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
Each 2023 3D crossword puzzle will be published below by the beginning of the month. The deadline to enter the prize draw for regular monthly puzzles will be the last day of that month. Extra puzzles will be added from time to time and will have later, mid-month deadlines.
Hints & Tips: If you need helping cracking that last clue, or even getting started, hints and tips for regular puzzles will be published usually in the last week of each month. Subscribe to the Hints & Tips newsletter to receive them by email.
2023 3D Crosswords World Championship: Solvers who buy the calendar and correctly solve 12 puzzles by the due date each month will be eligible to enter our annual tie-break competition for the 2023 3D Crosswords World Championship. If you have been entering the monthly competitions, you can check your progress towards the tie-break qualification.
Clues and Grid by Shark Theme: Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen The winner of the November puzzle is Robin Smith. Review of the November 2022 3D crossword Shark is a setter I don’t know personally, and I’m not sure where to find more Shark puzzles, though I know some have appeared in the Listener… Read more 3D Crossword Solution – November 2022
Clues and Grid by Shark The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph of an underground vault of Middle Eastern appearance. This puzzle by Shark uses an innovative and appropriate grid of 4 square layers widening from 3×3 at the top to 9×9 at the bottom and marks 100 years since a famous… Read more Hints & Tips November 2022
This year we introduced a vote from solvers to select the 3D Calendar puzzle of the year. The clear winners were Sirius and Enigmatist with their amazing two sphere tribute to Araucaria with Shark’s inspired Freddie Mercury/Farrokh Balsara puzzle as runner up. Each voter was permitted three votes to be allocated as they felt appropriate.… Read more 2021 Puzzle of the Year
Each 2022 3D crossword puzzle will be published below by the beginning of the month. The deadline to enter the prize draw for regular monthly puzzles will be the last day of that month. Extra puzzles will be added from time to time and will have later, mid-month deadlines.
Hints & Tips: If you need helping cracking that last clue, or even getting started, hints and tips for regular puzzles will be published in the second half of each month. Subscribe to the Hints & Tips newsletter to receive them by email.
2022 3D Crosswords World Championship: Solvers who buy the calendar and correctly solve 12 puzzles by the due date each month will be eligible to enter our annual tie-break competition for the 2022 3D Crosswords World Championship. If you have been entering the monthly competitions, you can check your progress towards the tie-break qualification.
You are invited to vote for your favourite puzzle of the year from the 12 puzzles featured in the Calendar plus the November Extra puzzle.
You are allowed to allocate a total of 3 votes. All 3 may be allocated to one puzzle, or two votes to one puzzle and a single vote to a second puzzle, or one vote each to three puzzles.
All our solvers and contributors are encouraged to vote. The only rule is that setters and designers don’t vote for their own creations, magnificent as these might be.
Clues and grid by Shark. The winner of the September puzzle was Jake Schumacher from Champaign, IL, USA. The instructions were lengthy. We were told that the crossword celebrates the unclued 5ac 13ac’s 75th anniversary (and later this year a 30th anniversary).
Clues and Grid by Shark The background for this puzzle is a posterised black and white Graham Fox photograph showing two bicycles. The 5x5x7 grid celebrates the 75th anniversary of the birth of 5ac 13ac (“the star”) and also a 30th anniversary later this year. Twenty answers must have the same thematic letter inserted or… Read more Hints & Tips September 2021
2021 puzzles
Happy New Year solvers! The 2021 3D crossword puzzles will be made available progressively throughout the year. The deadline to enter the prize draw for regular monthly puzzles will be the last day of that month. Extra puzzles will be added from time to time and will have later, mid-month deadlines.
Hints and tips for each puzzle will be published sometime in the middle of each month. Subscribe to the Hints & Tips newsletter to receive them by email.
Solvers who buy the calendar and correctly solve 12 puzzles by the due date each month will be eligible to enter our annual tie-break competition for the 2021 3D Crosswords World Championship. If you have been entering the monthly competitions, you can check your progress towards the tie-break qualification.
You are invited to vote for your favourite puzzle of the year from the 13 puzzles featured in the Calendar (the extra puzzle was Sirius and Enigmatist’s tribute to Araucaria) plus the August extra puzzle.
You are allowed to allocate a total of 3 votes. All 3 may be allocated to one puzzle, or two votes to one puzzle and a single vote to a second puzzle, or one vote each to three puzzles.
All our solvers and contributors are encouraged to vote. The only rule is that setters and designers don’t vote for their own creations, magnificent as these might be.