Mick Hodgkin

London

Times/ST Puzzles Editor, crossword setter, limerick writer. 2015-16 Only Connect semi-finalist. Arsenal fan. I was a TV news programme editor but I got rundown.

Featured in: Favicon

cgtn.com

thetimes.co.uk Favicon

aljazeera.com

Articles

The 5 best puzzle books to buy for Christmas 2024

Dec 7, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mick Hodgkin

Puzzles may be enjoying a boom, but this is just the latest peak. Two new books from The Times and The Sunday Times commemorate earlier landmarks. 100 Years of The Sunday Times Crossword (Times Books £12.99) marks the centenary in January of one of the first British crosswords to launch. The Sunday Times crossword editor Peter Biddlecombe has combed through hundreds of puzzles from every decade of the past century and has picked one a year for you to pit your wits against.
We’re not trying to catch you out - well, mostly

Nov 29, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mick Hodgkin

You may think the puzzles team at The Times are sadists who delight in setting you impossible tasks, but we are on your side really. The former Times crossword editor John Grant said the aim of the crossword setter is to lose gracefully, and the same applies to our other puzzles. Even the November 12 Codeword. Unfortunately, although this puzzle could be found online in all its 13×13 glory, in the paper it appeared one line short of a full grid.
Ex-champ regains Times crossword crown (but can you crack clues?)

Oct 20, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mick Hodgkin

The champion is back but the young pretenders are after his crown. Mark Goodliffe, the most successful solver in the 54-year history of The Times Crossword Championship, regained the trophy on Saturday after finishing the final cryptic puzzle in under five minutes — just ahead of Chloe Hutton, 27, a first-time competitor and one of several younger solvers who came to the fore this year.
Apologies if our rank language offended anyone

Jun 14, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mick Hodgkin

If the return of national service, as proposed by the Conservatives, serves no other purpose, perhaps it could improve the knowledge of military ranks among future puzzles team members. Last month Olav Bjortomt’s Daily Quiz asked: “The smallest unit in an army, a squad is led by a soldier of which rank?” The answer given was “sergeant”. “What nonsense,” wrote Clive Fletcher-Wood. “A squad is an ad hoc group of soldiers for different purposes.
Crossword solvers spy a secret agent behind the clues

Apr 26, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Mick Hodgkin

The Times Crossword tries to steer clear of topicality, unlike some competitors. But sometimes, like a stopped clock telling the correct time, we can’t avoid it. “Do you have a secret agent setting cryptic clues?” David Lemon inquired on Friday last week. “In Crossword 28,894 the answer to 19 Down was Isfahan, an obscure city in Iran. The same night as the crossword, that city was hit by Israeli missiles.
Destroyed or just disinterested… our puzzler protests

Jan 12, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Mick Hodgkin

Some complaints we get are puzzle-specific, but certain words prompt protests whether in a column or a cryptic crossword. “I guessed the answer to 8 Across might be ‘decimate’,” writes Edward Baker (of Tunbridge Wells, but not “disgusted”, he says), “but I hoped against hope that The Times at least, especially the Crossword, had not succumbed to the use of this word to mean destroy. Alas, my hopes were dashed.”The Times style guide sees this as a case of evolving usage.
X-rated version ends with cross words over coffee

Nov 24, 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | Mick Hodgkin

In the puzzles department we justifiably cop flak from solvers if we fail to indicate which of two valid alternative spellings is the correct answer to a crossword clue. In cryptics you can use wordplay to point the way but in concise puzzles we sometimes use parentheses, putting “(S not Z)”, say, after the clue for a word ending “ise”. This device raised eyebrows, however, in the recent concise crossword clue: “Strong coffee (S not X) (8)”.
Teacher solves a ‘stinker’ to win Times Crossword Championship

Oct 22, 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | Mick Hodgkin

We haven't been able to take paymentYou must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription. Act now to keep your subscriptionWe've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription. Your subscription is due to terminateWe've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment.
Introducing your new Puzzles newsletter

Oct 17, 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | Mick Hodgkin

We haven't been able to take paymentYou must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription. Act now to keep your subscriptionWe've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription. Your subscription is due to terminateWe've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment.
US maths clue doesn’t add up to a good answer

Jul 21, 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | Mick Hodgkin

British puzzlers on the alert for creeping Americanisation thought they had caught us out last month when Polygon rejected “maths” as an answer but allowed “math”. “What on earth is going on?” asked David Carlisle. “Is The Times now American-owned? Will you be asking for a subscription in US dollars? Startled regards.”Without wishing to alienate our North American readers I can assure David and others that we still favo(u)r the King’s English, although we do also allow spellings from Uncle Sam’s.