I love your puzzle books from cover to cover. The only bit I skim over is the endless tripe about left handers. You molly-dookers (I’d never heard that one before) must be used to living in a right-handed world by now. If you haven’t solved the problem yet, here are three suggestions which I have tried on Leftie puzzles:

1 Photocopy the clues and place the copy to the right of the grid. Now this isn’t very ecofriendly so I don’t expect many of you will stoop to this but it does preserve the magazine intact for posterity.
2 Tear out the clues and place the page to the right of the grid. Go on, you’re going to dismantle the magazine anyway to submit your competition entries. Christine, you could help here by perforating the pages next to the spine to save Lefties having to look for the left-handed scissors. If you work from the front of the book, you won’t even have to check overleaf to ensure you don’t spoil any puzzles like us poor old Righties have to do with your puzzles.
3 If you want to give your brain a proper work-out, turn the magazine through 180 degrees and do it upside down. Don’t forget that Down clues are now Up clues. I tried this with the Lefties crosswords in Colossus 126. It was difficult at first but became easier with practice. A handy ploy if you find you complete all the puzzles before the next issue is due out because it does slow you down.

There are many other ways of overcoming the sinister disability but mostly they involve lenses, mirrors and duct-tape which is probably going ott.

I’ve just finished Colossus 127 competitions and wondered if you could give me a tip on when is the best time to submit my entries to give maximum chance of winning some prize, however small? I’ve tried early, I’ve tried late and all manner of times in between but the result is the same. It’s especially galling when I read of multiple prizewinners. Is there a left -handed bias at Lovatts? If so I’ll happily fill in my entries left handed.

Very Best Wishes,

Stephen Elliott
Waiatarua, NZ