Puzzling

Griff joined our family yesterday! He's a long-haired chihuahua, and about 10 weeks old. Miss Petal isn't sure about this new development, but hopefully they will eventually be good friends. I wonder if she's thinking "If I don't look at it, it doesn't exist..." He rather likes playing with balls, and does an expert 'commando roll' too!

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...

In wandering through the world of crosswords you may have come across puzzles called cryptic crosswords. And they certainly are just that — completely cryptic and incomprehensible! Instead of a regular 'synonym' clue that you'd find in any self-respecting normal crossword  (such as: Nocturnal mammal (6) - the answer to which is BADGER), you are presented with totally ridiculous clues like Dogs going up in big rocket (5) or Writer's enclosure (3)! Cryptic crosswords are a variation on 'regular' crosswords, where each clue is a mini wordplay puzzle. Once you've 'cracked the code' on how to read them, they are wonderful fun to solve, and a great mental workout. They're my favourite puzzle to solve, and to write (so much more interesting than just writing definition/synonym clues!). Crosswords were invented by Arthur Wynne in 1913 — a Brit living in America. His invention rapidly grew in popularity, and leap across the oceans to the UK. In Brita...

Since 2007 , I've been working on my  Master Word List , something every professional crossword writer needs. The fact that it still isn't done shows that I obviously don't work on it regularly! It's a bit of a tedious task, to be honest. Crossword words are an unusual subset — plurals, superlative forms (-ier -est) and verb & adverb forms (-ing -ly etc) are best avoided, there should no offensive or swear words, no gory, medical or highly technical terms, no sexual terms or slang, no really depressing words ( coffin, cadaver, suicide  etc), and no American spellings (for Aussie crosswords anyway). So I'm removing as many words as I'm putting in. I'm adding things like well known Australian slang, place names from around the world, foody terms, very short phrases, and names of well known people. My word list helps give the crosswords I write "my style", so it's a vital part of my professional 'tool kit'. The 'raw...

Did you know that English is supremely well-suited to puzzle writing? Some languages just don't have many word puzzles like crosswords (such as many Asian languages). English is so good for word play, puns, and puzzles because it has huge redundancy — there are generally lots of different ways of expressing the same general idea. For example, if you want to say you're happy , you could also say you're :  cheerful, delighted,  carefree,  cheery ,  merry ,  joyful ,  jovial , jolly, gleeful, smiling, lighthearted, pleased, contented, gratified, bouyant, radiant, sunny, blithe, sunny, joyous, chirpy, elated, over the moon, tickled pink, on a high, happy as a clam, or even jocund,  and that is only half of the synonyms for happy ! You never need be lost for words! The full English vocabulary is also massive. It is probable that English has more words in it than any other language (see  what the Oxford Dictionary bods have to say on this subject...

OK, and on with the story ... and then we can really get stuck into puzzles and words and stuff. Over the years (1990s and on) I kept working on puzzles on and off, but I was also running a graphic design business and homeschooling my kids, and wasn't doing puzzles that seriously. In 1997, when I was a web developer for the Australian Science Archives Project, I managed to sneak in a collection of puzzles , so clearly they were always something I was thinking about! Finally, I had the opportunity to write a puzzle book about animals for the RSPCA. The Amazing Animal Puzzle Book came out in 2002. I was ready for a change in the business, and decided to give puzzles a proper try. I did some cold calling (yuck!) and actually landed a job writing a book for the Royal Flying Doctor Service  in 2003 — I specialise in 'themed' puzzles, puzzles written on a particular topic, so for this book the entire book was about the RFDS, and was printed in large quantities and given to...

So, how does one become a puzzle writer? This is a question I hear a lot, especially after someone asks me what I do, and the usual double-take, LOL! There's no real point in my life where I can say " That's when I decided to be a puzzle writer." I was always writing little books of crafts and activities for my younger brothers and sisters, which often included little mazes or other puzzles (and indexes, funnily enough, but that's a story for later!). I spent a great deal of time in hospital and immobilised in body plaster as a child (I was born with hip dysplasia ), and I suppose that set the pattern for me for a lot of drawing, reading, and doing kid's activity books. My parents got me a subscription to the excellent children's magazine Cricket , which I received from its very first issue. I especially loved the puzzle pages. As a teen, I remember having a soma cube , tangrams , jigsaws, and of course Rubik's Cube, later on. I often solved cross...