Puzzling

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 li...

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 fo...

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...