Puzzling

Wiley produced two editions of Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies . A paper book, and an eBook. The big downside of an eBook crossword book, however, is that (so far) you can't solve the crosswords on your eBook reader! To counteract this failing, I put together all the blank crossword grids from the book (sans clues — you need the book for them!). Wiley have 'Dummified' the layout, and put them up online .  So, if you have the eBook edition (or want to tackle the crosswords in your paper book a second time), download the free PDF, print the grids out, and solve to your heart's content!

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

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!

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...

My Dummies Cheat Sheets are online at last, and this step really marks the absolute end of work on both books. These Cheat Sheets have some good basic tips on solving cryptics, so keep them bookmarked! Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies Cheat Sheet Understanding Cryptic Clue Anatomy Getting to Grips with Cryptic Devices Tackling Abbreviations Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies Cheat Sheet Making a Start on a Cryptic Crossword Reference List of Common Abbreviations Spotting Indicator Words In a brilliant display of canine reasoning, Petal and Griff have discovered how to travel overseas real cheap! It just might work ...  ;)

Look what just showed up in the post! One of the really REALLY good moments of being an author ... I'm enjoying working at the Attorney-General's Department at the moment, as a copyeditor for their website . It's just a one month contract, so I will only have time to rewrite about 100 pages from their 5,000 page website (which is being completely redesigned as well). Interesting and challenging work, and a lovely team to work with. The only downside is it's a full time job, and I still have to run my business at the same time, only in evenings and on the weekends  :p  So posts may be thinner on the ground until July ...

Hidden word clues are less common in cryptics — a typical cryptic may just have one or two — but they are so nice and easy (which is why they're often in short supply in cryptics!), I thought it would be good to cover them early in the piece. If you can find the hidden word clues in a cryptic, they are a good way to get something  entered into the grid, which in turn will help you get a handle on the other clues. So, why are these clues so easy? Well, the answer to the clue is actually staring you in the face, within the clue! OK, the setter has no doubt tried their best to hide the fact that the answer is right there in front of you, in plain view. So they can be tricky to spot sometimes, but they are basically a very easy clue device. For example, the word PLAN can be hidden inside BI PLAN E. And the word ROSE can be hidden inside the words ALLEG RO SE RENADE. The last example is more typical of these sorts of clues ... the word is often split across two or even three ...

The next clue device we're going to cover is the charade clue. What on earth?!, you ask, and with good cause! Well, you know the parlour game of charades (not that we actually play them any more!)? People guess the name of a book, or a movie, or whatever, and you act out the name in pieces, possibly syllable by syllable, or word by word? Well, these cryptic clues are sort of the same, in that you string together the components of the clue, one after the other, in order. So, for example, the word WHEEL could be clued as W + HEEL. That's a charade, one bit after the other, in order. A few more examples: SLIGHT = S + LIGHT, MANDRAKE = MAN + DRAKE, and GOSLING = GO + SLING. This is a very common cryptic device, and you will come across charade clues in every cryptic crossword. s you can see, it's quite common to need to clue a single letter (such as the W in W+HEEL), so abbreviations are widely used in charade clues. Charades can also be used in conjunction with other devic...

I'm allowed to show you the cover of Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies ! I'm very pleased with this cover, as they've included a photo of mine! I laid out one of the crosswords from the book in Illustrator, and made it look like it's from a newspaper. Then I printed it out, filled in some of the answers, and set up the shot. I removed the Staedtler branding from the pencil in Photoshop ... This book is the 'how to' book on cryptics — there is a whole chapter, with a mini 'tutorial crossword', for each clue device. There are 16 full crosswords to solve (mostly easy ones), info on the history of cryptics, and cryptics around the world, a bunch of reference lists, and lots of hints to help you on your way. It's 200 pages long, and will retail for $19.95 in Australia. It will be available in other countries (New Zealand, UK, USA/Canada etc) too. The Wiley listing is up too, so you can read more about it here .