Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Spoiler alert – this post is to facilitate discussion of Anax’s Demo Puzzle and may contain hints and/or answers.
If you want to solve the puzzle first, don’t select “read more” below.
If you want to discuss the puzzle, then post your comments here and join in the fun!
Continue reading “Anax Demo Puzzle – Discussion”
Anax has kindly written an article for publication on the blog to give a top to bottom explanation of how he composed a whole puzzle. When I saw this article, my first thought was to give you all a chance to solve the puzzle yourselves. This is not a totally new puzzle – it had previously been available via a link from a now-defunct forum – but it is unlikely that you have seen it before. It is, however, towards the top end of Toughie difficulty.
It is available in three different formats: Microsoft Word, PDF and Crossword Compiler. The links for these are at the bottom of the post.
I have decided to turn off comments on this post so that anyone downloading the puzzle will not accidentally see any hints or answers – but I will set up another post to enable discussion.
Anax’s article “From the Top” will be published next Saturday, 31st October. Trust me, it is well worth the wait.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
Stop Press – 16.00 – the view count on the blog has just hit 500.000 (in just under 9 months!)
Today I have a special treat for you. Anax has written an excellent article on how he put together a whole puzzle and at 12.00 today you will have the opportunity to solve the puzzle. I will open up a blog post for discussion of the puzzle and then next Saturday you can read the whole article, titled “From the Top”. I’m sure that even if you don’t actually solve the puzzle you will find this insight into the mind of an accomplished setter extremely interesting.
I can think of nothing polite to say about today’s Prize puzzle, so I won’t bother.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle by Tilsit will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 29th October.