Crosswords

In a previous life I was a crossword compiler, and I still do the odd bit of conundrum construction for private commissions and as a hobby.

My puzzles are classic UK cryptic, using a 15 x 15 grid. Convention and aesthetics dictate that a grid is symmetrical on at least one diagonal axis, sometimes both. Fairness to solvers is in the hands of the compiler, not only in the clues, but in the number of ‘lights’, or white (‘orphan’) squares: It’s considered bad form to have more than three together, and I usually confine myself to two.

Finally, my crosswords all have a pun, or a play on words in the top row of across answers, a further clue to which is given in the title of the puzzle.

This is where I come to drink coffee and smoke, where the mind of the surrealist author lends itself to cryptic clues to answers which fit together in a pleasing matrix of words.

All of the crosswords have links to download and print (spoiler alert: with solutions). No prizes, just the personal satisfaction of solving what was on my mind…

Download and print

Download and print

Download and print

Download and print

Download and print

Download and print

Download and print

Download and print