Puzzling

Today is the 15th birthday of my business, Sutherland Studios . And it's Chrissie time. So to celebrate, I'm giving you pressies — no other course of action else makes sense! Here's the challenge, should you choose to accept it! Write a cryptic clue of your very own, using an anagram, for the answer word CHRISTMAS.  Write your clue, and an explanation of how it works, in a comment, below this post. Don't be scared, you can do it. It's even fun (honest)! Your clue can be quirky, surreal, funny, serious, whatever you like. It needs to read well, like a mini phrase or sentence (not just a random assortment of words stuck together). Creativity and clue accuracy are what I'll be looking for. Here are some tips to help you get started. Your cryptic clue will need: 1) A definition for CHRISTMAS — this can be as simple, as oblique, or as silly as you like. The definition needs to be at the start or end of the clue (not stuck in the middle). 2) An anag

My analysis of the clues from the Gemini Cryptic Crossword from The Canberra Times , Friday 14 December 2012. As usual, the definitions are underlined (except in double definition and cryptic definition clues). Across 1. Son of Susie? (5) = ISSUE An anagram that doesn't really have an anagram indicator, although it could be argued that the question mark serves that purpose. I don't think it's fair, though. The anagram fodder is Susie. ISSUE is defined here as progeny/children (hence son ) . 4. Constitutional nature's changed (7) = SAUNTER Changed  is the anagram indicator, and nature's  is the fodder. A constitutional  is a rather old-fashioned term for a regular walk (good for the constitution, don'tcha know). 8. Dad's silent partner (3) = MUM Cute double definition clue. Mum is Dad's partner, but it's also a word that means to be quiet. 9. An order without speech (9) = TRAPPISTS Cryptic definition. The Trappist monks are an

At last, there's a crossword app just for us foodies! My new Gourmet Crosswords app has just been launched, for all iOS devices (apart from very old devices, as Apple no longer supports them in new apps, unfortunately). There are 25 crosswords, all 15 x 15 grids, for only 99¢. As with our QuickBreak apps, the crosswords are completely customisable: you can change the backgrounds, grid colours, letter colours, highlight colours, and choose between five different fonts. We've added a nice new script fancy font. The graphics feature one of my watercolours, a still life with figs. So — just how good a gourmand are you? Test out your knowledge of cooking techniques, international recipes, ingredients, wines, and spirits on the Gourmet Crosswords to find out! Can you score 100%?! 

It's been a while, sorry! Anyway, here is the analysis of the Gemini Cryptic from The Canberra Times, Monday 19 November. The definition is underlined, except in double definition and cryptic definition clues. ACROSS 1) Oversight the foreman's responsible for ? (11) = SUPERVISION Cryptic definition. 'Over sight' is sort of a coined definition for 'super vision'. What the foreman is responsible for  is the definition. 9) Threatens to finish in bad spirits (7) = IMPENDS Container. Finish = END. Put it in  IMPS ( bad spirits). IMP(END)S. 10) It limits the field to insure against betting losses (5) = HEDGE Double definition. A HEDGE can limit the field  (as in bordering a garden or field), and a HEDGE fund is one that insures against betting losses  (speculation losses, rather than race track betting losses). 11) Rent is said to have been raised (4) = HIRE Homophone, indicated by is said . As is common with homophone clues, it's not

Because I've written so damn MANY crosswords over the last few years, we've already got Volume 2 of our Quick Break app up and running ! So - same awesome interface - 50 new crosswords - with a supercool red look, instead of purple. As with Quick Break 1, you can customise the interface in roughly a trillion ways. Check it out! It's shiny!

