A Message From the Founder of TfTT, Peter Biddlecombe

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Announcement

Peter Biddlecombe writes:

Hi everyone!

I’m dropping in briefly to plug 100 Years of The Sunday Times Crossword, published today.

This book is the result of a lot of work over the last few years, assisted by two people involved in TfTT – Phil Jordan and Jerry Whitmarsh. In 2020, when lockdown meant that I had more spare time than usual, my idea changed from a pipe dream to a serious possibility when my two testers tried a set of sample puzzles (for years ending in 8). These were chosen to decide whether it was possible to find old Sunday Times crosswords that present-day readers would have a chance of solving, as my copies of previous similar books have some rather empty grids,  and the answer appeared to be “yes, as long as you can find an easier 1950s puzzle”.

The sample then went to HarperCollins as part of a proposal and got a provisional nod, confirmed later. Spread over a couple of years, Phil and Jerry solved and commented on about 75 more puzzles in similar “years ending in X” batches. With some help from the introductory pages (and the fact that Sunday Times puzzles were not as difficult as some others for most of the history), I think it will be possible for modern-day solvers to enjoy puzzles written long before the present-day rules about cryptics were widely used, and to see how one series changed – the first ST crossword preceded the invention of cryptic crosswords, and the first cryptic clues in our puzzles are in the 1928 puzzle.

We’ve added two other things to the usual crossword book content – sets of factual snippets from each year to give readers a taste of life back then, and explanations with the solutions for the trickier clues.

Thanks,
Peter

A note from Jerry W:

I haven’t seen the book yet, but as Peter says I have seen almost all the crosswords. I found them fascinating for several reasons, but especially because they show exactly how the cryptic crossword has evolved over time from its earliest beginnings, and just how far it has come, to reach the highly polished and precise crosswords that we expect today.

My notes show that the difficulty levels varied widely over time, some of the early ones very easy, some of the 1950s in particular, very hard. But I did manage to solve all of them, and I hope you will too, though you may have to loosen your Ximenean principles a little from time to time…..highly recommended!

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

18 comments on “A Message From the Founder of TfTT, Peter Biddlecombe”

      1. Thanks. I don’t order from (union-busting etc.) Amazon if I can help it, much prefer Bookshop.org, of which The Nation is an affiliate, and where I see now that it is available for pre-order. I was thinking the British edition could be obtained from abroad already, but I’m in no great rush.

        1. I avoid Amazon too, glad to see I’m not alone.
          Bookshop.org is great; I always assumed, wrongly I guess, it was UK.

    1. I don’t think so. Nobody at HarperCollins has ever mentioned one for any of our crossword books, and although I haven’t looked much lately, I haven’t seen any digital crossword book that would allow completion on something like Kindle.

  4. To reinforce Jerry’s comments, it was a pleasure and a privilege to test-drive the selected puzzles for this book – and it will provide a social history of our crosswords, from the barely cryptic early examples through to the stuff we now know and (hopefully love).

  5. I wish the project well. Sadly I won’t be able to enjoy these as I can’t cope with solving crosswords in book format.

  6. Well done Peter and Jerry and Phil, I have told management to add it to my (as yet, empty) Santa list. It should help pass the January stay indoors days. I might photocopy the pages to get single sheets to solve on and avoid writing in the book.
    I see it is on Amazon UK at £11.94, only 2 left in stock !
    Pip

  10. Big thank you to PB, Jerry and Phil. I’ve got a birthday next month – this goes on the wish list to soften the blow. And thank you Guy for the nudge to bookshop.org. Quite right.

  13. Thanks, bought 2. 1 for me and 1 for my dad who gradually stopped doing crosswords and moved to sodukus, so hopefully this will bring him back!

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