The DIY has been one of our most popular contests in Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine for years and the team and I are always amazed at how clever the entries are.

We are always overwhelmed by the huge effort all our DIY contest entrants make to create a crossword and write the clues. When it comes to judging the DIY contest, we read through every single entrant’s crossword, both the grid and clues. We receive many fine entries, so it is always a hard task to pick one winner and our four runners’ up.

To choose a winner we look for a puzzle that everyone can enjoy solving. It should be filled with words and clues that are not too difficult but offer a fun challenge to the keen crossword fan. A few harder words and clues are okay but too many can just lead to frustration for the solver. When choosing words for your grid, I recommend using an interesting mix of synonyms and general knowledge but try not to use obscure words that solvers can’t find in reference sources. Keep your clues short and concise as we don’t have space on the magazine page for a long explanation for each clue. You don’t want to write a sentence and you don’t need to give a definition; rather, a clue should be more of a pointer to the answer.

Once you have written all your clues, double-check your spelling and remember to check all your words in the dictionary. We often see people trip up in the DIY contest by including grid words or clues that use American English spelling, but we always use British rather than American spelling. It is also a good idea to read back through your puzzle and make sure that everything fits together, it is easy to miss a word in the clueing process. Most importantly, have a little fun! There is room for a bit of creativity when writing crossword clues – it is amazing how everyone has their own style.

I hope this has been helpful. Have fun compiling, we look forward to receiving your next DIY entry.
Good luck and happy puzzling!