Tag Archives: The Stickler

In my early Australian Financial Review (AFR) days, I was told to create a difficult weekly crossword for use in a competition. “Times style” was the term used – the idea was to create a real challenge and keep a … Continue reading →

Eagle-eyed Steve noticed that I annotated a solution from last week’s puzzle differently from how it’s usually done, and flagged it as a possible mistake. Annotating crossword solutions has no set formula – maybe there should be one. In fact, … Continue reading →

I’ve talked a number of times about the difficulty of a crossword, and how each part – the grid design, word choice and clues – contributes to the overall difficulty of the end result. It’s important to realise that a … Continue reading →

It’s often said that the job of a setter is to entertain solvers, provide them with a diversion that evokes a sense of pleasure during and after solving. For some solvers, entertainment is all that matters, that is, it doesn’t … Continue reading →

Everyone makes mistakes. We know this and put mechanisms, procedures and safeguards in place to minimise them, but sometimes circumstances thwart our best preventative measures. Crossword setters suffer the same lapses as everyone else and rely on various means to … Continue reading →