1 Across is a subscription-only monthly crossword magazine, currently in its 33rd year of production (as of 2016). Each issue contains four puzzles by professional and amateur compilers together with a historical puzzle by Araucaria, who founded the ‘club’ in 1984. Most of the puzzles are blocked, and they are invariably themed to a greater or lesser degree. The publication of themed, blocked puzzles is another useful bridge between the daily cryptic puzzle and the Listener-type barred thematic, so 1 Across is well worth your investigation. Their website is here, and you can email Christine Jones, who runs the subscription and publication side of things, at 1across dot crosswords at gmail dot com. (Note that the first character in that address is the digit 1 (one) not a lower-case L.) I’m very grateful to her for allowing me to reproduce the occasional puzzle from the magazine.
The crossword side of things is currently overseen by Hamish Symington (Soup) in succession to John Henderson, Mike Rich and Tom Johnson. I’ve done a succession of puzzles for 1 Across over the years and the discipline of designing a theme to fit a blocked grid is a useful thing to cultivate.
…until you see it (November 1996)
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