<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div>The Guardian newspaper has a British-style cryptic crossword in it that on Monday had a cryptography "theme". Here it is, in case anyone is interested.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28459" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28459</a></div><div>Explanation, fwiw: <br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><a href="https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/05/31/guardian-cryptic-28459-by-brendan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/05/31/guardian-cryptic-28459-by-brendan</a></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div>I thought I'd mention one clue for those not familiar with cryptic crosswords.<br><br>18 across:<br>Secrecy measure unknown in Princeton, strangely (10)<br><br>The letters known after solving the vertical words crossing it:<br>_N_R_P_I_N<br><br>Not hard to get the answer from all those cross letters! But it is mildly diverting to work out why. The most common type of clue has a dividing point in the middle somewhere, with a normal literal/synonym clue on one side, and a construction for the answer on the other. The "use-mention" distinction is happily ignored.<br><br><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">As for being on topic... I'll mention that during WWII, the Brits used a cryptic crossword to choose some people to invite for their code breaking effort, unbeknownst to the people at the time. I read that one woman solved the crossword far faster than anyone else, but made one mistake and was not invited. I could not but think that they might have missed out on a genius.</div></div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Mike<br></div></div></div></body></html>