New to Crosaire?

My main goal in writing this blog is to provide a helping hand to newcomers to the Crosaire crossword puzzle.

I learned to do Crosaire crosswords the hard way, by buying many, many copies of The Irish Times when I was a teenager, often just for the crossword! In those days there were lots of clues that I couldn’t solve. I was very careful to hang on to my unfinished crosswords until the next day when the answers were published, and I would try to use the answers to figure out the meaning of the clues that had eluded me. The frustrating part was that so often I could not work out how a particular answer was derived from its clue. But over time, I became familiar with Mr. Crozier’s style, so that fewer clues were left unsolved, and even fewer were left unexplained after the answer was revealed. But more than once back then I said to myself, “why can’t someone list not just the answers, but the explanations to the clues?” Now over 30 years later, I’ve made the time to do that myself.

So, the commentary can be used to decipher the clues. I should warn you that even today I don’t fully understand all the clues, but there is usually someone out there reading the blog who’s kind enough to help me out. If you have a clue that you can’t solve, my advice is to first check the completed grid to see if you get an “aha!” moment, so that you decipher the clue just with the help of the answer. If you need more help, then check the commentary. Hopefully my explanation will make sense to you, and you’ll pick up a useful hint for next time. If you still don’t get it, just ask a question by leaving a comment in the blog or sending me an email. I always respond to comments and emails, and other readers are always willing to help as well.

Derek Crozier has his own style, and he uses certain abbreviations over and over again. Part of the charm of doing the Crosaire puzzle is getting to know “the language” that is used. On occasions over the years, The Irish Times has published a list of abbreviations and references that are commonly used in the puzzle, and this list is now available in a Wikipedia article online. It helps to run through the list occasionally as one is learning the Crozier “language”. Back in 1988, The Irish Times published a very useful "cheat sheet" for the Crosaire crossword written by Mary O'Brien (long associated with the Simplex crossword). Mary's cheat sheet is still available online on the RTE website.

In recent years, a routine has developed where the same 6 grid patterns are used each week, one for each day. It’s most helpful to know this on Saturdays, when a grid is used that has four 13-letter answers at the four edges of the grid. Mr. Crozier is fond of using one common word in each of these four 13-letter answers. For example, a puzzle published a few weeks ago used the word SHORT in each of the four answers: SHORTHAND NOTE, SHORT TROUSERS, THE SHORT STORY, SHORT OF BREATH. Working out the “theme” word in one of these answers goes a long way towards helping with the other three clues. An added bonus in solving these clues with long answers around the edge of the grid is that they provide plenty of letters for answers intersecting the outer ring of the puzzle.

So, if you are new to Crosaire, welcome! I hope you find the blog useful.

Bill Butler

26 March 2009