The Times Crossword Collection

The Times Crossword is the world’s most famous crossword. This is a compilation of The Times Crossword Books 1 & 4, the crosswords having been compiled by Mike Laws, the former editor of The Times Crossword.

The Times Crossword has been baffling, infuriating, challenging and delighting its devotees for close on 75 years. Over this period of time it has become, quite deservedly, the world’s most famous crossword.

It is, quite simply, The Times Crossword.

The majority of clues are of standard and familiar types, including double definitions, anagrams, build-ups (using concatenation, reversal, shortening and inclusion), clues based on homophones, and hidden clues.

Essential to The Times crossword is the cryptic definition, relying solely on the subtle use of language. The crosswords are also peppered with ‘makeshift’ clues in which a single letter shifts within a word or group of words.