To build an easy to find question title simply select the paper and quiz, enter the quiz number if relevant and fill in the Publication Date. The challenge of these puzzles is not just to solve the crossword clues and fill the grid as normal, but to create the very grid itself as you go along. If the solver is able to enter an answer, the answer is likely to provide a clue to further black squares – the square immediately following the last letter of the answer will be black (unless the answer runs to the edge of the grid). In the same way, if the number refers to a Down clue, the square immediately above it must be black.

With this puzzle not only are you required to solve a crossword, but you are also required to work out the crossword grid itself too! If you are a publisher looking to purchase puzzles for publication, or a license to use material from our books, please use this Contact Form to get in touch. g. if you come down from the top of the grid two rows and then across three columns, to find its partner, simply start at the bottom of the puzzle and come up two rows, and then start in the final column and move back three to find the partner. This small piece of kit is designed to make building your Quiz, Crossword or Puzzle question more effective.If you find it hard to visualise how this works, you can use counting: for instance if the third square on row two is black, then the third square from the end of row twelve is also black (on a 13x13 grid) - e. With a fully symmetrical grid, a single black starter square usually hints at the position of three or seven other black squares (the exact number will depend on whether or not the black square in question lies on an axis). However, these are tricky puzzles, so you'll need all your crossword solving skills to successfully tackle these puzzles. You should take a look through for a start and see if there are any anagram clues - these can often be solved straightaway and will give you the length of an answer, which is invaluable. The puzzles use British English, so for our American friends please note occasionally words may have a different spelling to you are used to: eg 'colour' as opposed to 'color' and so forth.

Note that other types of symmetry do not assist the solver quite as much as a fully symmetrical grid.However, unlike a standard crossword, you have to work out what the grid looks like at the same time as solving the clues, it is not already in place as with a standard crossword. As soon as you have an answer or two you can often make rapid progress, using the symmetry of the grid to quickly flesh out the details of more squares in the grid.

Perhaps you have some tips that you'd like to share as to how you tackle these puzzles - if so, then please do share them in the comments, it's always great to hear how solvers tackle different puzzle types. The word 'skeleton' is apt as, unlike a normal crossword, you are just given a few scant details about a grid, and you must then work through to construct the grid AND solve the crossword at the same time. If you're new to the puzzle type, then this is how it works: as per the image to the right of this page, each puzzle starts with a crossword grid with clues underneath it. I've done about ten of these books so far and they are great little puzzles to keep the brain amused.We hope you enjoy the challenge that is posed by these skeleton puzzles - if you can complete them all, then you truly are a crossword master. From a compiler's point of view, a fully symmetrical grid is less interesting than a grid with central symmetry, because it tends to mean more words of a particular word length or, put another way, less variation in word length.