Puzzling

Just in case the plethora of crossword magazines out there isn't enough for you — "More, more!" I hear you cry! — there are vast numbers of online crossword sites.   The Guardian  website has a huge collection of cryptic and quick crosswords, from over 30 setters.  They have an archive crossword search function, so you can easily locate puzzles by your favourite setter, type, or publication date. You can also sign up for the crossword editor’s monthly update email, and participate in discussions about each crossword in comments below each crossword. You can either solve them online, or download print versions to do with pencil on paper. The Puzzle Wizard series of magazines is  produced by the excellent independent Australian puzzle writer and publisher, Greg Parker. His  website includes a bunch of puzzles to solve online.  There are six crossword themes you can choose from Straight Crosswords, Movies, AFL, Cricket, Music, and Telev...

This year marks the centenary of the crossword! It was invented by Arthur Wynne , a British journalist working in New York at the time, on the New York World . Part of his job was to put together a page of puzzles for the Sunday edition of the paper. On 21 December 1913, he put in a new puzzle of his own invention — a Word-Cross Puzzle . A few weeks later a typesetter at the paper made a mistake, and set 'Cross Word Puzzle' instead of its original name, and then another mistake led to the hyphen being dropped — giving us Crossword. I will go into the further history of the crossword in later posts, but for now, I thought you'd like to see what this first crossword puzzle looked like! Later on Wynne added more black squares to separate words, and changed the numbering and the shape. But this diamond design was the very first one! Have a go at solving it, if you like  :) Answers are below (select them to view them). I've given links to more information on the...

The crossword was invented nearly exactly 100 years ago — yes, 2103 is its centenary! We all know that in that time it's spread throughout all English-speaking countries. But what about other countries? The answer is a resounding yes! In almost every country that I researched, they have crosswords. The forms are often a bit different from what we're used to — the grids are often non-symmetrical, 2-letter words are allowed, accented characters are often ignored, and sometimes the clues are written into the black squares. Here are some links to crossword sites from other countries, for your enjoyment. Afrikaans blokkieraaisel Part of a Chinese crossword Chinese   填字游戏 Danish  kryds og tværs Dutch  kruiswoordraadsel Finnish crosswords often include picture clues Finnish  Sanaristikko   French grids use a different numbering system French mots croises A German crossword German Kreuzworträtsel Greek ...

I'm very happy to announce our latest app: Crosswords For Kids ! I noticed a while back that all of the crossword apps for children were aimed at the 5 year olds, with pictures of cats and cars and hats as clues. But what about all the kids older than 5 who like word games? Adult crosswords are too hard for them, but those little kiddie crosswords are way too easy. Enter Crosswords For Kids . I wrote all of the crosswords in this app for kids around 10-13 years old (give or take a few years!). The clues are easier, and the vocabulary is easier. There are clues that mention Adventure Time, My Little Pony, The Simpson, Muppets,  Harry Potter, and other 'pop culture' references.I even know adults who are enjoying solving these. As with our other crossword apps, the interface is completely customisable. You can choose the colours of the background, grid, letters, and highlight. You can choose from five fonts. There are solving aids, too, like having incorrect letters...

American and British crosswords. Is there a difference? The short answer is HELL YES! Now for the long answer ... There are major differences between American-style and British-style crosswords (which are seen in Commonwealth countries too).  Crosswords were started by Arthur Wynne in 1913, a British man who lived in America, so both countries claim a close connection with the development of this popular puzzle. They developed in slightly different directions in each country, which has led to the varieties we see today. American-style crosswords are almost exclusively published in America, while British-style crosswords have spread through the Commonwealth — Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and other English-speaking nations tend to prefer this variety of the puzzle, as well as the United Kingdom, of course. A quick look at these grids will show you the most obvious difference between the two varieties : British-style 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!

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 highligh...

