In aid of RNIB and BBC Children in Need
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
Clues and Grid by Sirius Enter the prize draw by 31 August. The background for this puzzle is a CC0 image representing a magnetic diamond set in a polarised force field. This puzzle uses an eight dials torus grid with the dials presented on top of each other as a cylinder, modelling a cylindrical magnet in a… Read more Hints & Tips August 2023
Clues by Enigmatist and Grid by etc. The winner of the July puzzle is Norah Clewes of Cheshire. Setters and designers like to set themselves tasks: for some it is the pangram (or, for the really twisted, the triple pangram); for others the hiding of a theme
Clues by Enigmatist and Grid by etc Enter the prize draw by 31 July. The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph showing the quayside in an English port. This puzzle uses a conventional 7x5x5 grid by etc and marks the 250th anniversary of an event (this should give you the year, but the event… Read more Hints & Tips July 2023
Nutmeg (Margaret Irvine) has been a marvellous setter for the 3D Calendar from 2014 until 2023. Ten years of consistent brilliance. Three of your current 3D team have had their grids clued by her: Nora (Bozzy) once, Jos (Jolt) twice and myself (Mang) thrice, including this year’s June 2023 puzzle. We are so grateful to… Read more Margaret Irvine: A Tribute to Nutmeg
Clues by Tramp and Grid by Rikki. The winner of the June puzzle is Steve Trollope of South Australia. I must start with the top left of the calendar page, and the remarkable additional clue which Graham Fox—or Rikki, or Jolt?—included in the background picture! Well—to quote the song—whoever it was, I’m a fan.