Back to Beelzebub (update 30 October)

More like a Northern 30 October today, though the clouds are breaking and the rain is getting warmer.  The new puzzle is another unseen Beelzebub.

Before the next update, there will be a little plethora of Phi or Pedro puzzles in addition to the weekly Independent appearance – a Times Daily (3 Nov) and a Times Quick Cryptic as well (10 Nov).  Between them comes A Bit Up in the Air?, which is the Listener puzzle on 5 November.  Also, if I don’t get round to updating promptly in a fortnight, then I’ll miss the chance to give you a suitably timely prod about the Enigmatic Variations puzzle on 13 November – Famous Last Words.  Consider this a prod.

However, in the absence of a Listener puzzle to solve next week, I shall be spending some time looking at a book that Penguin have very kindly sent me – The GCHQ Puzzle Book.

This arrived with a decent thud a couple of days ago, and the scale of the thud means it needs more than a couple of days of intermittent consideration before an opinion can be ventured.  But it is stuffed with 300+ puzzles, mostly word and number-based, though there’s a pictorial section as well, “ranging in difficulty from easy to brain-bending” (a judicious selection suggests the blurb can be quoted directly).  So next fortnight’s update should be prepared next week, which should give me no reason to be tardy!