during 2024 our team became interested in cryptic crosswords, so as a festive treat we commissioned Cambridge’s resident cryptic crossword setter, the appropriately-named Soup – aka Hamish Symington – to create our very own vanderlyle-themed cryptic crossword inspired by the restaurant, our team, our dishes and suppliers – and we thought that you might enjoy it too!

you can download a PDF of the vanderlyle cryptic crossword here, or by tapping the button below: ready for printing out and puzzling over on a cosy winter afternoon.

stretch goal for December 2024: if you do manage to complete it and email us a picture of the completed crossword/post proof through our door, we’ll round up all the entries received by the end of Jan and will award a small prize to the first correctly-completed crossword that’s drawn out of the hat (and no, Soup, we’re afraid you are not eligible to enter!)

we’ll include the answers and the winning puzzle-solver’s identity in our february newsletter: and in the meantime, we hope you enjoy solving it during the festive break 🧩

update: thank you so much to everyone who took the time to enter: the winning crossword solver has been announced in our latest newsletter and you can download the answers by tapping the button below. this was fun! thanks for playing along!