITV (1987); the pilot episode of the spin off series Lewis (2006); and the first episode of the prequel Endeavour (2012).

Winner: Michael Debenham of Shrewsbury.

Review of the January 2025 3D crossword

This month starts off the year with a bang using a larger grid of 9 x 5 x 5 with 36 entries. There are also a lot of shaded cells randomly scattered on the hot levels that we’ll need to anagram into the Easter egg. Having both five- and nine-letter lights is handy for this theme.

Our theme is a touchstone of British culture that (like cricket) I am mostly familiar with from doing crosswords. It’s on my list (and in fact recorded on my DVR from PBS), but I have not watched any of these series yet. Forgive me reader. As usual, I plead American. It doesn’t help that BBC America mostly fills airtime with US shows now — they used to run UK mysteries in primetime that I watched avidly, but now it’s wall-to-wall Bones and (US) Law & Order. But I digress.

The theme here is Inspector Morse (mostly) in his television incarnations, all of which conveniently have an anniversary in January. Also John Thaw’s birthday is the third (1942), but it wasn’t mentioned in the legend. Bonus anniversary!

The nine-letter entries are all smooth as can be. INSPECTOR and ENDEAVOUR were must haves (I’m guessing the INSPECTOR/MORSE check was the first thing the setter did), but we also get the mystery solving (or impeding) ABSOLVING (why, yes, I am!), OUTSMARTS, INFORMANT, REMEMBERS, and SENESCENT. Solid gold.

The five-letter lights are used well for names. Not only MORSE but SHAUN EVANS, ROGER ALLAM and THAWS (John and Abigail), but there are some clunkers in there too. I had to check EMMET, LUMME, and WALER (though, again, American) and MAIKO is less common in crosswords than NISEI. NO DOT was an amusing Morse (code) reference, but I’m sure it was a bit of a grasp (I’ve been there). Certainly nothing unforgivable, especially in service to a strong theme.

I especially liked the clue for 8, with an appropriate surface and use of “ole”. (Also a good use of a 7-Ietter word where I lazily would’ve just gone with “Frito”.) I was amused as I pictured those moaning Samoans in 16 and the evil children of 18. Nothing bad here. Clunkiest is probably the verbose 19, but it’s working overtime to justify some iffy fill, so I give it a nod.

The shaded letters spell out our Easter egg: LAST BUS TO WOODSTOCK, the first Inspector Morse novel.

The visual clue is not as slick as the one in the puzzle. It shows two OARS, an X, and a French woman saying “1” (UN). This is followed by a bust of Caesar, the alphabet descending, an up arrow, and a 9. What does that mean? Take OARSXUN and shift it back nine letters as a Caesar cipher and you get FRIJOLE.

This is the sort of puzzle I like (and — as you may see later — try to make). With a strong theme, good vocabulary, and solid cluing it has almost everything. I think maybe they should’ve quoted the man himself: “My whole life’s effort has revolved around Eve, nine letters”.

ab

Grid solution

January 2025 grid solution

Visual clue

Appropriately for the theme, this picture clue is a coded message requiring double decryption. A pair of oars, an X, and the French for “1” give us a seemingly nonsense string of letters: OARSXUN. The key to the mystery is given by the Roman bust alongside the letters ABCDE and an arrow labelled ‘9’ pointing up towards the beginning of the alphabet. Code crackers will recognise this as indicating a Caesar cipher, where each letter in the encrypted message must be shifted a certain number of places along the alphabet, in this case, back 9 places. So O (the 15th letter of the alphabet) becomes F (the 6th letter). In a continuous alphabetical loop, A comes after Z (as the 27th letter) so it becomes R (18th), and so on, until the solution emerges:

OARS X UN, shifted back 9 places via Caesar cipher = FRIJOLE

Visual clue for FRIJOLE
Drawing by Frank Paul

Background image

The backdrop to this month’s puzzle of a woodpile or, if you will, a wood stock, is “Carbon neutral firewood, Hintersee, Ramsau” by Markus Spiske (CC0 1.0 licence).

