Many of you will know Neil Talbott, if not in person then at least by reputation. Neil’s crossword-solving skills are pretty good, as a glance at the Magpie stats will show, and a glance at the Listener stats will confirm. Like many of us, Neil has interests outside crosswords. Unlike many of us, those include (more…)
Here Mark Goodliffe, Times crossword solving champion and Magpie editor, gives a little insight into the thought processes that led him to his sixth championship win in 2012. (more…)
I understand that several setters create their crosswords, leave them and solve them again some time later. They then can rewrite those clues that they feel are below the mark and only then send off the puzzle for publication. I have never (more…)
Welcome to Nerdsville, Croatia and the 2012 World Puzzle Championship. With a grandstand view of the island of Krk, it is a place with no vowels, but for one week only the world’s highest concentration of anoraks. Most of you have been to crossword gatherings so you know exactly what I mean. Compared with some of these guys, I’m (more…)
I love Stanley Kubrick’s films, they are visually stunning. Every frame is carefully composed and often carries deeper meaning. I saw a restored version of the film last year at the BFT and I was just as impressed in 2011 as when I had seen it as a teenager in 1968. Its ground-breaking effects earned Kubrick (more…)
The first version of this puzzle was oh so different from the published version. I had the title Highway 61 Revisited and a 5×5 grid spaced out with arrows in between each cell. The clues gave (more…)
A month ago, a casual glance at the UK Puzzle Association online forum alerted me to the fact that within a week there would be a Sudoku/Kenken competition taking place as part of the annual Mind Sports Olympiad in London. I had won the only crossword event held at the MSO, back in 2001. (more…)
As many Magpie solvers will realise this was a follow-on from Dumber Muzzle in Magpie 99. That was compiled in the spirit of “can it be done?”. It had a 7×8 grid with 35 clues. The logic started in a corner and (more…)
4 years ago I was looking up magic square in Chambers and spotted magic pyramid. (more…)
First of all apologies for this being (more…)
