Not so long ago, we moved the quiptic – the Guardian’s “puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry” – so that it appears on Sundays. We had no way of knowing it at the time but this has recently proved to be a boon as the subsequent departure of the Observer’s puzzles to their new home left us confronting the unacceptable possibility of there being a horrible day when a new puzzle does not appear at this site, in our app and so on. Not on my watch!
So now the quiptic has an extra role: our crosswording week in effect begins – in gentle mood – on a Sunday. Incidentally, sometimes solvers remark that such-and-such a puzzle is “actually harder than this week’s prize”. It is entirely possible for this to happen. A solver who only has the time to tackle a puzzle at the weekend should not always have to deal with that week’s most beastly crossword. A Saturday puzzle might be tricky; it might also be witty, or timely or charming in some other way. But not always the week’s knottiest challenge.
By contrast, I still think of the week in quick crosswords as starting on a Monday with our new palate-cleansing “seventh quick” finishing the week off before we reset. Arcane matters, perhaps, but the inevitable result of our commitment to providing puzzles around the clock.
In our cluing conference for TARDIS, the audacity award goes to Jacob_Busby’s “spa txyz ce”; the runners-up are Albery’s allusive “Who lives in a House like this” and Montano’s blue “Leotard isn’t covering something that is bigger than it seems”. The winner is the devious “Who’s discovered leaving this across a road?”
Kludos to Phitonelly and please leave entries for RELENTLESS below, along with any favourite clues or puzzles you have spotted.