Thank you! Thank you so much for helping to correct thousands, if not millions, of pages of scanned text! What? You aren't doing anything of the sort? Oh, yes you are ... read on! Optical character recognition (OCR) is the method used to digitise printed material — old newspapers and book, for example, can be scanned using OCR technology, and then we can access them online. The National Library of Australia uses this technology for its massive  Trove database, for example. The problem with OCR is that it's not always that accurate, especially from older printed material with yellowing paper and faded or smudged ink. It is a lot better than it used to be, but is still far from 100% accurate — 80% accuracy is more typical. So the resulting scanned texts have a lot of errors! Here's an example: We  can read the top sentence of scanned type (This aged portion of society were distinguished from ...) , because us humans are fucking brilliant, but a computer h

I'm very excited to announce that my first app is up for sale on the iTunes App Store! My husband Ralph and I have been working on this for ages — he is the expert code monkey, and I've done the graphics and written all the crosswords. My Quick Break crosswords have appeared for years in The Cairns Post.  They are 13 x 13 quick crosswords (not cryptic), and mostly quite easy to solve, with the occasional tricky word. I am no longer doing syndicated puzzles for newspapers (a rapidly dying field), so apps are the way forward. This first volume contains 50 of my Quick Break crosswords. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 are in production. Here are some screen shots to entice you!  Just tap on the grid to bring up the keyboard, then start typing in your answers: You can choose from four fonts and nine background papers, including dark papers and crumpled paper with coffee stains! And you can choose the colours for everything - the grid, the text, and the highlight colo

Apologies for the silence here — I'm doing a short contract as a publications editor for Early Childhood Australia , and don't have the time to write for the blog. Normal service shall resume in two weeks! xo Denise

Phill Berrie has very kindly posted his review of Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies  on Goodreads. Thanks Phill!

As well as writing puzzles, I am also an editor and indexer (cos, let's face it, writing puzzles is no damn way to earn an income!). As an indexing exercise, I recently finished writing an index for the book Quirkology , by Richard Wiseman. An interesting book that suffers from the lack of an index. It's beyond me why authors of non-fiction pass up indexes for their books ... Anyway, that's a rant for another time. You are welcome to download the PDF of the index for free, and print it out. Then you can refer to it when reading your copy of the book! There are two versions of the file: A4 Quirkology Index This index is a straight forward layout, on A4 (will resize to US Letter easily), and you can print it either single or double-sided as you prefer. Staple them together. Booklet Quirkology Index This file has been designed to make a little booklet that can be slotted into the back of your copy of Quirkology . To use this file, you need to be a

So. Reversals. I bet you have already figured out how this cryptic wordplay works! Yes indeed, some letters or words are run backwards to help get to the answer. In English, some words are perfect reversals of each other - TIPS / SPIT, SERIF / FIRES, GUM / MUG, and KEEP / PEEK are just a few. These sorts of words are called anadromes . And you will know what palindromes are no doubt, those tricky words which read the same backwards and forwards! EVE, RADAR, TOT, and so on. In cryptic clues, either the whole answer word can be clued with a "perfect" reversal (eg WOLF reversing to give FLOW), or as is more common, (let's face it, not that many words form perfect anadromes), the reversal forms part of the wordplay, in combination with another device (especially charades ). They also have reversal indicator words, so you get some instruction on what to do. Here's an example of a "pure" reversal clue: Pam runs back to get a chart (3)  Pam  is th

This is the Gemini Cryptic from Friday 31 August's Canberra Times . And what a freezing cold snowy day it was! Best to be curled up inside with a hot cup of something and a nice cryptic to work out. As usual, the definition is underlined, except in double definition and cryptic definition clues. ACROSS 1. Has second thoughts about a hundred workers (7) = RECANTS Charade. About  = RE + a = A + hundred = C + workers  = ANTS 5. Approaches a listener in two directions (5) = NEARS A container clue. A listener = EAR, put in two directions (North and South) > N(EAR)S 8. Dead Roman exchanged for wife of Perseus (9) = ANDROMEDA An anagram ( exchanged ) of dead Roman. 9. Left with a thousand to beat (3) = LAM Charade. Left =  L + a = A + thousand = M 10. They take turns on and off (4) = TAPS Cryptic definition. Taps turn, and turn on and off ... 12. Plant it in haste (8) = CELERITY Container. Put it in a plant (CELERY) - CELER(IT)Y 14. Display by

On Friday 31 August I was interviewed by Louise Maher on ABC 666 Canberra's Drive program, for their "Lesson 101" slot. You can read about and hear the interview here.

