Sunday Times

[mikey4444]

Does anybody know just how the Sunday Times crossword prize is awarded ?

What I mean is do they wait until the last day, ie Saturday and then open all the envelopes, awarding the prize to the first correct one opened ? Or do they award the first correct one opened on say, the Monday after the Sunday ? And how are the entries from the Crossword Puzzle internet site treated. Presumably lots of these arrive before posted by envelope can arrive.

One last thing. The quality of these ST puzzles have gone down of late. Anybody know why ?

[factor-fiction]

I expect that they wait until the Saturday and open one at random. It's unlikely anyone will send in an incorrect entry so the first envelope opened will usually contain a correct solution. If it doesn't they'll open another. I think it's highly unlikely they'd ever need to open more than 3.
They certainly won't open and check every one then put all the right entries into a hat.

It's possible of course that they open the first entry received and if itr's correct they simply throw all the others in the bin as soon as they get them. But I doubt any paper would admit to that.

I used to send mine in late in the hope that it would be at the top of the pile. I also used a large coloured envelope in the hope that it would be picked out first. I won once in about five years.

[Paradigm]

This is an interesting question, as the final date is postmarked the Saturday following the quiz, ie 6 days later, then they must allow for postal delays, so I suspect that the draw is around the following Wednesday. I have won runners up prizes three times, but nothing for over two years, despite sending in more correct solutions. Some said that they spread the prizes around, and it you have won a couple of times, your name goes to the bottom of the list. I take this with a pinch of salt. It would be interesting to have a poll of just how many people have won prizes in the past twelve months. The puzzles vary, there do seem to have been more mistakes recently. I was not aware that there was an internet site!

[mikey4444]

Oh but there is !

http://entertainment....nd_puzzles/crossword/