I don’t think there are any valid anagrams that work at 19 across, which is perhaps a sign of the state of Mr Stimpson’s mind. An unambiguously funny passage is Mr Stimpson’s attempt – “grimly determined not to surrender” – to solve a crossword (or, as he thinks of them, “one of the beastly things”).

The notes on your 96th puzzle include the unlikely phrase “This is the last fish-based puzzle in this collection”. So also are Mr Stimpson’s Crossword Puzzles, the clues to which the reader is advised not to be beguiled into attempting to solve.

Incredibly, Sayers tells us in a footnote that she has omitted a part of the conversation about whether RBEXMG might represent a date in a certain format “for brevity’s sake”. That said, if I’m keen to finish, I might nowadays use dCode’s remarkable Playfair decoder rather than recreating those 12 pages for myself. Fifty more puzzles from the Guardian and an additional five bonus puzzles previously only available online, including the notorious Referendum Day puzzle that was able to predict the result of the UK’s vote over its membership of the European Union with complete confidence. The ecclesiastical setting might make today’s reader expect tweeness – but Gilbert, in his first novel, promptly shares a wryness and droll cynicism. Test your powers of linguistic deduction and lateral-thinking against 120 classic cryptic crosswords from the Guardian's extensive archives, with the first book in the new Guardian puzzle book series.

Since those characters are either irredeemably sadistic or hopelessly foolish, the reader needs to be in the right mood. Finally, you’ve moved to Ditchling , which in my head is identical to Itching Down – the locale of one of literature’s greatest books, The Giant Jam Sandwich. Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Reunion Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (U. Forget riddles, conundrums or Sudoku, the crossword is the original and best word puzzle and it has truly stood the test of time. You seem to treat the various Guardian grids like physical spaces, like your metaphor of the Cluedo secret passageway.This book contains more than 200 crosswords, perfect for a quick – but challenging – test of your deductive skills. Lord Peter is fond of a puzzle too; as is often the case in whodunnits, being a solver of crosswords is handy when you are trying to solve a murder. In this book, you’ll find my first 50 puzzles from the Guardian, with an additional bonus puzzle first published in the online Genius slot.

It’s a quick-crossword version of Victor Meldrew’s attempt to solve a baffling cryptic, which we have looked at here. Grids 54A and 54B (the ones with the Ss) have a preponderance of shorter lights, which matches the type of words that I like to clue, as does Grid 58 (the one with the Ws).

Itching Down is recognisably Ditching in many places, though John inserted several parts of other villages that he enjoyed drawing. A solicitor, he worked at Lincoln’s Inn and enjoyed writing amid the “hustle and bustle” of his commute. Michael Gilbert himself, and Close Quarters in particular, belong to neither the “cosy crime” nor the “hard-boiled” camp.

There’s something oddly organic about Grid 61, which I think of as having a black twig across the middle of the grid, and I like all the grids that make geometric shapes. Happily for us, Playfair codes are not uncrackable, which means that we later get an entire chapter in which Harriet and Lord Peter pore over sections of a Playfair grid. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The world of Harriet and Lord Peter may be long gone (can you even still pick up a “pocket edition of Tristram Shandy” to enjoy with your picnic? Once I have enough, I colour-code the ideas to make sure I have a variety of types of clue and ways of using the theme.In his 1938 play Gas Light, Jack Manningham tampers with the lights and employs various other tricks to convince his wife, Bella, that she is imagining things and, by implication, losing her mind.