Another major UK puzzle hobby that I have not yet touched upon is that of the cryptic crossword. This may well be the hobby that has most hardcore participants. It’s not something that I’ve delved into deeply; there are many guides to how to solve cryptic crosswords, and I’ll link to Peter Biddlecombe’s guide. Peter has probably the definitive, though avowedly unofficial, page of information on The Times Crossword Championship; he won the competition himself in 2000 and 2007 and has since become the Sunday Times’ Crossword Editor.
The winner in 1999, then each year in 2008-2012 (oh, and 2013!), Mark Goodliffe, is the co-editor of The Magpie, a specialist monthly cryptic crossword magazine. “We publish puzzles with a range of difficulties, but solvers familiar with advanced cryptics such as the Enigmatic Variations in the Sunday Telegraph, the Inquisitor in the Independent on Saturday, and the Listener in the Times on a Saturday are the primary audience.” Indeed, the magazine’s own difficulty grading system has “only slightly more difficult than a standard broadsheet cryptic” at the low end, and goes up to levels higher than even those most difficult ones found in print. You’ll know whether this is attractive to you or not already, but the free sample issue number 60½ is the best way to find out for real.
Counterpart high-end crossword magazines exist, but not many; One Across has a remarkable heritage. I’m not sure if The Crossword Club is still running.
Goodliffe is not just a crossword champ, though. His personal blog is consistently great; he is a very accomplished sudoku solver as well, making the home team for the World Sudoku Championship held here in the UK this August. He was part of a team representing The Magpie who did exceptionally well in DASH 5 (seventh globally from a standing start, playing on a team constructed partly at the shortest of notice) and I also had the joy of introducing him to Puzzled Pint in February. Smashing bloke!
Smashing bloke, right back at you! Loving the review – of the magazine, and me!
Glad you dropped by! Do look around; it may well be that some of the other events I talk about may be of interest to your good self, or to other Magpie subscribers.
See you next week!