How to master the Times Crossword by Tim Moorey

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Announcement
This book is now available, and looks just as good as I’d expected from snippets on the xwd grapevine – see Amazon UK for details. I’ll be adding a review there shortly with more detail about why it’s so good. He says some very nice things about this blog, which may mean that we see some fresh commenters. What struck me while reading through the coverage of clue types with examples was the indirect compliment to Times crossword setters – the sample clues used for teaching are consistently very good indeed.

In the same Amazon package was Val Gilberts “A display of lights”, about six of the Daily Telegraphs’s setters, past and present. More about that one later.

3 comments on “How to master the Times Crossword by Tim Moorey”

  1. Having bought and read Tim’s book I must add my congratulations on a superb piece of work. Its presentation is clear, concise and extremely helpful to solvers regardless of their level of experience.

    Chapter 18 is interesting as it addresses the subject of setter anonymity. Tim’s arguments for The Times adopting the same practice as most other quality dailies are sound and compelling and, on first read-through, I found myself echoing the same sentiments – but on further thought I can see another side to it.

    If a name (or pseudonym) is taglined to a puzzle, is there a danger that solvers who have found their comfort zone with a particular setter might disregard others? All of us here are keen to see new solvers tackling The Times crossword, but isn’t it human nature that we tend to stick with what we know? The ideal is that solvers, regardless of ability, will tackle the puzzle every day, but I remember my early days of solving the Guardian puzzle. When certain setters appeared I would leave the crossword alone – it’ll be too hard / too easy; I’ll wait until there’s one by X before (and perhaps this is crucial) buying the paper.

    When all’s said and done the majority of dailies carry setter pseudonyms so the effects can’t be that harmful, but it would be interesting to hear from solvers how you’d feel about The Times identifying its setters.

    1. I used to favour dropping anonymity, but I’ve gradually been persuaded that it’s probably right for the Times puzzle. Apart from the “comfort zone” issue, I’ve heard at least one setter say that they’re not so worried about the sometimes quite major changes made by the editor, because the final puzzle isn’t “theirs” in the same way as it is in other papers.

      That said, I’d like to see the setters given a bit more publicity in the paper from time to time – maybe an annual list of the people in the team, followed by short articles about one setter at a time. Or similar information on the Crossword Club web site.

      I’ve also wondered in the past whether the setter might be indicated when the solution appears, so satisfy those who really care (I suspect most Times solvers don’t care that much).

    2. I like not knowing, to be honest. The Independent Thursday crosswords I always approach with a feeling of dread, knowing they’re likely to be beyond me. There’s also the opposite effect, of feeling unduly depressed when you fail to tackle a setter who you normally regard as being ‘easy’.

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