Like many families, we have long-standing Christmas traditions: watching White Christmas, felling a (typically very scrawny) tree from our own property, tackling Fraser Simpson's full-page regular crossword puzzle, and leaving out Christmas cake and sherry on the 24th. We have newer ones, too. My husband introduced us to the tradition of listening to The Shepherd on CBC Radio, which we now all do in rapt silence. My brother-in-law (and his culinarily skilled mother) introduced us to feasting on bacalhau on Christmas Eve.
And then, there's the very new tradition of the cryptic crossword.
And then, there's the very new tradition of the cryptic crossword.
Two years ago, when I was first trying my hand at making cryptic crosswords, I put together a personalized Christmas puzzle for my family. It was amateurish, and some of the clues were awkward ("Seasonal shrub brewing in its teapot (10)"), but others weren't bad, I thought ("Overheard all I want for Christmas is a wooly lass (3)"). Last year, I made the puzzle generic (but still Christmas themed) and posted it on this website.
| This year, I've made another Christmas-themed puzzle, and I'd love it if you gave it a whirl. You can download it using that little tab on the right-hand side. --> | 
| ||
If you're feeling moved to generosity by the holiday spirit, and you have a few extra moments in your day, I'd love it if you shared your thoughts on the puzzle. If you write clues yourself, how would you improve on the ones I've written? If you set entire puzzles, how could this one -- and future puzzles -- be better?
Too busy to comment? That's okay. Just having you read these words is a pretty great Christmas present.
- Sarah
Too busy to comment? That's okay. Just having you read these words is a pretty great Christmas present.
- Sarah
RSS Feed
