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Hints and tips for solving cryptic crossword clues.
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Clues and Grid by Soup Enter the prize draw by 30 November. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph depicting many large spools of thread. This puzzle by Soup uses an unconventional 7x5x5 grid in which the numbers are placed in shaded squares. Every clue gives rise to an eight-letter solution. These should be… Read more Hints & Tips November 2024
Clues by Enigmatist and Grid by Bozzy Enter the prize draw by 31 October. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph depicting many large barrels. This puzzle by Enigmatist uses a conventional 7x5x6 grid by Bozzy and commemorates an event whose name appears unclued in the grid (Day 15). Both clues and solutions include… Read more Hints & Tips October 2024
Clues by Paul and Grid by etc Enter the prize draw by 30 September. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph depicting a starry night sky. Insistent rhythms on the strings herald the arrival of ominous brass… This puzzle by Paul uses a seven dials grid by etc and celebrates the 150th anniversary of… Read more Hints & Tips September 2024
Clues and Grid by Sirius Enter the prize draw by 31 August. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph depicting red and blue umbrellas. This puzzle by Sirius uses an eight dials torus grid with some adjustments and notes three anniversaries of 125, 60 and 24.5 years. Not 2 and 10, though they do… Read more Hints & Tips August 2024
Clues by Curmudgeon and Grid by Chalicea Enter the prize draw by 31 July. To the stirring strains of electronic music we see white-clad figures running along the beach at Broadstairs St. Andrews… The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph of a sunset (or sunrise) over a beach with figures running and walking in… Read more Hints & Tips July 2024
Clues and Grid by Shark Enter the prize draw by 30 June. The background for this puzzle is a photograph of a chrysalis (of a monarch butterfly?) by icewerks. A whooshing sound gradually increases heralding the arrival of a 3D puzzle grid… This puzzle by Shark uses a conventional 7x5x7 grid and concerns a term first coined… Read more Hints & Tips June 2024
Clues and Grid by Komorník Enter the prize draw by 31 May. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph showing birds perching on telephone wires. In his notes, Graham singled this out as his favourite photograph of this year’s calendar, with the arrangement of the birds on the five wires suggesting notation appropriate to… Read more Hints & Tips May 2024
Clues by Tramp and Grid by Calluna Enter the prize draw by 30 April. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph showing an old-style tram carriage with reversible seats. This puzzle uses a conventional 9x5x5 grid by Calluna and marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one represented in the grid in various… Read more Hints & Tips April 2024
Clues by Carpathian and Grid by Patch Enter the prize draw by 31 March. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph showing a colourful seaside village with a prominent lifebelt. This puzzle uses a conventional 7x5x6 grid by Patch and marks the centenary of the foundation of a body. The red cells contain the… Read more Hints & Tips March 2024
Clues by Arachne and Grid by Rikki Enter the prize draw by 29 February. Our monitoring stations have intercepted an intriguing message. It seems to have been written by an operative codenamed Arachne based on a design by an operative codenamed Rikki. The first page is a photograph (bearing the name Andrew Littlewood) showing the… Read more Hints & Tips February 2024