Welcome to The Clue Clinic – where people interested in solving or setting cryptic crosswords come to learn, sharpen their skills, and get expert guidance from experienced setters.
If this is your first visit, we would recommend visiting the About This Site page to get some ideas about the areas of the site which may be of particular interest to you and the ways in which you can interact with Clinic staff and other readers.
What’s New
The PDF of the latest Gemelo puzzle is available at this link: Gemelo 47 The PDF of the latest Azed puzzle is available at this link: Azed 2,783 The August Digest is now published, with Doctor’s Notes, news from the Clinic, and a chance to vote in the monthly poll The Forum is now available for discussion of all things crossword-related
Latest Posts
Latest Comments
Latest Forum Topics/Posts
Collins has New Yorker in US usage as an adjective ‘of the state of New York’. I couldn’t find New…
I agree about the quality of the puzzle, and I think it’s reasonable for us to quibble about a clue…
You make the classic anachronistic error in your explanation of 28d as tin-openers were yet to be invented. For me,…
Chambers gives the latter noun as a synonym of the former, but it did cause me to raise an eyebrow.…
7a left me wondering whether a word had been dropped at some stage, and that it should have been “Bean…
Thank you, Jim, that’s lovely to hear – really glad you liked it. And yes, I think 3D stumped some…
Thanks, Stu – glad you enjoyed it. And I do love a good geology pun – as we all know,…
Thanks for this, Iain. Sounds like you’re much better informed on the subject than I am – though likewise, it’s…
Correction: 6d is a homophone.
Stu: For 5d, obey her command and then it’s an anagram. 5d is a homophone.
RE: Cruciverbiana
There is a slight irony here, in that Roger Squires kept a card index system (initially set up by his sister-in-law) con…
By Doctor Clue , 7 hours ago
RE: Cruciverbiana
Wow, I had no idea about this! Thanks for sharing the story. I have so many questions… 🤔 A database of 42,…
By Doctor Cluelittle , 15 hours ago
RE: Cruciverbiana
Another reason to be grateful to Boris Johnson – sort of – is his backing down when he was an assistant editor at the Te…
By Crossguesser , 1 day ago
RE: Cruciverbiana
Great topic – I'm also very partial to crossword-related stories and now I have a couple more to add to my collection, s…
By Doctor Cluelittle , 3 weeks ago
RE: Cruciverbiana
I was pretty sure I would never have cause to be grateful to Boris Johnson. I was wrong. About 12 years ago, at Poprad…
By Kev , 3 weeks ago
RE: Cruciverbiana
As a big fan of Michael Frayn's books, I enjoyed reading this description of his encounter with Azed (in a Guardian arti…
By QC05 , 3 weeks ago
Cruciverbiana
Do you have any favourite crossword-related anecdotes, either gleaned from others or drawn from your own experience? I…
By Xotic , 3 weeks ago