Xword, what next?

[Marijn]

IF the Radio Times (prize clues) crossword had a rating of 5 out of 10 for difficulty, what rating would the Times have? The Telegraph etc? What would be a good one to do, when you want to try one a little harder than the Radio Times?

[JMR27]

I don't get the Radio Times but I think some of the clues I see on here are quite tricky.I would say it's about on a par with the Telegraph. Why not have a try at the Telegraph first and then move on to the Times which is more difficult .

[Marijn]

Hi JMR, thanks for your answer :-)

[CSIambleside]

I don't know if the Telegraph has a daily prize crossword, but the Express has one worth �100, and the Mail has one worth three prizes of �20 ( if I remember right ), and I'd say both are similar to difficulty to the Radio Times.

So you get the fun of the crossword and the chance of a prize too.

[Marijn]

Hi CSI thanks for the info. I don't ever enter them for prizes. Just wanted to try something along the same lines as the RT, but a bit harder, cheers.

[CSIambleside]

Perhaps you should try The Sunday Times, it's not as tough as The Saturday crossword, and people on here are always willing to help out. Although the paper is �2.00 on a Sunday, you do get enought reading to see you through the week !

[Marijn]

Thanks CSI, that's a good idea, I'll give it a go.

[Kirkpatrick]

If you want a fair challenge every month try the SAGA prize crossword - quite often you get the answer then you can decipher the question !

[Marijn]

Thank you. I'll give it a go. How do I get a SAGA crossword?

[CSIambleside]

I used to do my old mum's saga crossword, and I found it very difficult. She had it on subscription, I don't think it's available in the shops.

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/subscribe/s_newsubscription.asp

Seems to be �17.95 for a year's subscription.

[Marijn]

Thanks, is it available to any age? Or do you have to be a member?

[Jugglering]

I used to get the Guardian Newspaper delivered every day and *ahem* attempted the cryptic crossword... trouble is, every day the crossword was compiled by someone different... Some were *easy* (shhhhhh, I won't tell which days) and some days, well the crossword clues were so obscure that even with Google I struggled..... and I'm not that daft or illiterate... lol.... If I saw a certain compiler on that day, I'd often simply run a mile (Paul, Bunthorne etc etc) but others were great (eg Aracaria - my favourite retired reverend). So, in answer to your question, it really depends on the compiler. The RT is good, medium hardness, never too obscure, ok for a Saturday morning.

[Marijn]

Thanks Jugglering. I'm getting lots of good ideas from these answers, cheers