Thursday 4 April 2013

Times Crossword

I love a good puzzle but always shied away from crosswords often because I'd read the clues and think "what in heavens name are you talking about?" Bizarrely enough, whilst I found crosswords difficult, I'd skip through 'codewords' like Mary and her little lambs on a spring day.(Codeword is a crossword grid with two starter letters and using the alphabet you break the code to find the remaining words).

The nearest I'd get to them would be the Daily Mail's back of the page brain teaser. But as soon as I lifted a pen to fill in a clue, Mother's radar would go off in her brain and she'd yell from whichever room she'd happen to be in with, "you'd better not be doing the crossword!" Reluctantly, I'd put the pen down and hunt for the codeword mumbling that I was just going to fill one in...simply because it was the only clue I got.

Nowadays, I'm a fan of the Times' efforts on this puzzle. At first I'd get about five answers out of the thirty odd clues. But as I got used to their quirky hints my prowess improved and soon I'd be left with three pesky answers that eluded me.

On the days I'd just stare at the black and white squares I'd search the internet for some help. And this is when I came across Crossword Solver, an absolutely brilliant site to help answer those clues that just bug you. And it was here that I came across the Forum.

Most days it's very helpful as often the clues I'm stuck on so is everyone else. But of late it's been bugging me as I'm increasingly seeing, "it's my last clue!" and "oh thanks for that, I'm finished," which is fine except I'm still looking at a lot of blank squares.

It certainly does nothing to alleviate the grumpiness that occasionally rears it's head. So whilst I sound like Mutley as I read, "just need the answer for 23 Across to finish", when I've just started the bloomin' thing, I try take a zen approach and say thank you for at least not leaving me with the final three pesky clues and you've helped me finish in 34 mins or less and not 12 hours. Yeah, whatever...anyone know 1 Across?...

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