ConnectED crossword: a bonus tip!

Okay, we said we wouldn’t give any more tips, but we’re feeling especially nice today.

If a clue contains a word that might imply things being disassembled or assembled - for example “destroyed”, “in disarray”, “broken”, “rebuilt” - that probably means you’re looking for an anagram in the clue.

Now hurry up: you only have until midday today to get your solution to Ben Poole (@benpoole), Mark Myers (@stickfight) or Julian Woodward (@woowar)!

See earlier blog entries for previous tips.

ConnectED crossword: Tuesday's daily tip

Today, because this is the last ‘tip’ day and we’re feeling excessively generous, here are two final tips for you.

1. One of the clues may require a Google search (unless your general knowledge is outstandingly good).
2. And another may require a calculator (unless your mental arithmetic is outstandingly good).

If you want to have a go at the crossword, and you’ve not yet got a copy, track down Ben Poole (@benpoole), Mark Myers (@stickfight) or Julian Woodward (@woowar). And don’t plan on getting any sleep tonight if you want to win the prize.

See earlier blog entries for previous tips.

ConnectED crossword: Monday's daily tip

If a clue contains sensory words like “sounds”, “hear”, “seems”, “appears” or “looks”, that probably means that we are playing with homophones. Look it up.

If you want to have a go at the crossword, and you’ve not yet got a copy, track down Ben Poole (@benpoole), Mark Myers (@stickfight) or Julian Woodward( @woowar).

See earlier blog entries for previous tips.

ConnectED crossword: Sunday's daily tip

Punctuation is important. Where an answer is two words, the letter counts are separated by a comma e.g. [7, 6]. If the punctuation in the letter count is anything else (e.g. [7-6]), pay attention to it. The same applies to punctuation - especially capital letters - in the clue.

If you want to have a go at the crossword, and you’ve not yet got a copy, track down Ben Poole (@benpoole), Mark Myers (@stickfight) or Julian Woodward (@woowar).

See earlier on the blog for our Saturday tip.

ConnectED crossword: Saturday's daily tip

Some - but not all - of the clues rely on some word play. So, for example, if the clue were “Accelerated, without Ecstasy” that can be pulled apart as

• a word meaning something similar to ‘accelerated’
• but with an ‘e’ removed (‘E’ being a common abbreviation of the drug name Ecstasy’)

So the answer there would, of course, be “Quickr”.

There you go. A little insight into the devious minds of the crossword compilers. Hope it helps.

If you want to have a go at the crossword, and you’ve not yet got a copy, track down Ben Poole (@benpoole), Mark Myers (@stickfight) or Julian Woodward (@woowar).