On Saturday 25th August we all gathered at Paperchain Bookstore in Manuka to celebrate the launch of Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies and Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies! My second technical editor, Deborah Green came from interstate for the event, and stayed with us overnight. We all got dolled up — the crossword corset had its first outing — and headed for Manuka, with a car full of nommy goodies! This was a really exciting day for me, as — although I have written 5 books now — these are the first ones I've had a proper book launch for. The place was packed — 50 or 60 people came along, many of whom were long-lost friends, as well as many new friends and family. Indexers and BookCrossers were well represented! My high school English teacher (now principal of Narrabundah College) Kerrie Grundy gave the introductory speech. I won't mention how long ago it was that she taught me! I then gave my 15 minute talk. No-one dozed off,

This week I've spotted my books in several book shops - very exciting! It never gets old  :) At Kinokuniya in Sydney ... At Paperchain in Canberra (excuse the blurry iPod Touch photo), where they are already selling well ... And I signed the sole copy at Dymocks Tuggeranong, so it got a special sticker!

Here's my break down of the clues from the Gemini Cryptic Crossword from The Canberra Times , Monday 13 August 2012. I solved this one on the train up to Sydney (the only civilised way to travel!),  on a very foggy wintery morning: As usual, definitions are underlined (except in double definition and cryptic definition clues). Across 1. Tries to correct extreme spin (11) = EXPERIMENTS An anagram (indicated by correct )  of extreme spin 9. Reversion to type puts Mavis at variance (7) =   ATAVISM An anagram ( variance ) of Mavis at.  Atavism is a less common word (I had to look it up). Its dictionary definition is: "reversion to something ancient or ancestral" 10. Issue foreign coins (5) = SCION An anagram ( foreign ) of coins.  A scion is a descendant from a notable family, so issue  here has the meaning of "children". 11. Touch with an oral greeting (4)  = KISS A double definition clue. Billiard balls can kiss, meaning to lightly touc

Well, Crossword Biscuit. But I couldn't resist the alliteration  :) Here is my method of how to make crossword biscuits. It's adapted from the  decoration technique  outlined on the Cake or Death? website. You will need: plain smooth biscuits / cookies fondant icing (comes in a box, usually) icing sugar a little sugar syrup or sieved, warm jam black paste food colouring black edible ink pen a rolling pin pastry brush a small knife a very clean ruler, or a chef's knife a thin paint brush a tiny dish a crossword grid design from a newspaper or online How to do the crossword decoration Dust the bench with icing sugar, and roll out a little of the fondant thinly. Coat the biscuit with a swipe of warmed, sieved jam, or the sugar syrup. This helps the fondant icing to stick to the biscuit. Carefully lift the piece of fondant icing, and press it onto the biscuit. Trim around the edges with the little knife.  Repeat for the r

Double definitions are cute little cryptic clues. They break the usual Definition + Wordplay = Answer  cryptic equation. With these clues (as you may have already surmised) the equation is Definition + Definition = Answer. English is a language with masses of redundancy. There are multiple ways of saying most things, and many words have multiple meanings. So with this sort of cryptic clue, the clue simply presents two definitions of the same word, one after the other. Indicator words are not usually used (if they are, they are words like and, or, but, gives, provides, or though, or some punctuation such as a comma, dash, or apostrophe S). Here's an example: Baby cow's leg part (4) = CALF As you can no doubt see, CALF is the name of both a baby cow , and a leg part.  While they seem ridiculously simple in essence, these clues can be very difficult to spot 'in the wild' amongst a bunch of cryptic clues with a crossword. You are all keyed up to looking for indica