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.
Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his tales of the macabre and mysterious. He is said to have invented the detective fiction genre.
Edgar Poe was born in Boston and within two years of his birth, his parents – both actors – had died. He was taken in by John Allan, who never legally [more…]
Extract from BIG Crossword Magazine No.191
Thanks for all your clues for bedrock and motive. More than one of you clued bedrock as home of the Flintstones, fundamentals, basics, hard mattress and solid foundation.
For motive, many of you offered reason, cause, incitement and purpose. I liked Psychology which arouses an organism to action toward a [more…]
Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 190
Here are some interesting facts about the traditions of Christmas:
The Christmas cracker is 161 years old this year. It was invented by English baker Tom Smith, who first sold wrapped sweets and added mottoes into the wrappers. When he heard the crackle of a log in the fire, he [more…]
Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 189
The last day of November is the feast day of St Andrew, a Jewish fisherman from Bethsaida and younger brother of St Peter. Obviously popular internationally, he’s the patron saint of Scotland, Russia, Romania, Greece, Amalfi, and Luqa in Malta. The Scottish flag features St Andrew’s X-shaped cross.
The name [more…]
Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 188
With all the coughing and sneezing going on in the office, I looked into the origins of these words, and found that cough comes from German keuchen ‘to pant’ and wheeze from Old Norse hvaesa ‘to hiss’.
Hiccup, once called hicket or hyckock, is named after the sound of the [more…]
Interested in becoming a crossword compiler?
You’re in luck! Hidden beneath the dust bunnies during a recent spring-clean we discovered a typewritten aid for compiling crosswords written by none other than Crossword Queen, Christine Lovatt. And much to our surprise and delight the advice contained therein still holds true.
So, if you want to try [more…]
UNIQUE BLOCKS are essential tools for solving Kakuro and Killer Sudoku/Addoku puzzles. For example a total of 4 in 2 squares is a UNIQUE BLOCK. It can’t be 2 + 2 because each line of numbers can contain only one of each numeral. So the two squares can have only 1 or 3, though [more…]
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