There are times when puzzles appear on the same day. This can generate some comment on the blogs, and the comments split between being happy to try both puzzles to being disappointed at the curtailment of choice: ‘Oh, good, it’s him’ vs. ‘Oh, [insert word of choice], it’s him’.
I’m generally on the negative side of things here, notwithstanding that I have deliberately set out to generate it on occasion. The Mervyn Peake centenary fell on a Saturday, and I had two ideas – so that was a Listener puzzle and an IQ. 9 July, 2011, if you want to check. That’s probably even worse than simply appearing in two different outlets on the same day: it’s two different outlets, and the same theme. (The actual thematic content of the puzzles was different, I should note.)
But overall I think it’s unfortunate to coincide in this way. Where you have pseudonyms you have favourites and bêtes noires, and if you can escape to another puzzle…
…except he’s there as well.
Not everyone knows all the various pseudonyms, of course, but enough people do for it to crop up in the blogs. I suppose it’s the price of fame, for a very restricted definition of ‘fame’.
I have little control over things. I do appear weekly in The Independent, and nearly always on a Friday. So far, so predictable, but other editors are not bound by that consideration. They are looking for the right mix of puzzles for their outlet that week. That might include not repeating grids for those with a specific set in use, and it certainly includes not repeating vocabulary. A recent puzzle of mine was deferred four weeks from its originally anticipated date because each time it surfaced for the Friday slot, it was sharing vocabulary with another more-or-less adjacent puzzle. I’ve just moved around a couple of otherwise consecutive EZEKIELs in the Church Times running order, and a couple of HOLY SEEs. (I may have missed others, but high-scoring Scrabble prophets will generally stand out.)
This is all prompted by two puzzles appearing on the day of writing (14 February: Times and Independent) with a Pangakupu in The Guardian appearing the same day as a Kcit Toughie in The telegraph on 20 February. In fact next week is busy enough that some simultaneity was all but inevitable: a Times Quick from Pedro on the 18th, the Guardian/Telegraph clash just mentioned, the usual Independent appearance on the 21st, and an Inquisitor on the 22nd. There’s probably a new BBC Music Magazine puzzle due in the midst of that melee as well. The last week of the month sees only the Friday Independent puzzle. Though I should mention that, if you’re quick, you can subscribe to the Crossword Club, and get my puzzle in their March issue.
APEX voting is under way – if you’re in the Venn diagram of reading this, being an Apex voter, and not having voted yet, then you know what you have to do. All votes being due in by 9 March, I hope to have the puzzle and the winning clues on the site the weekend of 29/30 March.
The Enigmatic Variations puzzle Not Mentioned is still live, so all I can say about it is that there will be a setter’s blog on the site sometime during the forthcoming week.
The puzzle this time is a Church Times puzzle from 2003. (That appears on Fridays, too, so my occasional appearances there will nearly always clash with The Independent!)
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