A friend in puzzles

What a lovely surprise when I got home from work the other day to find a parcel waiting for me from you! I was a winner in the Holiday Collection 71, and won an awesome bag and calculator! I was thrilled with this win, as I enter all your competitions, hardly ever missing one. People are so right when they say crosswords are addictive - living on my own these puzzles are my best friend, and help keep the old mind alert!

Thank you again, and I look forward to further winnings maybe in the future. What a wonderful job you people do compiling these puzzles - I have attempted the DIY a couple of times, coming runner up a few years ago, and it makes you realize just how hard it is to compile a crossword. Looks easy, but can be very frustrating - all looks fine until about the last 5 clues and nothing fits. So I do appreciate the hard work by you people to keep us amused. Keep it up!

Thank you again
Sue Velvin

Latest win is a Stinker!

I would just like to say thank you for the various prizes I have won over the years, the latest being for winning the Stinker competition in Colossus 217. The Stinker, the Demon and the cryptics are my favourite competitions. I always look forward to the crossword books coming through my letter box and can,t wait to get started. Many thanks to you and your staff for all the hard work you must do.
Pat Wilford

As happy as Thelma

Thank you for the book and $50 cheque that I have won so far.

I enjoy reading the comments from other puzzlers and ran across “As happy as Thelma” in January BIG. My granny was also full of Aussieisms and I use them a lot. The one she used the most was “you’re not holding your mouth right” when she was having problems doing something.

“Happy as Larry”: Blissfully contented.
I couldn’t find “Sitting up like Jackie”. However, after consulting my “John Blackman’s Australian Slang Dictionary” and “Don’t come the raw prawn” also by John Blackman, I found a couple you might like.
“To take a geek”: To look at something
“Don’t come the raw prawn”: What you say to someone who is trying to delude, deceive or hoodwink you with a far-fetched absurd idea or scheme.

If you ever do an Aussie word/slang puzzle I am ready for you.

Thank you for many hours of ‘bashing my brains out’ attempting to complete your puzzles.

Jenny Rumley
Neilborough, Vic

Motivated by the fun

Thank you for the watch. It is something I really needed – with such a nice dial – which I can read!

The search for new words and the fun of fitting everything together is the motivation, but along the way a pat on the back with a prize is wonderful.

Thank you very much. Best wishes to you all.

Joan Hoskings
Scone NSW

Lovatts gets brain exercising

Thank you very much for the biggest prize I have won from lovatts, it’s wonderful.  From Colossus, I won a stainless steel Breville Cafe Roma espresso/cappuccino machine.
I enjoy doing my favourite crosswords, Baffler and Cryptic, something to get your brain matter exercising. As a senior, I have bought Lovatts for years, and can’t wait to do Cryptic in Colossus.
Thank you again.
Diana Saunders

Biggest prize I could ever win

Thank you so much for my prize in the August Demon (my birthday month too), Collins - Dictionary & Thesaurus book.
You have absolutely no idea how ecstatic I was to not only receive the beautiful prize which I have already used for the next Demon but the feeling of achievement knowing I completed the DEMON correctly.
I was crying with such delight, I felt and still do feel very special as I spend a few hours of perhaps two days to complete the Demon, I always leave that one until last and am very determined.
I have been doing the puzzles since the early 90s throughout my marriage then divorce and thoroughly enjoy them, they have been my companion and reason for getting through each day.
I even won a certificate nearly 10 years ago while giving up the cigarettes, I haven’t smoked one since and feel so honoured to have completed that crossword too, it was called ‘Beat the Olympian’
I have a condition amongst others called ‘Essential Tremor’ (signature link below) my hands are not as shaky as most other parts of the body can be but you require very neat writing and it takes me a long time to make sure everything is neat and legible.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, I never ever thought I would win the Demon (the winning of the puzzle) is the biggest prize I could ever have won.

Thank you Christine and I feel great for many reasons

Gaylene Nichols
Lutana - Tasmania

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ETtremor/

Light shines on tea stirrer

It was lovely to receive a parcel in the mail last Monday. I have a collection of teaspoons and now I have a Lovatts one as well. The book light is wonderful, now I won’t need to put the bed light on at night when I read.
Keep up the wonderful work you all do down there.
Elaine Stratford
Bilaela, Qld

Tea Towel is my Smart Sign

Thank you so much for the tea towel which I am not going to use, but hang on my lounge room wall, to remind me that I am quite smart. I also love the ‘Symply Too Good to be True’ book. Thank you so much for providing the crosswords, I have so much fun and frustration at the same time, solving many of your puzzles.
Corrina O’Reilly, Auckland

Penny makes puzzling possible

A very big thank you for my win of the first prize of $500 for April’s BIGCash. Actually, this is the second time I have won this prize!

I am an 87 year old Chinese Singaporean and an avid doer of your crosswords for the past 15 years. This has been made possible through the kind, thoughtful and very generous efforts of my daughter, Penny, who lives in Queensland, and in whose name I submit my entries.

Penny has assiduously, through these many years, bought and sent along every issue of BIG, Mega, Holiday Collection etc to help keep her mum’s little grey cells from calling it a day! I guess they have been doing a good job so far, on top of providing a lot of fun in the process. I really look forward to receiving your crossword books and actually develop withdrawal symptoms if they are sometimes a bit late in coming!

I have tried doing other crossword puzzles from Australia and elsewhere, but find Lovatts by far still the best. As so well said on one of your recent covers, “Lovatts comforteth like sunshine after rain”. I thoroughly agree!
Mrs Rene Tan
Singapore

Finally ‘cracked it’

What a surprise! After many submissions I finally ‘cracked it’. First there was your cheque for $100 for my winning entry in the Demon then there was your prize for my winning entry in Ninesies. Thank you so much.

I intend to use the money towards subscriptions to some of your publications. The newsagents in the ACT are a bit ‘how’s your father’ in putting them on display and I’d prefer to get them promptly after issue rather than a week after the closing date.

You are performing a valuable community service, particularly for the ‘grey power’ element.

Mr M K Busch
Hawker, ACT

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