Clues and explanations

Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.

DaySolutionClueExplanation
1ABSOLVING15ac Freeing muscle by what you’re doing (9)AB / SOLVING
2ADAPT4d Tailor securing home cheers up (5)TA securing PAD, <
3ARROWROOT4ac I thicken line, space being limited in painting (9)(ROW / ROO[m]) in ART
4EASED16to Dropped out of college that is dumbed down (5)(C)EASED
5ELOPE11to East European about to sneak off to the match (5)E / POLE<
6EMMET11d Yosemite heartily satisfied tourist (5)(yos)EM(ite) / MET
7ENDEAVOUR*13ac Attempt an overdue reform (9)AN OVERDUE * 
8FRIJOLE 23up,7aw Bean that Mexicans cook half a day and judge well done (7)FRI(day) / J / OLE!
9INFORMANT*24ba No room for youngster to cross grass (9) INFANT round O / RM
10INGOT24up Moving home, succeeded in entering massive block (5)GOT IN with IN moving
11INSPECTOR MORSE*25ac,21aw Remarkable “senior cop” — terms for thematic officer (9,5)SENIOR COP TERMS *
12INTRO25to Opening passage, run through inside (5)R through INTO
13LEWIS*10to Part of island in West Indies toured by the French (5)LE(WI)S.  Lewis is part of Lewis and Harris
14LUMME10d Brother’s headlong plunge after stripping (5)(P)LUMME(T).  (Brother, lumme = expression of surprise)
15MAIKO17to As master I floor Japanese apprentice (5)MA / I / KO
16MOANS21up Complaints of Pacific islanders South Africa expelled (5) (SA)MOANS
17NARCO*2aw In turn, smuggled cocaine over, did he? (5)RAN< / C / O
18NISEI8d US immigrant’s child that is evil to bring up (5)(IE / SIN)<
19NO DOT*2d Returned to teacher, what Tom’s thematically coded letters show [I too, plainly, in this case] (2,3)(TO / DON), and ref. upper-case I (not in Morse – “plain”).  T,O,M the only Morse letters without a dot.  (Final part of clue in brackets to give more help for this phrase, could be omitted if no space but the more help the better)
20OMENS19up Warnings from old people initially scorned (5)O / MEN / S(corned)
21OUTSMARTS*19ac Publicises market’s tricks (9)OUTS / MART’S
22OVENS9d They get very heated in Beethoven symphonies (5)Hidden
23RAIDS*26to Attacks ‘castle’ with supporting gear (5)R / AIDS.  (R = rook)
24RASTA5d One dreaded a Russian autocrat rising up (5)(A / TSAR)<, ref. dreadlocks
25REFIT22aw Judge computer equipment must get a makeover (5)REF / IT
26REMEMBERS18ba Gives tips to corps personnel (9)Two definitions
27ROGER ALLAM*18to,14aw He offers us Thursday to treat large molar (5,5)LARGE MOLAR *
28ROOSE22up Scots praise the first to overpaint pink walls (5)O(verpaint) walled by ROSE
29SENESCENT1ac Seen to mistake trail, starting to lose it (9)SEEN* / SCENT
30SHAUN EVANS*1aw,13aw Thematic actor represented as unshaven (5, 5)AS UNSHAVEN *
31SPELLDOWN12ba Some wizardry with a type of clue in US word game (9)SPELL / DOWN
32SURER12d One giving cover not popular but more reliable (5)(IN)SURER
33THAWS*20aw Thematic actor’s periods of relaxation (5)Two definitions
34TOTES3aw Child has ears cleaned out (that’s “lugs”) (5)TOT / E(ar)S
35TYROS3d Pupils, a year into class, flipped (5)SOR(Y)T<
36WALER6d Horse from Oz extremely lame in battle (5)L(am)E in WAR
RequiredLAST BUS TO WOODSTOCKHighlighted cells (4,3,2,9)

