Membership is exclusive · Discretion is expected

Two crossed clues a day,
warmly explained.

The Society teaches complete beginners to love cryptic crosswords. Two little clues each morning, crossed at a shared letter, hints that never scoldThe Secretary has never once been scolded, and would not stand for it., and every answer taken apart so the penny properly drops.

Solve today’s crossing Join the Dispatch
A white-gloved hand setting down a cream envelope sealed with red wax
You did not apply. You were proposed.
The view from the reading room

Today’s crossing

Tap a clue, then type. Two words, one shared letter.

D
A
ATiny worker found in an elegant setting (3)
DGlean, somehow, a heavenly messenger (5)

The app · now on Google Play

App Store, coming soon Get it on Google Play

iPhone and iPad to follow shortly.

No ads. No accounts. No tracking. Ever.Non-negotiable. I checked.

How it works

Three small ceremonies, five minutes, one penny dropping

I

Solve the crossing

Two clues, hand set for beginners, crossing at a single letter. Solve the first and it hands a letter to the second.

II

Hint without shame

Two gentle hints wait behind a button. Stuck is a place, not a verdict.Dr Quire wrote this. I have not read it.

III

Watch the penny drop

Every clue ends with its full workings. Do this daily and the code cracks itself.

Exhibit A

Every answer, explained kindly

Small rock rearranged notes (5)

A cryptic clue tells you the answer twice. One half is an honest definition, small rock. The other builds it from letters: rearranged says shuffle NOTES, which gives STONE. Both halves agree, so you know you are right. That little certainty is the whole addiction.

The letters, rearranged

NOTES

↓

STONE

and a stone is a small rock

The Society publishes

The course, in print

Four cloth-and-ink volumes. Over 150 brand new clues in each, hints just over the page, every answer warmly explained. Nothing repeated from the daily crossing.

The nine machines, labelled. Begin here.

The labels come off. Diagnose it yourself.

Three new letter machines.

The last two devices, and the examinations.

Mr Peregrine Fitch Dr Wilhelmina Quire

Set down by Dr Wilhelmina Quire, Lecturer in Applied Misdirection. Front matter, and a certain amount of interference, by Mr Peregrine Fitch, Membership Secretary.

The Society writes on Sundays

The Society Dispatch

A weekly bulletin from the Membership Secretary's desk: the week's crossings, a short lesson in polite deception from Dr Quire, and one clue left unexplained until the following Sunday.

Free, every Sunday