Recently I was chuffed to find a reference to The Stickler Weekly in an article featured in The Atlantic, an American monthly publication. For many years The Atlantic published cryptics by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, two of my cryptic crossword heroes. The article’s main thrust is the future of crosswords in a newspaper-free/digital age, and relays the views of two prominent crossword commentators, Alan Connor, who writes a crossword blog for The Guardian in the UK, and Michael Sharp who runs one a the US’s most popular blogs. Even though they both talk about “crosswords”, they are in fact talking about cryptics (in Alan’s case) and US-style 100% checked themed puzzles (in Michael’s case), and I think the distinction is necessary to get the full picture. I don’t believe cryptics translate to the online world as easily as other crosswords do, simply because of the time needed to solve them. Even if you ignore the fact that the majority of cryptic solvers are in the older age-groups that haven’t fully embraced the digital age, who wants to spend a couple of hours in front of a screen solving a crossword? I provide a printable version of The Stickler Weekly, but solvers have to go and get it, rather than it coming to them as with a newspaper. It’s very intentional and not everyone’s cup of tea.
Before reading the article I wouldn’t have considered the US-style crossword in danger of extinction, but it seems younger generations across the world aren’t captivated by what is now an old-style puzzle no matter what flavour it is or what form it takes.
| Across | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | IMPACT | |
| Force one to do something about politician (6) | (I + ACT) outside MP | |
| 4 | SCAMPERS | |
| Migrant accommodation on board ship goes quickly (8) | CAMPER inside SS | |
| 9 | TROLL | |
| Time to turn over a provocative poster (5) | T + ROLL | |
| 10 | COMPACTOR | |
| It crushes competition by player (9) | COMP + ACTOR | |
| 11 | MINIMUM | |
| Least favourite giving up on parent (7) | (MINION minus ON) + MUM | |
| 12 | REDRAWN | |
| Very sore point is outlined again (7) | RED-RAW + N(orth) | |
| 13 | CASE | |
| Box, for instance (4) | Double Definition | |
| 14 | GATHERER | |
| Collector at present after guineas, right? (8) | [(AT + HERE) after G] + R | |
| 17 | STRIDENT | |
| Small missile fired from a submarine is commanding attention (8) | S + TRIDENT | |
| 19 | CHAI | |
| Tea shops with the same name mostly (4) | (CHAI)N | |
| 22 | ALLEGRO | |
| A fast piece of work or legal manoeuvring (7) | Anagram of OR LEGAL | |
| 24 | INEXACT | |
| One after catching a cold is off (7) | (I + NEXT) outside (A + C) | |
| 25 | GRATITUDE | |
| Appreciation from Titus described briefly in Mark (9) | (TITU)S inside GRADE | |
| 26 | VISOR | |
| Guest doesn’t need it for shade (5) | VISITOR minus IT | |
| 27 | EXTREMES | |
| Limits seem wrong – finishing seven short? (8) | Anagram of SEEM after (EXTR)A | |
| 28 | UNCLAD | |
| One of the family nearly completed commercial with nothing on (6) | (UNCL)E + AD | |
| Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | INTIMACY | |
| Sexual intercourse is perverted in a city populated by millions (8) | Anagram of IN A CITY outside M | |
| 2 | PROGNOSIS | |
| Medical opinion by professional is needed after strain flared up (9) | PRO + IS after (SONG reversed) | |
| 3 | COLUMN | |
| Support relocation of locum back to town (6) | Anagram of LOCUM + TOW(N) | |
| 5 | COMPREHENSIVE | |
| Approach pinning broken hips never should be all-embracing (13) | COME outside anagram of HIPS NEVER | |
| 6 | MEANDER | |
| Colour showed up on the underside of hostile snake (7) | RED reversed after MEAN | |
| 7 | EXTRA | |
| Actor’s part may be taken out of context rarely (5) | contEXT RArely | |
| 8 | SHRINK | |
| Downsize quiet area used by bowlers (6) | SH + RINK | |
| 10 | COMMAND MODULE | |
| Control centre used by astronauts, not originally moulded differently? (7,6) | COMMA + (N)OT + anagram of MOULDED | |
| 15 | REHEARSAL | |
| Judges taking part in bona fide trial (9) | HEARS inside REAL | |
| 16 | FILTERED | |
| Clarified term abbreviated in documents by detective (8) | (TER)M inside FILE + D | |
| 18 | RAGTIME | |
| I am into variety of great jazz music (7) | IM inside anagram of GREAT | |
| 20 | WANGLE | |
| Use craft to get west to fish (6) | W + ANGEL | |
| 21 | HEAVEN | |
| Struggle to move last lot of stolen ecstasy (6) | HEAVE + STOLE(N) | |
| 23 | LEAPT | |
| Plea arranged ahead of time should be moved up quickly (5) | Anagram of PLEA + T |
I loved 10dn. Honourable mentions also go to 10ac, 12ac, 22ac, 8dn & 21dn.
I got the answer to 27ac, but agonised over the construction. I finally had to look up the clue hints to see how “seven” translated to “extra”. It’s a device I’ve seen a few times before, but I totally forgot about it in this case. It’s burnt into my memory now…