Solvers’ comments

Cracking entertainment for New Year’s Day. Once we got day 11, we were very well assisted for thematic clues and spotting thematic solutions. An enjoyable solve, some nice clueing and some new words. Every 3D Calendar Puzzle day is a school day 🙂 We didn’t parse day 4, EASED, and couldn’t work out Frank Paul’s visual clue, so look forward to the newsletter for enlightenment. Thank you Imogen and Calluna. [CW]

A nice gentle introduction to the year with only a couple of unfamiliar answers clued fairly. [RC]

Nice reminder of the Morsiverse! [NI]

Nice puzzle, enjoyed solving – didn’t know that much about Inspector Morse but that wasn’t too much of a problem although had to look up actors. Never heard of FRIJOLE, ROOSE or WALER but all gettable. Completely baffled by the picture clue, as always! Thanks to Imogen and Calluna etc. [JC]

Loved the theme and can’t believe that we are up to these anniversaries. 50 years! Not all parsed so will await the answers. Thanks for a great start to 2025. [HH]

I can’t believe they all came out in January! Also I have no clue how Frank found this particular cluing approach. [NY]

A neat puzzle, with a theme I recognised (I’ve read the books, but had to Google the TV actors as I didn’t watch it). Several words new to me, which I’ll promptly forget! Day 19 was my LOI – it took me an embarrassingly long time, considering the theme, to realise I should be thinking Morse code. Thanks to Imogen and Calluna for the entertainment. [RS]

Amazing – really enjoyed it. [LA]

Enjoyed it as always. Nice to see the theme, was a fan of Morse but never got into the spin-offs. This was a good reminder to revisit. Thanks Imogen. [SC]

First timer. Much enjoyed. Looking forward to next month already. [MH]

Thanks for the fun and games with this grid, Imogen and Calluna. It was tough in places and I’m feeling a bit of trepidation about whether I’ve got it all right. However it was really lovely to start the new year with a puzzle based on Colin Dexter. I always thought I’d have liked to have met him, as he seemed like a man after my own heart. [I was also a Classics (Ancient History) teacher whose main hobbies were crime novels (reading not writing them) and cryptic crosswords (solving not setting them)]. [JA]

Fantastic start to the year x [RE]

This was quite straightforward: solving 27 early on revealed the theme quickly to this old-timer, but my son thought the theme very obscure. The grid was very neat as were many clues: 24, 14 and 34 in particular. [DR]

My first attempt at a 3D puzzle. Understanding the instructions was the most difficult part. [KD]

Good choice to have a gentle puzzle to start the calendar with (having not tried 3D ones before). [LA]

Hard! [RL]

Love Colin Dexter’s work so nice theme for me! Good range of difficulty in clues, all well crafted. [JP]

Oh dear — remembering that I read it shortly after it came out makes me feel old. Thanks for the puzzle, though. [TH]

Nice construction and choice of words. It took some time for the theme to emerge as I’m not familiar with the later incarnations. I’ve seen a few of the original, including the first. Drawing incomprehensible. [MJ]

Very enjoyable, thanks to Imogen and Calluna. getting the theme did not result in a fill in and lots of the answers were new to me particularly the 5 letter words. All good. [GW]

Another favourite subject of mine, bizarrely got the Easter egg first, then it all fell into place. Great stuff. [SB]

I enjoyed it! 🙂 [HM]

Lovely puzzle to start the year. Thank you. [JT]

Nice gentle start to new year. [PD]

Fun. The first I ever did. [KPH]

I really enjoyed this puzzle. Just the right recipe for the start of a new year, thank you! [SF]

The current Listener puzzle uses the same theme, and requires the same title to be added beneath the solution! [RE]

Good start to the year😎 [DM]

Great start to the year – a fine puzzle and worthy theme. Many thanks [BS]

