12: Recommended Books, Websites & Media

“Unlike crossword fanatics I do actually read the paper.”

Bernice Rubens

There’s much more help available than just a dictionary these days as an increasing number of books, websites and electronic gadgets offer assistance. Here are some recommendations:

1. Dictionaries

The principal dictionaries used by setters today for blocked crosswords are Collins English Dictionary, the Concise Oxford Dictionary and Chambers, the latter being the source par excellence for barred crosswords. Occasionally bigger dictionaries in the Oxford family may need to be consulted for top-end cryptics. Note that Collins has names of people (which it once didn’t).

2. Thesauruses

Collins, Oxford and Chambers all publish useful dictionaries of synonyms and all three are more efficient for crossword solvers than the longer established Roget’s Thesaurus, the use of which can involve lots of page-turning for any one reference.

3. Word list books

Collins Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary (2018)

This has been the book of choice among the crossword public for over forty years, principally because of its method of production. Not having been compiled from computerized lists, it was, and continues to be, built up by its author, Anne Bradford, from solutions actually appearing in a variety of crosswords. That means you have a good chance of finding the name of, say, that elusive horse (well over 200 entries) to complete the puzzle.

Chambers Crossword Dictionary, 4th edition, 2016

This nicely complements Bradford’s, as well as containing extra features, e.g. articles on crossword English, indicators and what constitutes a good clue. It is rare for an answer word in a daily not to be found in either of these two books, both of which are published in cheaper, pocket-sized editions.

4. Electronic aids – pocket machines

Sharp PWE300 or 500A

This includes the Oxford Dictionary, the Oxford Thesaurus and, in the case of the PWE500A, the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, all searchable by individual words and phrases. Like the pocket machine recommended next, it has anagram and word search facilities. Thus, if you need to find a four-letter word ending in j you will do so easily and quickly. I have used the PWE500 (now PWE500A) for several years instead of carrying dictionaries and wordlist books around. However, smartphone users can now access most of this and similar material easily and cheaply (see next section), perhaps accounting for the recent poor availability of this machine. If you find it unavailable, I’d suggest you try eBay or one of the Seiko equivalents that contain the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Franklin

There are many good electronic machines available in this range.

5. Electronic aids – apps for tablets and smartphones

As well as many downloadable dictionaries and thesauruses from, say, Oxford and Merriam-Webster, there are many effective and inexpensive smartphone and tablet apps on all platforms. Typing crossword into Google’s Play store and the iPhone’s equivalent will produce a good choice. As an Android user, the one I recommend is crossword solver by Havos Limited but there are others, normally free. The iPhone equivalents are the crossword solver and crossword, both also free.

The Chambers Dictionary and Thesaurus apps are inexpensive, comprehensive and have excellent search facilities, including wildcard searches. I have used both for years and find they are now usually my first choice as solving aids.

If you are looking for a free app including dictionary, thesaurus and word search, WordWeb, available in many formats, is the one to go for.


DID YOU KNOW?

One crossword setter in the 1960s, wishing to include the word miniskirt in a puzzle, found that the word had not yet been added to the Chambers Dictionary, and came up with this delightful clue:

“Female attire not to be found in Chambers, but should not be looked up anyway.”


6. Online dictionaries, word search and reference

If you don’t have one of the electronic aids listed above, and fancy a spot of “cheating”, Collins, Oxford and Chambers all have word search facilities online. Also you may be unaware that the biggest of them all, the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED) may be available without charge online by using your local library card.

The biggest online but not necessarily the best (as it does not include some well-known dictionaries such as Chambers) may be at www.onelook.com which combines the content of over 1000 dictionaries. This passed my test using the words keraunograph and taghairm with flying colours.

For all its well-reported weaknesses in terms of reliability, Wikipedia’s comprehensiveness makes it excellent if you want a quick check on a factual solution. I use it regularly as my reference of online choice and can’t remember it letting me down. Rather, mistakes that have occurred in my own crosswords are likely to have arisen because I have not consulted Wikipedia.

You might also try www.bestforpuzzles.com, a site which has a huge variety of help tools, one of which is the daddy of all word finders called Catalist.

A website for lovers of the tougher cryptics is run by Derek Harrison in his long-running “The Crossword Centre” at www.crossword.org.uk. With numerous links to other relevant sites, it has a lively message board which discusses crosswords from many different sources, albeit tilted towards the tougher crossword.

7. Newspaper websites and online solving

Most newspapers now have dedicated crossword websites and have substantially improved them since the last edition of this book. Easy navigability and crossword presentation including a Cheat function to gain individual letters when you’re stuck are common. Solving on tablet via these sites is also now much more comfortable and strongly recommended.


WHY ARE SOME CRYPTICS EASIER THAN OTHERS?

They may have more anagram clues (perhaps more than half of the total in tabloid crosswords), more hidden clues, more cross-checking in grids, more initial letters cross-checked in grids, no complex constructions, lots of short answers and no obscure ones.


8. Blogs (weblogs or daily journals): online crossword discussion groups

For anyone wanting to know why an answer is what it is, the most helpful daily blogs, contributed by teams of volunteers, are:

For the Guardian, Observer, Financial Times, Independent and Private Eye:

For the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph:

For The Times and The Sunday Times:

Unlike the others, The Times and The Sunday Times bloggers are much concerned with their solving times, usually to the nearest second, whilst commenting on what has prevented them from finishing the crossword even faster! You may find this off-putting; nevertheless in line with all other blogs, this site offers a most useful analysis of clues, normally on the day of publication.


THE CLUE IS IN THE TITLE

The author Sandy Balfour was so struck with a clue by Rufus in the Guardian that he used it as the title of a book on crosswords. The clue is:

“Pretty girl in crimson rose (8, first letter R, last letter D).”

The answer is opposite.


9. Ximenes book

Don’t let it put you off that the next recommendation seems more concerned with barred rather than blocked crosswords. Derrick Macnutt’s Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword, published first in 1966 and reprinted in 2001, is a book to learn from and enjoy. Derek Harrison (mentioned above) has commented: “This is far more than a treatise, it’s thought-provoking and a pleasure to read.”

10. Setters unmasked

Finally, if you want to discover who lurks behind the curious pseudonyms used by setters, have a look at www.bestforpuzzles.com. They are all there and seem to be kept up to date.


COINCIDENCES

Enthusiasts spot remarkable happenings in which the same clue appears in different newspapers, sometimes on the same day. Here is one that occurred across continents:

“It’s not a sure thing (8,7)” (from The Times)

About a month earlier, this same clue, word for word was published in The Hindu, India’s national daily. Lead times would undoubtedly confirm that plagiarism was not the explanation.

The answer is below. Hint: think comma after a.



ANSWER TO SANDWICH CLUE

Pretty girl in crimson rose (8)

REBELLED – belle in red (“rose” is past tense of “rise” = rebel)



ANSWER TO ADDITIVE CLUE

It’s not a sure thing (8,7)

DEFINITE ARTICLE – definite + article