Listener Crossword: Puzzles

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A few of the earliest Listener puzzles have been reproduced HERE. These are Crossword No 1, the first puzzle with an unusual grid shape, the most famous Latin puzzle, an early Christmas puzzle, and the first mathematical puzzle.

The table below gives access to the titles and setters for all puzzles up to the present, although statistical information will not be available until some time after a puzzle’s appearance. The puzzles are split according to the year of publication. In each year’s file the column headed ‘√’ provides the number of correct submissions, when known. (When prizes were eventually limited to the first five or three correct entries opened, this is shown by ‘5+’ or ‘3+’, unless there were insufficient correct entries.) The column headed ‘More’ contains ‘X’ or ‘P S’ that can be ‘clicked’ to access some other information about the puzzle, such as the size, the symmetry and the theme; prizewinners have been added for the time since they were drawn at random. If the cell contains ‘XX’ it signals that some extra facts are known about the puzzle, eg, an account of the errors made by solvers. The new ‘P S’ option allows separate access to information about the puzzle (P) and full clue-by-clue solution notes (S); this commenced mid-2007.

See the text that follows the table for alternative sources of the data. It also provides an explanation for some abbreviations used in the puzzle files.

19301931193219331934
0–4041–9495–146147–198199–250
19351936193719381939
251–302303–355356–407408–459460–511
19401941194219431944
512–563564–615616–668669–720721–772
19451946194719481949
773–824825–876877–926927–979980–1031
19501951195219531954
1032–10781079–11301131–11821183–12351236–1287
19551956195719581959
1288–13391340–13871388–14391440–14911492–1544
19601961196219631964
1545–15961597–16481649–17001701–17521753–1805
19651966196719681969
1806–18571858–19091910–19611962–20132014–2065
19701971197219731974
2066–21182119–21702171–22222223–22742275–2325
19751976197719781979
2326–23672368–24062407–24452446–24842485–2528
19801981198219831984
2529–25782579–26272628–26782679–27242725–2776
19851986198719881989
2777–28282829–28792880–29322933–29842985–3036
19901991199219931994
3037–30883089–31303131–31823183–32333234–3286
19951996199719981999
3287–33383339–33903391–34423443–34943495–3545
20002001200220032004
3546–35983599–36503651–37023703–37543755–3805
20052006200720082009
3806–38583859–39103911–39623963–40144015–4066
2010    
4067–    

The text in the puzzle files uses some shorthand references to standard devices:
A list of all puzzles from No 0 (or 1) to 4014 (end-2008) is also available, in two formats.
  • A tab-delimited file HERE (Puzzles.txt), suitable for input to a spreadsheet program. It may be best to save the file and open it outside the browser. To do so, Right Click on the link in this item, then “Save Target As…” wherever convenient.
  • A Microsoft Works® database HERE. This should be accessed outside the browser by saving as explained in the previous item.
Thanks are due to Ross Lawther for collecting and providing the full list of puzzles, and to the Listener statisticians for the full statistical record.
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