About the Setter
David Stickley has been writing crosswords professionally since 1995. His cryptic puzzle, The Stickler, reached number 4786 before being axed in July 2013 due to cutbacks. In 2024 David and his wife Linda secured a weekly cryptic and quick slot in The SMH and The Age. David has also been published in the NYT, the UK's FT and Church Times.-
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Tag Archives: The Stickler
The Stickler Weekly 13 Solution
I had a number of people ask me about clues from The Stickler Weekly 12, namely 4-down, “One who’s keen to take a break? (6)”, and 11-down, “Handy communicator? (6)”. They quite rightly pointed out that this type of clue … Continue reading
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The Stickler Weekly 13
The Stickler for this week is now available. Please select your preferred solving format. The solution to this puzzle will appear next week. Clue Hints for The Stickler Weekly 13 Overseas Help for The Stickler Weekly 13 Solution … Continue reading
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Tagged cryptic crossword, online, printable, The Stickler
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The Stickler Weekly 12 Solution
There are always elements found in cryptic crosswords that may cause division among setters and solvers: cryptic definitions, the use of extraneous words, subtraction techniques, the importance of surface meaning to name just a few. This crossword contained a contentious … Continue reading
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The Stickler Weekly 12
The Stickler for this week is now available. Please select your preferred solving format. The solution to this puzzle will appear next week. Clue Hints for The Stickler Weekly 12 Overseas Help for The Stickler Weekly 12 Solution … Continue reading
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Tagged cryptic crossword, online, printable, The Stickler
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The Stickler Weekly 11 Solution
It’s not uncommon to have a person’s name as an answer in a crossword, but have you thought about, in crossword terms, how different any proper noun (and names especially) is to an everyday word? First and foremost is working … Continue reading
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The Stickler 11 Weekly
The Stickler for this week is now available. Please select your preferred solving format. The solution to this puzzle will appear next week. Clue Hints for The Stickler Weekly 11 Overseas Help for The Stickler Weekly 11 Solution … Continue reading
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Tagged cryptic crossword, online, printable, The Stickler
5 Comments
The Stickler Weekly 10 Solution
I’ve talked about difficulty recently, but only in terms of how a puzzle grid can add its own complexity to the overall crossword. A crossword’s difficulty in general comprises so many factors that it’s almost impossible to get it right … Continue reading
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The Stickler Weekly 10
The Stickler for this week is now available. Please select your preferred solving format. The solution to this puzzle will appear next week. Clue Hints for The Stickler Weekly 10 Overseas Help for The Stickler Weekly 10 Solution … Continue reading
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Tagged cryptic crossword, online, printable, The Stickler
3 Comments
The Stickler Weekly 9 Solution
I’m often asked about the meaning of a question mark (“?”) at the end of a clue. When I’m solving, I’m struck by a lack of consistency by individual setters and across setters in general when using it. Solvers need … Continue reading
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Tagged cryptic crossword, solution, The Stickler
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The Stickler Weekly 9
The Stickler for this week is now available. Please select your preferred solving format. The solution to this puzzle will appear next week. Clue Hints for The Stickler Weekly 9 Overseas Help for The Stickler Weekly 9 Solution … Continue reading
Posted in Stickler Weekly Puzzles, The Stickler
Tagged cryptic crossword, online, printable, The Stickler
2 Comments