Stephen Collis

Outage incident

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 13:10:04 +0000

Apologies for the recent outage. The offending issue has been dealt with.

Tough clue

Stephen Collis — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 20:53:29 +0000

First a couple of answers are outstanding. The answer to ‘bottom tier’ is, of course, ‘shoelace’ (did you notice how putting ‘of course’ in there completely alters what you mean to say. It implies that you are thick if you did not get the answer straight away). Not my intention at all; for reasons see below!
The outstanding clue solution is to ‘O’ I’ve never done it before’ which I will not actually tell you just yet because I gave you an incorrect letter count! The answer is two words of 5 and 8 letters. That’s Mr Thicky no 1.
Mr Thicky number 2 comes from today’s clue which is COMBINATION LOCKS and the answer has 4 letters (don’t worry I’ve checked). Why thicky, thicky? because it took me three days to come up with this clue and I bet it gets cracked within seconds. Oh well. Nobody’s perfect as somebody once said. I blame the heat.

Today’s clue

Stephen Collis — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 20:15:52 +0000

Hello again

Today’s clue is
Bottom tier (8)

I will give you the solution to the last clue next time.

Good luck!

Book news

Stephen Collis — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 20:34:13 +0000

Remote Control and Missy will soon be available as an omnibus edition and available on Amazon.
Now that’s Amazin’

Update and new clue

Stephen Collis — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 17:17:20 +0000

Hello again

First the solution:
The clue was ‘Head in calls for attention after his first class’
the answer is HOI POLLOI
Why?
Well, ‘calls for attention’ is OIS i.e oi (as in Oi you) with head in i.e POLL (another term for head as in Polling which is a head count) all following his start H (first letter of ‘his’) gives class (class of people)

The latest clue is ‘O, I’ve never done it before’ 6,9

Today’s clue

Stephen Collis — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:24:52 +0000

No-one has correctly solved the last clue! Some pretty good efforts with sound(ish) reasoning so I will give a litlle hint. The solution has 9 letters. OK?

Hope you are enjoying the summer (or winter, whatever) wherever you are.

New Clue

Stephen Collis — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:09:19 +0000

Today’s clue is a little bit of a stinker, not enough though for a mention in the Caedmon Hall of Fame.

‘Head in calls for attention after his first class’

Tell you what, I will make it a bit harder by not telling you how many letters it has got so I WILL post entries on the Hall of Fame! Can you be the first to get on that wall? Just send me an email in the usual way. Preference will be given to those who explain why their solution is right.

Good luck.

The solution to the last clue is ‘Vietnamese’ Simply it is an anagram of ‘meanest I’ve’ with ‘used’ being the anagram indicator and the definition is ‘Language’

New Clue

Stephen Collis — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 20:19:46 +0000

How did you get on with the last clue? Quite easy eh?
The solution is FOREVER. Why? Well the clue was ‘Warning deliveries don’t start and never end’. So how did we get there? FORE is a warning in golf, an ‘over’ in cricket is 6 balls ‘delivered’ by the bowler; however, the deliveries don’t start so we only want VER. we put the two together to get the definition ‘never end’.
That’s all there is to it.

Today’s clue is:
‘Language! Meanest I’ve used!’

Just a quick aside because I just realised I have put some punctuation in that clue. The use of punctuation in a clue is twofold. The first and most important is to confuse the solver (setters are not known for their generosity of spirit) and the second is to make the clue read better, more naturally sounding (If, that is, you are one of those persons who reads things aloud, perhaps with the tip of your tongue protruding….?) (see what I mean about not nice? I even have to avoid mirrors.)

See you soon.

The Prodigal Returns

Stephen Collis — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:57:43 +0000

I’m back now. Sorry I’ve been away so long but I was engaged in another venture which has finally come to fruition. So back now to my first love. I am presently compiling book two (see I haven’t been completely ignoring you) and just to get us back into the stride I am going to post a couple of clues a week on this site. All the clues will come from the new puzzles so solve them and you will have got yourself a little head start. Not that it matters overmuch as there are no prizes with the new book! To keep things interesting, though, I thought that occasionally, when I post a particularly hard clue (or one that just tickles my fancy (note to US readers – that’s not rude!)) I will invite submissions by email with the first entry getting a name check on this site. See, entertainment, education and now fame! Who could ask for more.
It’s good to be back and now for the first clue (an easy starter so sadly not a name check one)
‘Warning deliveries don’t start and never end (7)’
Good luck.

October crossword – update

admin — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 19:39:06 +0000

OK, OK, I hear you… it is a bit hard, isn’t it? Well, here is a clue:

In some entries, the wordplay leads to an alternative to the grid entry which must be deduced

There, that makes it clearer, doesn’t it? Well, if you’re a seasoned crossword-o-holic, I’m sure it does. But I like to cater for everyone here (even if I do make really hard puzzles – on purpose, of course, because that’s what people like about my crosswords, so they tell me!)

So, what this means is that some of the clues might lead to a word that’s different to the one you need to put in. For example, if I was doing a crossword themed around birds, you might get this clue:

A military servant – Ledger’s nemesis? (5)

Now, this would lead you to Batman – Heath Ledger (brilliantly) played the Joker to Christian Bale’s Batman. And a batman is a military officer’s personal servant.

But five letters?

Of course, the bird theme – I’m looking for robin.

And that’s the answer you’d need to put in this bird-themed crossword. That doesn’t exist, of course…