Jump to this year’s puzzles.

John Green is retiring from marking and record-keeping for the Listener Crossword and we are looking for a successor to start in January 2025. See more information here.

Puzzles by year

A few of the earliest Listener puzzles have been reproduced HERE. These are Crossword No 1, the first puzzle with an unusual grid shape, the most famous Latin puzzle, an early Christmas puzzle, and the first mathematical puzzle.


The list above gives access to the titles and setters for all puzzles up to the present, split according to the year of publication. Statistical information is compiled at the end of each year, initially made available by post to solvers, and later added to the page for that year.

In each year’s file the column headed ‘✓’ provides the number of correct submissions, when known. (When prizes were eventually limited to the first five or three correct entries opened, this is shown by ‘5+’ or ‘3+’, unless there were insufficient correct entries.) The column headed ‘More’ contains links to more detailed information. A ‘Theme’ link leads to basic information about the puzzle, such as the size, the type of symmetry, the theme and names of prizewinners (since random prize draws began). A ‘Notes’ link leads to full clue-by-clue solution notes; this commenced mid-2007.

The text in the puzzle files uses some shorthand references to standard devices:

A list of all puzzles from No 0 (or 1) to 4014 (end-2008) is also available, in two formats.


Thanks are due to Ross Lawther for collecting and providing the full list of puzzles, and to the Listener statisticians for the full statistical record.