Latest News, Blog and Editorial

Star Grazing — Starhunts celebrities (Issue 53)

» Code Cracker Starhunts Issue No.53 – on sale December 16! More infoTo learn more about celebrities featured in this bi-monthly issue of Code Cracker Starhunts, please make a selection:

Connie Booth
Rose Byrne

Simon Pegg
Eric Roberts

Rupert Friend

» Connie BoothConnie Booth is an American-born actress most famous for her role as Polly Sherman, the sensible maid and [more…]

Christine’s Hello – December 2009

Christmas is just around the corner and feasting is one of the most pleasurable ways to celebrate the season.

Turkey, ham and mince pies spring to mind when I picture my table on Christmas day, however there are many forms of ‘Christmas fare’ eaten around the world.

Kiviak is a gastronomical Christmas treat from Greenland and [more…]

Maxi mad

MAXI MAXI MAXI, just thought I would let you know how much I really enjoy your Cluewords editions. Would love to see either more of the Maxi’s or maybe even a whole book dedicated to the MAX..
Love your puzzles
Kerry Dyer

Asleep on the job? MEGA! 59 Contests

The Mega Stinker was as smelly as usual in issue No. 59. It was enough to keep some of you awake especially at 47dn where ‘Wakefulness’ was INSOMNIA and not IMSOMNIA.

As you saw the sun come up you may have been tackling 134ac ‘Solar radiation (1,1-1)’. This was UV-B not USB or UBB. Ultraviolet [more…]

For the birds – OCT BIG Contests

As this is our Christmas issue I am going to try and stick to writing only about words that make us feel good.

Our clue for HALCYON was ‘Golden (past)’ but the word came from a Greek myth about a bird (no not a partridge) and has a Christmas association.

Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus, who controlled [more…]

Cryptic Convert

Thank you so much for the wonderful surprise of 2 Cryptic Puzzle books that landed on my doorstep yesterday.
I have been doing your puzzles for years and last year my partner taught me how to do cryptics, and they have quickly become my favourite puzzles.
I spend an hour nearly every morning doing your puzzles [more…]

Scuttlebutt

This is a wonderful slang word for gossip and we have to thank sailors for it.

Water for drinking on a ship was kept in a butt, or a large cask. The cask was scuttled, that is, a hole was cut in it, usually with a hatch as a lid. The hatch could be lifted [more…]

Fuddy-duddy

If someone calls you a pompous old fuddy-duddy you will no doubt take offense.
This term meaning stuffy and old-fashioned might well sound like a stuffy old-fashioned expression, but it has only been around for a short time really – well around 100 years, which is recent when you think that so much of our [more…]

Lovatts gets brain exercising

Thank you very much for the biggest prize I have won from lovatts, it’s wonderful.  From Colossus, I won a stainless steel Breville Cafe Roma espresso/cappuccino machine.
I enjoy doing my favourite crosswords, Baffler and Cryptic, something to get your brain matter exercising. As a senior, I have bought Lovatts for years, and can’t wait [more…]