Clever Clue Nominees

Please vote for the best clue from January (either by email or comments below). The Clever Clue of the Month will be announced on Wednesday.

Wraps around the subcontinent?..........SARIS

Market not to be bullish in?............CHINASHOP

Encryption sites?.......................TOMBS

Worry, about how a slow-cooked dish of 

meat and vegetables will turn out, 

perhaps.................................STEW

Mating situation........................CHESSTOURNAMENT

It comes after 49.......................ERS

Spelling Bee

Try your hand at the actual 2015 Preliminaries Test and see if you could have qualified for the Semifinals at the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee. (I didn't qualify.)

Why everyone over 40 forgets their PIN number but oldies are better at crosswords than their children

Losing your keys, popping upstairs to get something, then forgetting what it was - we all have memory lapses, but are our 'senior moments' really due to advancing age? Here Tanith Carey reveals the fascinating truth about how your memory changes through life...

Clever Clue of the Month

December 2015
Clue: Canniest, for instance...........................ANAGRAM
Constructor/Editor: Matt Jones
Jonesin' Crossword, Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Clever Clue Nominees

Please vote for the best clue from December (either by email or comments below). The Clever Clue of the Month will be announced on Monday.

Creature that always uses the 

sidewalk?...............................CRAB 

Competition in which the winner always 

gets the last word?.....................BEE

There's one in this cule................ERROR

Canniest, for instance..................ANAGRAM

Heat-storing device.....................HOLSTER 

Offering from a master of deduction?....TAXTIP

Aha Moments

Crossword puzzle solvers are thrill seekers at heart according to Observer.com writer, Matthew Kassel, in a recent article: Chasing The 'Aha' Moment: The Rise of the Meta Puzzle.

Over the past few years, a new kind of puzzle has been gaining popularity among hardcore crossword people—one that promises to deliver, over and over again, the elusive kind of pleasure devoted cruciverbalists crave. Called the meta puzzle, it functions like a hit of crack compared to the line of cocaine that is a regular crossword.

The Wall Street Journal now offers a free weekly meta every Thursday. Hedge fund manager, Peter Muller, also offers a free meta, the Monthly Music Meta.

There are also a couple metas that are available for a small fee. Matt Gaffney has been creating his Weekly Crossword Contest for about eight years and Peter Gordon does about ten metas a year as part of his Fireball Crosswords.

Clever Clue of the Month

November 2015

Clue: Drop, like flies?......................................UNZIP
Constructor: Ed Sessa, Editor: Will Shortz
NY Times, Thursday, November 26, 2015