I've just completed all the puzzles in the mscroggs.co.uk Advent calendar! My favourite puzzle was 17. What looked like a very long counting exercise made much simpler with a little insight. Thank you @mscroggs.co.uk !

Quack Sparrow

Back to setting crosswords after a far-longer-than-planned break from setting crosswords… so thought I’d warm up with a mini cryptic! www.mycrossword.co.uk/mini/192

Not sure what the crossover is between my Bluesky account and my LinkedIn profile (I suspect not huge!) but in case anyone follows me on both... my LinkedIn profile appears to have been hacked. Please ignore anything you receive from me there, or report it as a compromised account. Thank you!

On the long long LONG list of reasons I’m glad I met @gjmale.bsky.social is the face he introduced me to horse high jumping (the puissance) which has become a Christmas tradition. This year’s was EXTRAORDINARY!

Was having a conversation just yesterday about Rob Reiner - he made my two of my all-time favourite films. I didn’t know a lot about his activism work before today, and really wish I had - what a legacy he’s left, both on and off screen. .

Really enjoyed this last night!

Just signed this. At the end of what has been a very long and sad and stressful day for completely other reasons, I don't have the energy to explain why it means so much, but please consider signing too. c.org/GtHhPHSWNJ

And if you solve one of them a day, starting with today, it will be just *like* having an Advent calendar. Especially if you eat a chocolate at the same time.

No Advent puzzle calendar from me this year, I'm afraid...life has got in the way a bit! But for anyone who missed it and is up for some festive puzzling, here's the full set from last year. ko-fi.com/s/50b65c1e71

The best thing about this is there are now two copies coming to the same house…

Ordered!! Still working my way through issue 1 and thoroughly enjoying it :-)

@quizzydan.bsky.social Did you have to get on a boat to be where you are?

I am as excellent as self-promotion as always and completely forgot about this… so very lucky to have lovely @gjmale.bsky.social in my corner! Happy Halloween and enjoy the puzzle h(a)unt if you give it a go! :-)

Oh, for the love of God. You can't walk out of a building next to Greenwich park, straight onto the Thames Path. THERE IS AN ENTIRE NAVAL COLLEGE IN THE WAY! (Guess what I'm still reading?)

Less than 20 pages into this novel which is supposedly set in Greenwich, it is *very* apparent that it has been written by someone who has never set foot in Greenwich.

Kaiser 2ics

Third in our local pub quiz tonight which I’ll happily take… especially since @gjmale.bsky.social got the exact answer for the spot prize AND the tie-breaker for the spot prize and won a free drink. Best team-mate ever :-)

I can’t promise to fall madly in love with you if you buy me a coffee (I only plan on doing that once), but if you do like puzzles and want to check out my ko-fi shop, it can be found here: ko-fi.com/carolinehard...

This is very good! @gjmale.bsky.social has an encyclopaedia’s worth of crossword knowledge in his head, and it really shows. Satisfying, clever and super fun.

Finally got around to updating the puzzle design section of my website! Now includes crosswords, some of the newer puzzle hunts, and an easier link for commissions. www.carolinehardman.co.uk/puzzle-design

New crossword up (finally!) The bright side of having taking a bit longer with this one is that I got to play with some lovely new features on My Crossword, which had an update while I was half way through! mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/2449

@gjmale.bsky.social @quizzydan.bsky.social thought you two might appreciate this... :-)

NOTE TO SELF - when playing live hide and seek on Bluesky, send weird questions like this directly to the person who is hiding, instead of accidentally posting them at large!!! Sorry to anyone I did manage to creep out...

This is a less creepy question than it sounds, honestly! Are you near a cemetery?

Cracking way to spend the afternoon!

Without wanting to spoil anything, the thing which happens to Jason Mantzoukas in the studio task tonight pretty much happened to me during Taskmaster Live... and I was equally as furious! But now wondering if it was a little nod to what was to come. If so, that's very well played :-)

Another week, another crossword! Thanks, as always, to @gjmale.bsky.social for tweaks, improvements and having the patience of a saint while I worked on this one... www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/2413

STRONG start to this series of Taskmaster!

Aargh... I forgot to say it again!! Very kindly proof-read and improved immeasurably by the super lovely and not-at-all-biased @gjmale.bsky.social :-)

New crossword up! It's always hard to gague difficulty, but this one is possibly a little more challenging than last week's. www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/2398

Just made my first cryptic contribution to the excellent MyCrossword platform! It's here if you'd like to have a go... www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/2387

La Tour Eiffel. Or, if you prefer, La Dame de Jaffa Cakes.

This is amazing and I recommend going at least twice!

This is not the only reason he is recommending it… honestly!

This was HUGE fun this afternoon - go along if you can! In fact, go along twice if you can!

I mean, I thought I couldn’t possibly love @gjmale.bsky.social any more than I already do… but he’s just sent me this :-)

I'm all for letting kids read what they want, as long as they are reading, but I've just seen tweets about dressing up as Jeremy Clarkson for World Book Day and I CAN NOT EVEN

Is anyone watching Paradise? It is VERY good...

What. An. Episode. #TheTraitorsUK

Just responded to my neighbour’s cheery greeting of ‘how are you?’ with a panicked “Good morning! Yes! Oh..thank you! Good!Er… how are you?” and in over twenty years of living here, I have never felt more British.

As an extra Christmas day treat, the full set of puzzles, along with a solution sheet, are in one document here, for anyone who didn't play along over the Advent period. Please feel free to pass on to anyone you think might enjoy them! tinyurl.com/3m56rctj Huge thanks to everyone who took part :-)

Merry Christmas! Here is day 25 of my puzzle advent calendar....which everything else has been leading to! You'll need all of your answers so far and some other extra information you may have found along the way. tinyurl.com/5727scfd

Advent puzzle day 24! tinyurl.com/3j8t8r9m There is still one more puzzle coming tomorrow - you will need your answers so far (previous days can be found here: tinyurl.com/yc6dsyy8) and any other useful information you've picked up along the way...

Advent puzzle day 23! tinyurl.com/daam5296 All previous days can be found here: tinyurl.com/yc6dsyy8

Advent puzzle day 22! tinyurl.com/35jh6ppr

All information in Day 17's puzzle was correct at the time of publishing, but in light of a recent announcement I've made a small change! It doesn't affect the solution but may provide an extra clue... Updated version, along with all other days can be found here: tinyurl.com/yc6dsyy8

Heading into the final stretch of this year's Puzzle Advent Calendar! Day 21 is here: tinyurl.com/4v8v9yv6

Advent puzzle day 20! tinyurl.com/vxdrc3n2 Don't forget you'll need to keep hold of your answers and any other useful information to use again on Christmas Day. All previous days can be found here: tinyurl.com/yc6dsyy8

Advent Puzzle day 19... cheers! tinyurl.com/4w33zd8r