EJ's CrosswordLlNKS
 

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Crosswords:
cryptics
straight/quiz-style
by theme ('art' to 'wildlife')
beginner's
Double acrostics: cryptic
Double acrostics: straight

clues I like
clues I DON'T like
what makes a good clue?

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LINKS TO OTHER CROSSWORD SITES

The Chambers Online Crossword (Publisher of dictionaries / reference works)
Monthly crossword - java and printable. A quite challenging cryptic puzzle, though help is available via 'reveal' buttons and Chambers' own online 'Crossword Solver'. There's also a link to a (quiz-style) monthly General Knowledge crossword.

Crossword Centre (Derek Harrison)
Good resources for the crossword enthusiast. Most of all, though, this site (and its associated Message Board) is for those who seriously enjoy their cryptic puzzles, especially when there's an extra layer or two of difficulty added!
Challenging and 'coffee-time' crosswords appear regularly with a prize offered sometimes. And ... you'll find some interesting mug shots of setters and other characters from the world of crosswords!

Best for Puzzles (ADDED 17 Oct '10)
Many crosswords and other puzzles to solve, plus solving aids.
Also, an excellent, comprehensive and very well cross-referenced Who's Who of the crossword world .

Crossword Crazy
Daily online puzzles (crosswords, Codeword and Sudoku) and a host of features for crossword solvers and setters alike.
Cryptic tutorial, categorised word lists, a 'cryptic crossword dictionary' and miscellaneous sources of reference.

Crossword Star 
  Digital Dictionary and Geographical Reference guide
- commercial software allowing sophisticated searching of a very large database based on the content of actual crosswords.

Fifteensquared
Daily, weekly, monthly blogs on all the British 'quality' newspapers' cryptics (and Cyclops's fortnightly one in Private Eye).

Free Crosswords Online
Cryptic crosswords from a professional setter plus a showcase of new compilers' work. There's also a substantial section offering useful advice / information to would-be professional compilers.

Guardian Crossword Talk
Not much activity on this site now that solvers can attach comments to daily crosswords appearing at the Guardian link below (and at Fifteensquared, of course).

Guardian Unlimited Crosswords 
Cryptic and straight crosswords from the UK daily newspaper in interactive and printable versions. Nice software with a wealth of features available to the solver. Possibly the most entertaining of any of the UK national cryptics (though there are some dull ones) but often the most difficult of the standard cryptics. 
The site has other stuff of interest to crossword fans, including a monthly £100 prize crossword.

Ray Hamel’s ‘Crossword Puzzles’
A tremendous number of links to crossword puzzles, crossword books, crossword articles and crossword creation and solving software sites.

Listener Crossword
The Listener crossword is one of the most difficult crosswords there is. Solving the cryptic clues is just one element of a complex process, usually involving the consulting of reference books, etc. The failure rate among its would-be solvers appears to be quite high ("failure" often being no more than a tiny oversight or a technical misinterpretation of the puzzle's cryptically worded preamble). Despite this, it has a large, dedicated following. The web site, created in 2006, gives the background, the history, details of setters - and heaps of statistics. There's also a sample crossword to download, if you think you're up to it!

Peter Biddlecombe's Solving Tips   
Good practical advice, succinctly put, to solvers of cryptic crosswords.

Poins' Crosswords   
Weekly cryptic crossword puzzles, free, and a link to 'straight' crosswords. There are also useful links to other crossword sites.

Thinks.com ‘Crosswords, Crosswords, Crosswords’
Fewer links than Hamel’s but helpful descriptions/comments are given for each link.
The Frequently Asked Questions section will start you on some interesting journeys.
The Thinks.com site is also dedicated to other types of puzzles and ‘brain games’.


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