Christine Lovatt's Desk

Welcome to Christine's Desk

Here you'll find a variety of puzzle themed items and pieces of information to hold your interest. Learn about some of the wonderful words and phrases in our everyday language, find out about the health benefits of crosswords and puzzles, be entertained by Christine's Hello column… and there's much more on offer. The latest submissions appear below. Thanks for dropping by and we hope you enjoy your visit.

A friend in puzzles

What a lovely surprise when I got home from work the other day to find a parcel waiting for me from you! I was a winner in the Holiday Collection 71, and won an awesome bag and calculator! I was thrilled with this win, as I enter all your competitions, hardly ever missing one. [more…]

A Foregone Conclusion

Hmm – I was going to say I had spotted a gremlin in the maxi clueword of no 72 Holiday clueword but I did do some research and find you are correct. To me forego (the across clue at the 7th level below the MAXI caption) has always meant “to go without” (to forego [more…]

Star Grazing — Starhunts celebrities (Issue 54)

» Code Cracker Starhunts Issue No.54 – on sale February 17! (SPECIAL OFFER: 3 x FREE ISSUES WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE DURING MARCH ’10 More info)

To learn more about celebrities featured in this bi-monthly issue of Code Cracker Starhunts, please make a selection:

Alice Cooper
Amanda Peet

Robert Duvall
James Franco

Thandie Newton
 

» Alice Cooper

Born Vincent Furnier, Alice Cooper is an American [more…]

Latest win is a Stinker!

I would just like to say thank you for the various prizes I have won over the years, the latest being for winning the Stinker competition in Colossus 217. The Stinker, the Demon and the cryptics are my favourite competitions. I always look forward to the crossword books coming through my letter box and [more…]

Wordygig’s Waboom

Thank you for the Wordygig tester “WABOOM” – ’twas hard to find the correct definition.

Well done.

But, I can’t stop laughing at your third option – “An underground explosion in an Australian iron ore mine.” Can you imagine it – “WA-BOOOMMM” – yes, I suppose you can.

Also, I’ve wanted to ask this for [more…]

Give the team a ‘high five’

Thank you for the years of enjoyment and challenge your crosswords give me. When I first started I couldn’t finish a simple one, now the first puzzle I turn to is the cryptic – they are fun and funny. I must admit,I find the Baffler more difficult than the Stinker, but I eventually get [more…]

Demon Aficionados – Jan BIG Contests

AFICIONADO comes from the Spanish for ‘arouse affection’ and means an enthusiast or ‘Ardent devotee’ (Demon 22dn).

Most of you Demon aficionados had no trouble with this answer but a few of the less canny crossworders had AFICIANADO, AVICIANADO or even OFFICINADO. The latter caused more problems in across clues, ’Slipstream’ (21ac), which was WAKE [more…]

Keep it challenging!

In reference to The Judge Sums Up BIG FEB. relating to Goliathon Dec.’09 , I considered ‘two-by two craft’ as one of the easier clues.
What is the purpose of a crossword , such as The Demon or Goliathon , without a challenge?
Christine , I also feel you have been too lenient in increasing the [more…]

Phineas returns – Dec BIG Contests

Anthony Trollope was a very successful and popular novelist in Victorian England. One of his famous series of books was the Palliser novels, including Phineas Finn written in 1869. When it came to our Demon clue, ‘Trollope novel, Phineas …’ at 27ac, many of our puzzlers not surprisingly tried to fit FINN, but this [more…]