In aid of RNIB and BBC Children in Need
Clues and Grid by Komorník Enter the prize draw by 31 December. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph that I find difficult to describe: it may be a time-lapsed picture of a firework display, or it could be a waterfall; at any rate it gives the impression of clouds of steam billowing round… Read more Hints & Tips December 2023
Clues and Grid by Soup. Someone will correct me if wrong, but this is the first Alphabetical Jigsaw (AJ) which I recall seeing in the 3D Calendar. I enjoy them very much: they present a different sort of challenge, while obviously offering crucial help, in that one knows — more or less — the initial letter of each item.
Clues and Grid by Soup Enter the prize draw by 30 November. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph showing a meal of alphabetti spaghetti on toast. This puzzle uses a modified 7x5x5 grid by Soup in which the central 7-letter entries have been extended to 9 letters. Clues are given in… Read more Hints & Tips November 2023
Now is the time for you to start preparing your entries for the 2023 World Championship and the RPM Trophy. We are a small team and are always looking for grids for the Calendar Puzzles and the Extra Puzzles, which is why both challenges require the design of a 3D grid, or indeed, if you… Read more 2023 World Championship & RPM Trophy Competitions
Clues and Grid by Shark. The mezzanine floor lives (thanks to Shark and his little grey cells)! I have always thought that we could do more with our interstitial levels — anagrams, Ninas, patterns — and this month Shark has filled them — with words. He has also taken us deep into the realm of highly successful popular culture
Clues and Grid by Shark Enter the prize draw by 31 October. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph showing a firework display viewed from the ramparts of a castle. This puzzle uses an innovative grid by Shark based on an incomplete 5x5x7 grid with some additional features and with a separate 3×5 grid… Read more Hints & Tips October 2023
Clues by Imogen and Grid by Gin. Between the Scylla of what looks to be a monstrous construction by Shark for October and the Charybdian vortex of Sirius’s force-field we find… a normal puzzle, by Imogen and Gin. However, Imogen can be a most proficiently awkward concealer of what he really means, and Gin’s grids always present their themes in ingenious ways.
Clues by Imogen and Grid by Gin Enter the prize draw by 30 September. I seem to hear the strains of Henry Hall and his Orchestra:Away with dull care, the day is set fair, a wireless set near to bring us good cheer! The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph consisting of the outline… Read more Hints & Tips September 2023
Clues by Curmudgeon and Grid by Bozzy. The winner of the July Extra puzzle is Michael Syrotinski. Having written only two months ago of the love which cryptics fans have for Nutmeg, it is sobering now to be reviewing the puzzle — as solvers will have worked out
Clues and Grid by Sirius. The winner of the August puzzle is Sheila Brain of Devon. “How does he do it?” the shouts go up, almost unanimously (Mrs Reviewer might say “Why does he do it” but let’s just say we’re very glad he does). To make a grid and clues out of a landmark piece of social history