Bard's turn in the Indy today.
📕 Catchphrase from heavy-going books, setter falls for solver in the second (2,2,2,3)
🌋 Briefly fume before violent rumble (3,7)
🪨 Loose rock formation in dangerous creek (5)
Play for free!
puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/crypti...
#cryptic #crossword #puzzle
Congrats! 🙌
02.03.2026 07:57 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Back as Playfair in @economist.com today (subs) with another mildly topical puzzle.
Includes:
Awards show starts to broadcast apologies for Tourette’s activist shouting (6)
Donna married incredibly powerful man (8,4)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
With Affinity (free), you can copy and paste your PowerPoint shapes in and save them as svgs for perfect vector quality and low file sizes :)
www.affinity.studio/graphic-desi...
Affinity great for making this stuff in general. Surprising what you can make with simple geometric shapes!
Excellent! PowerPoint allows you to make pretty good vector graphics (great quality at any size!). Snipping turns everything into low resolution pixel based images, which isn’t always a problem, but worth knowing.
15.02.2026 11:10 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Glad you liked it!
08.02.2026 22:29 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
My 10th outing as Playfair in @economist.com today.
Hear Starmer stupidly ignores first sign of Mandelson getting “highly sought after materials” (4,6)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
#cryptic #crossword
This is fantastic.
Engaging people with data through game play. Also has that very Gapminder-ish quality of challenging assumption.
Love it!
Listen to the real Boss ✊
youtube.com/watch?v=wWKS...
Featured crossword #3 by @longyfan.bsky.social is here!
mycrossword.co.uk/featured/3
Delighted to make my Unch debut in Issue 2 as Bard.
Hope y’all enjoy my first alphabetical!
◼️◻️ ◼️◻️ ◼️◻️
First rate independent cryptic magazine - get it here:
unchcrosswords.com
That capital fellow Playfair is back in the @economist.com day, featuring:
15D. Inexpert leader in love with another country’s territory (9)
20A. United Kingdom getting behind new university for 15D’s capital (4)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
That’s my friend Ben on the voice over 😊. He used to do mobile IT support around Norwich and go from office to office on his unicycle.
23.01.2026 14:18 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Got to be the mighty Redditch!
23.01.2026 14:12 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Re-reading Vonnegut.
This from Cat’s Cradle.
Love this idea.
21.01.2026 13:10 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Quick setters survey.
When writing an acrostic clue, how do we feel about hyphenated words?
Eg.
Distantly starts to fight at round-table (3)
Or
Trump starts to fight at round-table (4)
Both valid? Or better not to have hyphenated words in acrostic fodder at all?
Woop Woop!!
Thanks so much @mycrossword.co.uk
Cheers PM!
10.01.2026 17:09 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Back as Playfair in the @economist.com today. Featuring:
Studio’s standard lot (9)
Succeeded in dignified fall (7)
Spooner’s current exotic pets – they’re easily disturbed (10)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Introduction to a book of crosswords. The subtitle “instructions” has no content underneath.
Is this an error in my guardian book of cryptics or left blank on purpose?
What would you put in this space?
Keep out of the black and into the white.
There’s nothing in this game for two in a light!
I’m an Affinity trainer - so give me a shout if you have any questions :)
02.01.2026 12:39 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I have dropped Adobe, and gone to Affinity. It’s got great photoshop alternative features, but not sure about Lightroom type activities as I’m more design and illustration.
There’s a photographer in my office building who is in a similar position. I’ll ask him how he’s getting on next week :)
A record number of debuts, a statistical dilemma and a huge personal milestone - The Year in Crosswords at The Guardian: www.fifteensquared.net/2026/01/01/g...
01.01.2026 17:28 — 👍 12 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 2
Both delighted and proud that my 100th puzzle on MyCrossword is also the first in the new collaboration between mycrossword.co.uk and fifteensquared.net.
The puzzle can be found here: www.mycrossword.co.uk/featured/1
I hope you enjoy it.
2025 even! Already getting ahead of myself 🤣
27.12.2025 11:27 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
One more Playfair puzzle in the @economist.com for 2026.
Featuring:
Prize-winning President confiscates island hotel - an opportunist, ultimately (10)
Regularly raises rent for property (5)
Ruin pitch - it’s waterlogged (6)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Probably got room to add a Wymondham themed clue there somewhere too :)
26.12.2025 10:16 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0🤣
25.12.2025 19:10 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Doesn’t even join up…
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hasn’t ruined Christmas though.
Big festive love to all! X
