Behold the rare, twisted beauty of the crossword setter’s mind

Puzzle solvers’ unique way of thinking was utilised as a recruiting tool for Bletchley Park. The true enigmas, though, are the people who come up with them in the first place • Don’t get Cluesletter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here The world of crossword setters is not enormous. A solver who had completed a puzzle which turned out to have been a recruiting tool for Bletchley Park recalled: I was told, though not so primitively, that chaps with twisted brains like mine might be suitable for a particular type of work as a contribution to the war effort. Take UMBRELLA at 77-Down. Today, crossword editors love to focus on a lively angle, such as the 2013 clue [Sidewalk cafe sight] or the trickier [Kind of insurance policy], first used in 1999. A 2007 acrostic puzzle even used [Prop for a filmed dance by Gene Kelly]. But in the first Times crossword, the clue is [Symbol of appeasement], possibly a nod to the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s famous rolled umbrella, carried during negotiations for the 1938 Munich Agreement. Talk about a deep cut. 14d Overlapping signs for places of learning (9) [ wordplay: two star signs which share a common letter ] [ LIBRA + ARIES, but sharing their A ] [ definition: places of learning ] Matt Damon gutted to receive partial cut at beginning and end of his film role? Continue reading...