In the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name often links to an interview with him or her, in case you feel like getting to know these people better. The news in clues The incumbent prime minister’s name is never going to be as much use to a crossword setter as the greats of ambiguity: MAY, BROWN, MAJOR. Congratulations, though, to Fed for working some magic on his first name … 13d Ending part of News at Ten’s introduction covers Sunak changing sides (10) [ wordplay: sound heard in News at Ten theme, surrounding (‘covers’) Sunak’s first name with L for R (‘changing sides’) ] [ A BONG surrounding LISHI ] [ definition: ending ] … in this clue for ABOLISHING. Meanwhile, Slormgorm puzzles appear too rarely for my taste; perhaps this will be one of the last pre-racketeering-conviction references to Trump: 1d Trump? Concerning type who should be behind bars! (10) [ wordplay: abbrev. meaning ‘concerning’ + job title of one found behind bars ] [ RE + PUBLICAN ] [ definition: what Trump is an example of (‘?’) ] So that’s REPUBLICAN. Latter patter A charming word from Pasquale in the quiptic, the Guardian’s puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry: 7d Sang in hostilities, having suffered injury? (7) [ wordplay: synonyms for ‘hostilities’ + ‘having suffered injury’ ] [ WAR + BLED ] [ definition: sang ] The word WARBLED has a charming family, too: its cousins include German words old and new such as wirbil and Wirbel (whirlwind and whirlpool), which bring us to the subject of our next challenge. It’s in the category “words to admire which are named after places you probably wouldn’t want to visit”. In 1841, Edgar Allan Poe imagined being in a vessel in a whirlpool like the bit of the sea of the north coast of Norway known as Moske-stroom: Never shall I forget the sensations of awe, horror, and admiration with which I gazed about me. The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun around, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth, as the rays of the full moon, from that circular rift amid the clouds which I have already described, streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss. And so to the word we use, if sometimes fancifully, today. Reader, how would you clue MAELSTROM? Cluing competition Thanks for your clues for HATTER. You can hardly criticise Shenguin for reviving the carrollism in “Carroll’s hooting chatter?” but the audacity award goes to ComedyPseudonym for the unwieldy “‘Ho ho! Illogical egg’s sunk crazily’ – extract from surreal Through the Looking-Glass. Mad character!” The runners-up are acrostics: HairApparent’s “Originally heard at the table, emptily riddling!” and PeterMooreFuller’s “Starts to hate America? Turns to evangelical Republican and Tea Party member”; the winner is the sly (if hyphen-less) “State of the art headwear designer”. Kludos to Chri5Miller; please leave entries for the current competition – and especially non-print finds and picks that I may have missed from the broadsheet cryptics – in the comments. Clue of the Fortnight It would ruin this Crossword Centre puzzle by Stick Insect to explain it; instead I’ll recommend it. Likewise, if you haven’t explored this puzzle from Brendan, look away now. 7d Part of anxiety one reproduced? (6) [ wordplay: Roman numerals found within (‘part of’) ANXIETY ] [ definition: number created by two ‘1’s (‘one reproduced’) ] ELEVEN – plus various other double goodies throughout.