Puzzling

I don't have much to write about puzzle-wise today, but I'm just back from a very enjoyable week's holiday with my husband at Huskisson, a little town in Jervis Bay . We stayed at our favourite B&B , run by our friends Kate and Steve. Shark Net Beach at Huskisson is delightful, good rock pools and a great place to swim. Fossils, too! Moona Moona Creek is one of my favourite places, wonderful padding place for kids and ridiculously timid people who don't like snorkelling in deep water (me)! The only reason I could get this photo was the crab was dead.  Zoooombieeee Crraaaaab! There were, of course, many noms. We highly recommend the Huskisson Bakery ... One day we went out on a Dolphin Watch cruise on the bay, and saw dolphins, funnily enough! This one was riding the bow wave with the boat, fabulous to see so close up. And the mangrove boardwalk at the Lady Denman Maritime Museum was a pleasant p...

My buddy Catherine over at The Clue Detective Puzzle Agency runs a weekly puzzle competition via her free weekly newsletter. The prize is an annual membership, so it's well worth your while heading over there and subscribing . No strings attached — you've got nothing to lose! The Clue Detective site is the only place in the world where you can access my latest Nixie cryptics regularly. I'm heading off on a week's holiday at the coast, so will catch you all when I get back  :)

Answers to that last lot of clues ... 1) Following Albert to the side (7) = LATERAL Following  = LATER + Albert  = AL 2) Romeo left weird herbalists’ institute (9)  = ESTABLISH Romeo = R. Remove R from herbalists, and jumble up these letters (indicated by weird). Institute , the definition, is a verb, not a noun. 3) Greek character is against red Italian wine (7) = CHIANTI Greek character = CHI + is against  = ANTI 4) Flower occurs randomly (6) = CROCUS Anagram of occurs 5) Beyond a minor role (5) = EXTRA Double definition clue, beyond what you need is extra, and an extra is someone who plays a minor role in a drama. 6) Clever and dynamic   mediator heads off (6) = ADROIT Anagram with a deletion. Take the heads off  the word mediator = DIATOR. Jumbled them up (in a dynamic ) way, to get the answer! How did you get on?

Some new clues for you to try! 1) Following Albert to the side (7) 2) Romeo left weird herbalists’ institute (9) 3) Greek character is against red Italian wine (7) 4) Flower occurs randomly (6) 5) Beyond a minor role (5) 6) Clever and dynamic mediator heads off (6) If you'd like to get my Nixie cryptics on a regular basis, I publish a new cryptic every fortnight (2 weeks) over at the Clue Detective Puzzle Agency . There's a special deal on at the moment, use the code NIXIE in checkout to get a 10% discount on membership.

Well, I gotta say guys, I'm impressed! Those were a good bunch of clue entries, and it was tricky to select the three prize winners. But with the help of my friend the Puzzle Wizard (thanks Greg!), I've settled on three winners for this clue competition. Griff's impressed too ... As you'll all recall, the competition was for an anagram clue for the word INTERCHANGE. 1st Prize: Tech grannie flipped switch (Mike Weepie) Switch is the definition in this clue, and the wordplay is an anagram (indicated by flipped ) of tech grannie. Great mental image, too! I wonder if she works as a DJ ... or an electrical engineer perhaps? 2nd Prize: Bizarre etching near confluence of highway (Norm H) Confluence of highways is the definition, the anagram indicator is bizarre,  and the anagram fodder is  etching near. I wonder if the etching is evidence of aliens?! 3rd Prize: Cloverleaf in modified gene chart (Len Elliott — who was a prize winner in my first clue comp...