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ARAUCARIA ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS!
The great man is waiting to hear from you, exclusive to Cryptica. Submit your questions here, NOW:

WRITE A CLUE FOR A PAUL PUZZLE: Unmissable competition, and opportunity for a little bit of fame!

BESPOKE CLUES:
Top setters, including Paul, write clues exclusively for your name, or the name of a friend or relative - the perfect gift for all cryptic crossword lovers.

MEET THE SETTERS:
Pictures and profiles of all the top setters, for all the top newspapers.

CRYPTICA COMMUNITY:
An opportunity to meet crossword fans in your area, and to make new friends.

HIRE PAUL:
Bid to hire Paul for social events and functions.

DAILY CLUE:
(see our Daily clue page)

COMPOSE YOUR OWN CLUE!
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Welcome to Cryptica!

8th Feb 10 - All the latest clue writing results now in.

Do take a couple of minutes to register via the button on the right to receive details of an extraordinary range of Cryptica services, included those mentioned on this page, coming soon.

Paul completed The London Marathon in 5 hours 52 (it was hot out there!), running most of it, and is very grateful for the many donations of jelly babies along the way.

All donations are still welcomed, by clicking this link: www.justgiving.com/johnhalpern

Thank you!

On this site you can...

TALK TO ARAUCARIA!
WRITE A CLUE FOR THE GUARDIAN!
MEET THE SETTERS!
HIRE PAUL!
MEET OTHER CROSSWORD FANS!

and many other great SERVICES TOO!

My name is John Halpern, and this is my home page. I’m a cryptic crossword setter, and write crosswords regularly for The Guardian (under the pseudonym Paul), The Financial Times (as Mudd), The Independent (as Punk) and in The Times (anonymously).

But how did I ever become a cryptic crossword setter in the first place?

Well, I worked my way through a number of jobs alphabetically: past apple picker, astronomer, bartender, bus conductor, chef and cowboy, so by the time I got to CR my patience was wearing thin!

Thankfully, I’d chanced upon the most wondrous and magical job in the world, and now I have so much fun that sometimes little bits of fun burst out through my ears!

In fact there’s far too much fun with words for me to just keep it all to myself, and so this is my great opportunity to share it with you.

Why am I creating Cryptica? Well, us crossword setters in our cobwebby attics have never before had the chance to really meet and get to know everyone with a love of the cryptic clue.

Until now.

So how much fun with words can we possibly have together? Let’s find out, at Cryptica.co.uk

All the latest clue writing results now in.