Looking for a “Log-on” button on fifteensquared.net
Cannot find it.

Please pass this on to the webmaster.
(A puzzler never gives up.)

Regards, BrianR

More on topic, I am not too worried about the fate of cryptic puzzles. They have always been and probably always will be a minority interest and I suspect that most of the people who rush out to buy books of sudoku puzzles would not necessarily have shown an interest in cryptic puzzles if Sudoku did not exist. It is heartening to see sites like this one (also Crossword Club and the Guardian crossword message board) which prove that there are some very keen enthusiasts out there. One only has to look at the huge number of complaints made to the Times when their software was playing up to see that the days of the cryptic puzzle are far from over.

Easy crosswords like that might have given people a taste for them and encouraged them to move up to more difficult stuff, but now the only cryptics they’re likely to see are those in broadsheets, which are too advanced for most beginners. It’s a bit like having a ladder with lots of rungs that people can climb up and then replacing it with one whose first rung is twenty feet off the ground.

I would personally like to see more hybrid crosswords i.e. mixtures of simple definitional and cryptic clues. Definitional crosswords still seem to be very popular, but most people who do them would never even attempt the cryptic crossword because they just think it’s beyond them. A grid which has mostly definitional clues but with a few cryptic clues that can be solved fairly easily once the other answers have been completed might pique some interest in cryptics and give people the confidence to try them out.

Testy makes some good points. I’ve made it clear to Indy compilers that I welcome references to popular culture as they are more relevant to much of the Indy’s readership than classical mythology or the Bible. We don’t need to dumb down, as he says, but we need to be more relevant.

There are developments in certain areas he mentions, but I can’t mention them here yet.

Testy is also right about the sponsored crossword, but that was a bonus - an additional crossword alongside the normal one. I’m not sure I’d be happy about having the daily cryptic including a word from our sponsor.

I believe that the standard of crosswords in the “quality” papers has never been higher. This should be cause for a little optimism. We just need to help people find out, and this site has a part to play in that.

Re Greek mythology, Shakespeare etc, that was true once (esp for the Times) but I think not in more recent years.

Maybe we’re in the age of instant gratification so something you sit down to and spend a lot of time at before ever getting to solving a full puzzle correctly will lack appeal.

However, I do not think Times and Guardian would be running their crossword sites if they were not earners and I’m not as pessimistic as some here. I think it’s an age thing to a certain extent (as essentially a sedentary activity).

On the subject of the article, I would say that the publications have got it about right. I obtain a number of different types of publication just to compare the standard of crossword, and I think, overall, the paper sets the standard according to the reader. When I set the News of the World crossword many years ago, the then crossword editor told me I had to make the clues easier, and put “anag”after an anagram. I don’t think the Guardian or Indy would have to stoop to those measures! Having said that, I agree with previous comments regarding some sort of help in knowing what to look for in solving a cryptic, such as how to spot an anag indicator etc.

Perhaps the newspapers ought to try out some new ideas:

1. I’m all for the idea of grading the crosswords to let beginners know the best place to start. OK it might be a fairly subjective rating but I’ve heard many people say that they struggle with supposedly easy Sudoku and whiz through the hard ones. Why not just give it a try for a couple of months and take it from there? (It’s funny that Nmsindy is not in favour of grading them but still suggests starting with easier ones)

2. How about publishing the answers in the same edition of the paper (although on a different page) rather than the next day so that a beginner can do a bit of cheating or try to work out why the clue gives that particular answer. OK this would put paid to the premium phone line but you could just do it, say, once a week on the “Easy” day to give the beginners some help.

3. Regarding Sudoku’s ability to attract sponsors, how about offering to have crosswords sponsored by a company where the crossword is themed around the sponsor or gets a mention in the clues/lights somehow? I seem to recall one by Eimi in the Indy a while back.

4. Have more competition crosswords with decent prizes to attract people. In order for this to be financially attractive to the papers this could be in the form of a premium rate number to call (e.g. with a word made up from shaded cells in the completed grid).

5. In the past people have commented on pop culture references in crosswords (both for and against) but I think that it is crucial that crosswords reflect the current times. Most people think that that they don’t stand a chance unless they know everything about Greek mythology, Shakespeare, 19th century poetry etc. I don’t think that means the crosswords need to be dumbed down, just a change in emphasis on the assumed fields of knowledge. However, this may be more of a problem in perception rather than reality.

6. I like the idea of publishing a guide to crosswords. The weekend Indy has done similar things in the past (haven’t they done musical instruments, chess and languages) so how about a brief crossword manual, e.g. an abridged version of Don’s book.

7. Make the crosswords available on-line….that includes you Indy (and FT, you needn’t look so smug, yours just looks like you’ve selotaped a bad photocopy to the screen…are you familiar with the word “interactive”?)

8. Best of all, why not publish the web addresses for helpful websites (such as Fifteensquared) that solvers can go to for further clarification? Since these are non-profit blogs surely there should be no problem in advertising them and it can only help generate interest in crosswords.

Given that the way crosswords are published hasn’t changed in decades these suggestions may seem drastic but some of them are really pretty minor and simple to implement.

C’mon! The world of crosswords could do with a bit of a shake-up.

I guess we have to convince potential solvers that cryptics are worth trying, and that regular attempts to solve will get you there in the end, though it may take months or years to finish the Times/Guardian/Indie regularly. I think the biggest barrier is new solvers not understanding the solution the next day, so I’d replace the “scribble pad” space with a brief explanation for just a few well-chosen answers in the previous day’s puzzle (or a note about the theme). That’s probably more achievable than a ‘cryptics for beginners’ series, good though that would be.