Phi Crosswords

phionline.net.nz

  • About me
  • Types of cryptic crossword
    • Solving crosswords
    • Outlets
  • APEX Crosswords
  • My other puzzles
    • BBC Music Magazine crosswords
    • Beelzebub Crosswords
    • Church Times puzzles
    • Enigmatic Variations
    • The European crossword
    • Independent Inquisitor
    • Independent: newspaper
    • Jumbos
    • Magpie
    • Other puzzles
  • Setter’s blogs
  • Book Reviews
  • Cats

Superstitions

December 29, 2018 By Phixwd Leave a Comment

It’s the time of the year when people take on resolutions about changing behaviour, so it’s not inappropriate to consider other behavioural tics.  How about superstitions?

I have just completed two puzzles on Christmas Day.  For the last several years, I have always finished clueing at least one puzzle on Christmas Day, so now I set about engineering the situation, leaving a puzzle with one clue, usually to a friendly-looking word, that can be polished off quickly.

I do the same for New Year’s Eve – just at the moment (December 27) I have a Telegraph Toughie ripe for completion, which will now be held in a sort of stasis so that I can finish it on the day.  I’ll direct my attention to other puzzles which may mean I will have two (or more) finished on that day as well.

I will then grid a puzzle on New Year’s Day, though I won’t start writing its clues (see below).  Completing something like a Toughie on New Year’s Eve tends to present the option of its successor for this purpose, though at the moment I already have three puzzle grids straining at the slips.

What else? I don’t like leaving a puzzle with thirteen clues written.  Over time that has extended to not leaving a puzzle with thirteen clues to be written.  It hasn’t yet extended to Jumbos and multiples of thirteen, but that may be because I’ve only just thought of the possibility.  (I have just noticed that I was left with thirteen unpublished Beelzebub crosswords when the series ceased in The Independent on Sunday.)

Once a grid is complete I won’t start on the clues for a few days.  Instead I will from time to time take out the freshly-completed grid and look over it, getting a feel for how the entries interact.  At least I tell myself that that is what I am doing, but I’m not really sure what I do get out of this practice; it just seems the right thing to do.

The reason I discovered there were thirteen unpublished Beelzebub puzzles is that I have selected the antepenultimate for the puzzle this time round.  This provides another unseen puzzle of mine for the Christmas and New Year holiday period.  However, before 2018 is out you will have another puzzle of mine: 31 December in The Times.  And, no, I didn’t consciously plan it.  (Solve the puzzle to find out what ‘it’ is.)  The Times also has a Quick Cryptic of mine (that’s using the Pedro pseudonym) on 10 January. 

Share
Tweet
Pin

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Phi RSS feed

  • RSS - Posts

About me

This is the website of Paul Henderson, who sets crosswords for The Independent (London) under the pseudonyms Phi, for the Daily Telegraph (London) under the pseudonym Kcit, and anonymously for The Times (London) amongst many other outlets. For a more detailed biography see the About Me page.

Blogroll

  • Alberich Crosswords
  • Alchemi's puzzles
  • Anax Crosswords
  • Azed slip
  • Big Dave's Crossword Blog
  • Boatman Cryptics
  • Crossword centenary
  • Crossword Centre
  • Crossword Club
  • Crossword Unclued
  • CrosswordMan: Crossword construction software
  • Crosswords by Chameleon
  • Crosswords by Hasslethymi
  • Fifteensquared
  • George vs The Listener crossword
  • Guardian Crosswords
  • Hoskins Crossword
  • Hubble Crosswords
  • idothei
  • Independent Crosswords
  • Listen with Others
  • Listener Crossword
  • Magpie Crossword Magazine
  • One Across
  • Peter's Cryptic Crossword Corner
  • Telegraph Crosswords
  • The Stickler Weekly
  • Times Crossword Club
  • Times for the Times
  • Undisclosed Enumeration

Comments

  • Phixwd on A forthcoming loss
  • David Thomson on A forthcoming loss
  • Erin on A forthcoming loss
  • Tim Myall on A forthcoming loss
  • William F P on Happy Easter

Copyright © 2022 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in