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The Christmas rush

December 13, 2020 By Phixwd Leave a Comment

Outside the one from the Crossword Centre at the start of the month, I haven’t seen any seasonal puzzles yet, but they’re waiting to descend en masse.  Annoyingly I’ve just been apprised of a fascinating idea for a seasonal puzzle, but it’s somewhat too late for this year.  Given the length of some of the pipelines, it might even be too late for next year.

This year’s seasonal puzzles from me aren’t so many in number – Christmas Day being a Friday sees me having a week off from the Independent, and the puzzle this coming week isn’t Christmassy at all (and isn’t on Friday – it pops up a day early; there’s a reason for that).  Friday 18th does see a seasonal puzzle from me, though, in the Church Times – a rather bigger one than their usual fare (and I think it will be printed in red).  The run-up to the big day has me appearing in The Times on 23rd, and then the Times Quick Cryptic on Christmas Eve.

Some time that week I’ll put up an unpublished barred puzzle that I unearthed in my records – it dates from 2014, and as far as I can see it hasn’t been published (and if it has, I haven’t been paid for it!).  That will replace the next scheduled update over Christmas weekend and we’ll be back to normal service from the second weekend of the new year.

If you’re keen to practice on my 2014 style, the new puzzle this time round is also from 2014.  It’s a BBC Music Magazine puzzle which happens to commemorate the nearby anniversaries of two very different composers (though nonetheless linked, as the first clue hints).

APEX puzzle: still hasn’t been typed up.  Aiming to get it circulated by next weekend – or during next weekend at the latest!

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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.

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