Very enjoyable again👌 A gentle start to the year😀 [MN]

A happy reminder of a wonderful TV series. “Endeavour” did rather give the game away! And what a splendid anagram of “senior cop terms”. Thankyou for a good start to the year. [SB]

Theme easily found but I am still not sure that some of my answers are correct. A bit tougher than I expected for a starter for the year. [MM]

Good to get 2025 underway with this enjoyable puzzle. [JB]

13ac, 21aw would have been proud! [AG]

Very lively but doable puzzle for first one of the year. Took me a while to find the Easter egg title and still cannot work out relevance of the photo (is it supposed to represent a ‘wood stock’?), or Frank Paul’s picture puzzle, even though I know the answer! [MS]

Days 14 and 35 were last, and the newsletter came to the rescue. Apart from dit/dot confusion [RS]

At first I thought day 11 gave much too much away too soon, enabling me to identify many of the thematic answers and then working out how their clues worked. It was nevertheless quite tricky to finish. Nice start to the new year, thanks. [EF]

Challenging and very fun. Nice theme. [AJ]

Great puzzle to start the year, thanks. [MD]

As a fan of all these policemen I loved the theme and the puzzle some strange words for me but hopefully investgation has solved the puzzle correctly. [JM]

Really liked the cluing. Only one I can’t parse even after the fact, although a few took me most of the month. Emmet, maiko, roose and waler all new to me. Saw all the original Thaw series but the more recent ones are new to me and I look forward to watching. Thanks to Imogen and Calluna, and hope for more of the same! [JS]

Perhaps the hardest January so far. Thanks Imogen! Got there though. [PA]

It was fun 🙂 [KK]

Lovely crossword honouring brilliant books and TV shows! [AR]

i enjoyed my very first 3d calendar crossword but cannot work out this month’s Frank Paul drawing! [SB]

It’s good to get back to all things 3D! [AH]

Really interesting puzzle to solve as a Canadian — I certainly learned a lot of new terms. I originally came up with a very different answer to 18 (8d) that also fits but doesn’t follow the hints that I checked before submitting: US immigrant = NA (abbreviation of naturalized american) + C (a slightly unjustified abbreviation for “child”) + IS “evil” (which I took to mean I should scramble the letters IS within / around NAC) = NASCI (from the Latin verb ‘nascor’ meaning “to be born”… which, if you *really* squint at it could fulfill “to bring up” as the definition part of the clue instead). It is admittedly not NEARLY as clean as the actual solution, but I’m a cryptic newbie (+ 3D crossword newbie!), so I was quite pleased that I had even come up with something halfway logical on my own. Had to do some pretty deep digging to figure out the theme, but now I’ve started watching Inspector Morse and will certainly be tempted to check out the spinoffs 🙂 [MS]

Enjoyed the puzzle – my first one. Already tried to submit once, having trouble. [JC]

Gentle and well clued. I liked FRIJOLE best. [HS]

Obviously the anagram is a complete guess. You’d be surprised how many phrases that sound vaguely like book titles you can make out of those letters. quite a few references that I didn’t get – emmet, maiko, nisei, and waler are resting entirely on wordplay, lumme was only after looking at the hints. Names of thematic actors are largely guesswork on my part. Clues where I actually know the word were a nice gettable challenge. Picture clue almost incomprehensible – fri I get but everything else is a mystery. No idea if the references are ungettable due to my relative youth (32) or lack of knowledge. As always probably both. Looking forward to solutions and also next month’s puzzle even if I suspect I have no chance of getting any prize <3 [BR]

One thought on “3D Crossword Solution – January 2025

  1. I can confirm this was all gettable (with a bit of guesswork at what sounds like a human name) without having ever encountered Inspector Morse in any incarnation and not allowing myself to google. I was close to getting the anagram even, having picked out each word individually from the letters among my many guesses. I will retract my feedback about the puzzle being for old people; clearly I have some TV to catch up on.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *