It’s the time of year when I put up the annual Christmas puzzle, circulated to a group of regular solvers in memory of Eric Chalkley – more details of the tradition here. You might even set your calendar by me this year – it looks like I’ve hit exactly the same weekend as in 2016, though I’m putting the puzzle up on the Saturday rather than the Sunday this time!
It was generally considered a bit harder than some of its predecessors – though there were a few who found it straightforward enough. You’ll just have to try it for yourself!
Remember that part of the puzzle is to determine a word to be clued. The solvers then write a clue to that word, and these clues are circulated to everyone for voting. My only job is to transcribe them accurately (which I think I’ve managed to do so far) – I don’t vote myself, although I do offer up a clue for consideration. (And I don’t even spend months in advance using the fact that – necessarily – I know the word to be clued to hone an entry – I tend to scribble something down just after circulating the puzzle in mid-December, but before I see any other entrants’ ideas!)
This year’s winners are listed at the end of the solution notes.
We’re about to swing into May, and to enliven the first week there’s a Pedro Quick Cryptic in The Times on Wednesday 3rd in addition to the usual Friday Independent puzzles. There’s an Inquisitor in the offing, too, but more of that next time.
Leave a Reply