Yes, here a couple of days early, with a 1997 Jumbo. That’s because there’s a lot of activity coming up:
Pedro in The Times and Phi in The Independent on 12 December.
A Phi Listener on 13 December – and it’s no use running to the Inquisitor for relief, as I’m there as well!
Beelzebub in The Independent on Sunday on 14 December (with a slightly seasonal special to follow on 21 December).
The 2014 APEX puzzle is also on the horizon – postal recipients may already have it, in fact. Blog-readers see it in May or thereabouts, of course.
There are some setter’s blogs to come as well – EV’s Contest has a closing date of 18 December, so there’ll be a blog of that up around then. The fondness of Saturday crosswords for Thursday closing dates means that both 13 December puzzles would be expected to have Christmas Day deadlines. I’ve just seen the last proof for the IQ and they’ve adjusted their deadline to Christmas Eve – I assume The Listener will do likewise, but rest assured the associated blogs will respect closing dates. Do remember to follow the associated blogs at fifteensquared and Listen with Others to see how solvers fared.
And there’ll be an unseen puzzle (with a bit of a history…it’s ‘unseen’ as in ‘unseen by people other than editors’) as the Christmas special. I’d normally squeeze that in before Christmas, but you’ve a fair deal from me already so I’ll make it the subject of the next fortnightly update on 27 December or so.
If you don’t drop by for the EV blog, you may not be here before the festivities – so: Merry Christmas!
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