I'm on holidays at the moment, hence the hiatus ... But as I sit here knitting by the fire at the delightful Huskisson B&B , I've remembered my 1 Across Beanie. It is a crossword beanie pattern I designed, which is published on the free online knitting magazine, Knitty. So, if it's heading into winter where you live, as it is here in Australia, and you're a knitter, you might like to give it a whirl! There are a couple of design variations, and you can choose an American style crossword grid, or a British style grid. My gorgeous daughter Jen is the model ... And yes, she's wearing a wig ;)   1 Across on Knitty.com 1 Across on Ravelry The Ravelry page has a smaller size variation, as the original design is rather large.

The writing of both books is DONE, thank heavens. All that remains now is to proofread and make final corrections on the second book ( Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies ), which mainly involves checking all 56 of the crosswords yet again. I will only get a week to do this in, the proofs will probably arrive tomorrow. So, in 4 months I wrote two whole Dummies books, with around 2,500 cryptic clues between them. If there's ever a Volume 2 of the crosswords, I definitely want more time! I can handle writing one cryptic a day – it's intense, but do-able ... more than that is dreadfully exhausting (I've been averaging 1.5 crosswords a day for the past several months). Griff is glad I can leave my desk sometimes, now!

I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the specialist software that helps me to write my cryptic crosswords. The latest tool in my arsenal is Wordplay Wizard , the creation of "Crossword Man", British-born Ross Beresford. He has several other programs for writing crosswords, but as I have custom crossword software written by my husband, all I need is this little one. This is PC only software, so I especially got Parallels Desktop 7 and Windows 7 for my Mac, and Wordplay Wizard runs beautifully in a separate window on my Mac desktop. So, what does Wordplay Wizard do? Well, it is rather awesome (I get excited by it, anyway!) ... you type in a word, any word (in fact, any collection of letters), and it will bring up all the possible arrangements and ways of clueing that word with a cryptic device! When you have to write as many cryptic crosswords as I do at the moment (1-2 full crosswords per day, which is about 30-70 clues!), you can see that this is an a...

Is this the perfect teapot for me? Yes, yes it is ... A Peter Cardew design from 2008. I managed to find the single stockist that still had them (in the States), they shipped it to a friend in the USA, and she shipped it on to me! I especially love the fountain pen handle on the lid! And it pours very well. Disappointingly, not all the words are tea-related, they've put a bunch of coffee words in there too! Clearly they didn't get a crossword setter in to help with the design ... but otherwise, it's great. I love that it's on a British grid, too, as most 'crossword-themed' paraphernalia seems to have American grids. I've been rather silent of late, sorry, but work on the two Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies book is occupying all my time and brains. The first deadline has been met, for all the 'how to' chapters, and I'm now well into writing the puzzles for the books. I also have to stay on top of my syndicated puzzle commitments!

It's official, folks! I've just landed the book deal to write TWO new Dummies titles with Wiley Australia ... both due at the same time  O.o  The books will be out in August 2012. Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies will be the 'how to' book, which I've been wanting to write for years now ... I first submitted the proposal to Wiley USA three years ago! (Wrong market, cryptics are not widely done in the States). I updated my proposal, and sent it off to Wiley Oz a few months ago, and it's got the green light! Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies will be the companion volume, which will contain a goodly collection of cryptic crosswords to solve, with a brief intro and solving tips (cribbed from the main book). Both manuscripts due by early April 2012. SOON. Eeeeek. To ease the panic I'm now in, here's a cute puppy piccie, of Griff just after his bath — where did all the floof go?! He is a very wriggly energetic puppy, with an advanced case of h...

So — how do you define a cryptic crossword clue? Well, they have two parts, typically. Every cryptic clue contains : 1) The base clue / definition. This is like a regular crossword clue. Yup. It may not be obvious (in fact, it almost definitely won't be), but the straight definition of the answer is really in there, in plain view. The base clue is usually at the start or end of a clue (but not in the middle). 2) Word play of some sort. This is where the fun (or aggravating) bit comes in! The word play is basically coded instructions on how to create the answer word, maybe using anagrams, or adding and subtracting letters, or a whole host of other tricks. The thing I really like about cryptic clues is that they're sort of 'self-checking' — so when you think you've got the answer, the 'base clue' part of the clue should suddenly make sense, and you'll get that 'Ahh haaaaa!' moment. So the clue should 'confirm' itself. Here...