Good one, Nancy. I will need clues. Interestingly, I was watching an old Inspector Morse the other night and he was doing a crossword. The British ones look to be much different from ours. Not sure I could solve one of those as easily as I do here. It looks very different in its layout with single boxes and such. Alas, Morse's favorite puzzlemaker was murdered in the episode.

You have me wishing I had seen that puzzle in November! I usually stick to our Washington Post puzzle on Sundays.

Wondering if the date is pertinent...

Cynthia

Ah yes, Morse - he would have made the cut!! I remember Daedelus and the mystery he was involved in - funny how art imitates life so very often. And such is Colin Dexter's love for cryptic puzzles that when it came to his most famous creations, Dexter sought inspiration from two notable clue setters: âÂÂInspector Morse is named after Sir Jeremy Morse, who I got to know in the 1950s when he started doing the Ximenes crossword in The Observer,â he explains. âÂÂAnd Dorothy Taylor wrote the The ObserverâÂÂs Everyman crossword for years under the name Mrs B Lewis. So thatâÂÂs the origin of MorseâÂÂs bagman.âÂÂ

Actually, both dates are very important!! I am going to try this crossword myself, and will share the link later. Blech, I am crap at cryptic crosswords. Bobbie's DH might know!!

Nancy.

Waiting for clues.....

Annette

I enjoy crosswords too. Our local newspaper carries the L.A. Times puzzles, which range from easy to moderately challenging. I always feel so smart doing the Monday and Tuesday puzzles lickety-split, and then feel progressively dumber through the week.

Having said that, I don't have any idea yet about the puzzle in question. Trying to work with the date clue.

TM

No idea and DH does not know, either. We get the NY Times puzzle 7 weeks later in our local paper.

A belated Happy New Year to you all.

Well, I have thrown a few clues in so far - perhaps too cryptic, though. We actually did trivia on this last year. Maybe it was a bombe, though.

Nancy.

Thinking of the date, was it in code?

Cynthia

The bombe makes me think of the Bletchley Park machine, which fits with Cynthia's code remark,

TM

Ah, code - yes!! I am watching a marathon of the Mystery of Oak Island today - so few true mysteries left on this earth. Yesterday it was a marathon of Sherlock - I adore Benedict Cumberbatch!!

Nancy.

Hmm...codes...mysteries...Holmes...Cumberbatch...new movies...

Don't suppose it had anything to do with Smaug (whose voice he was)...

Sigh, can't quite put it all together. Can't stay awake to watch the Ravens beat Pittsburgh in the wild card game. Glad Baltimore is winning, though.

See you all in the morning. Sweet dreams.

Cynthia

Well, let's review:

Rerunning crossword puzzles
1942
It could be solved in a matter of minutes, they said
art imitates life
Blech, I am crap at cryptic crosswords
bombe
Benedict Cumberbatch

Not enough clues??

Nancy.

From the clue, Bletchley Park, and the fact that it was 1942 maybe the winner was contacted to be a code breaker during the war.

Interesting info about selecting the names Morse and Lewis. PBS is running the first Inspector Morse episode Monday night. Think I have seen them all but will enjoy seeing the series again.
Can't believe it has been 14 years since the series ended.

That is a great idea, Bobbie! Maybe the winner was the character played by Cumberbatch in his new movie. Should remember the name, but can't.

Cynthia

Alan Turing was the one played by Cumberbatch, I think, though I haven't seen the movie.

TM

Hmmmm, thoughts are racing through my mind but aren't connecting anything, I know I'm going to give my head a shake when I see what the answer is.
'Inspector Morse', I'll have to look see if it's on our t.v. lineup right now I'm watching 'A Touch of Frost' reruns on the Knowledge Network saturday nights, my fav.

Annette

Annette, I too am watching the Touch of Frost reruns - such a great series. I'll look and see if one of my PBS stations is running the Morse mysteries.

Well, I think you got it, mostly!! People were given a 12-minute deadline, and 5 people beat the 12-minute deadline, although one, the fastest, had misspelled a word and was disqualified. The puzzle was printed in the next dayâÂÂs edition, January 13 1942, so that everyone could try their hand . And there the matter might have rested but, unknown to the Telegraph and the contestants, the War Office was watching. Stanley Sedgewick, one of those who took part, said: âÂÂSeveral weeks later, I received a letter marked 'Confidentialâ inviting me, as a consequence of taking part in 'The Daily Telegraph Crossword Time TestâÂÂ, to make an appointment to see Col Nichols of the General Staff, who 'would very much like to see you on a matter of national importanceâÂÂ.â Mr Sedgewick, and several others who took part that day, ended up working at Bletchley Park, breaking German military codes.
âÂÂWhether itâÂÂs a simple cipher, or something as complex as the codes of the Enigma machine which the Bletchley codebreakers were working on, the trick is making links between letters and words,â says Michael Smith, the author of Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park (and who interviewed Mr Sedgewick for the Telegraph in 1998). âÂÂCrosswords are the same sort of lateral-thinking exercise.â Alan Turing was already on that team, at the time. He had a brilliant mind, and a tragic life - ahead of his time on many levels. I have yet to discover why it is called the Imitation Game - I guess I'll have to watch the movie.

For all:

Thanks for playing!! See you at Cyn's question now!!

Nancy.

Here is a link that might be useful: More info and the crossword

No stars for me, I wasn't even close :(.

Annette

Thanks, Nancy. Pretty cool -- winners turned into code-breakers. WWII history is just fascinating -- so many details that made the course of the war twist this way and that.

Fun question and answer.

TM

Did anyone try the puzzle? It is some hard - I am not a code breaker.

Nancy.

I will print it and see if I can do it starting tomorrow evening! Haven't looked at the link yet.

I also do not deserve stars-got the code, but latched onto Bobbie's coattails for the answer really. Thanks for the fun-which may or may not continue when I try the puzzle. Haha.

Cynthia

Thanks for the interesting question and answer, Nancy. Amazing how something one thinks is so inconsequential can change one's life.

I think Cynthia gets stars. If I didn't latch onto others' suggestions and clues I would get few stars. We all help each other to the right (mostly) answers.

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 1:06

That is a tough puzzle, and with the Britishisms, I would not have figured it out in 12 days, let alone 12 minutes. Those were some crazy-smart people.

TM