My name is Ben Chenoweth, and I'm currently a teacher at Donvale Christian College, in Melbourne, Australia. I've worked overseas with Wycliffe Bible Translators, and in Australia as a secondary and tertiary teacher. (I was the Educational Designer / eLearning Coordinator at Melbourne School of Theology for four years, and taught at Eastern College for some of that time.)
My main interests are music, writing, theology and various combinations of those. I have a number of other interests, including reading, crosswords (especially cryptics and metas), and computer games. I also enjoy programming. My About Me website (https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about) was put together as an HTML/CSS demonstration for my Year 10 Computing class. Another interesting programming project is my EPUB Metadata Editor (an open-source project on GitHub).
It's funny how these puzzles come together. It starts with an idea; the idea is developed; the meta mechanism components are sorted out; the grid is selected; other things occur to you; then you clue the whole thing; and then months later you find a…
This "week 4" puzzle is the result of a restless night's sleep. Now, I am quite certain no one will have heard of the meta answer, which is a 1900s play that was made into a 1930s movie, so Google will be needed. But I think I've given you enough to…
When at first you can't solve someone else's meta, you're supposed to try and try again. The alternative is to come up with a meta of your own that utilises the meta mechanism that didn't work with that other meta. This is one of those. So have at it…
As I write this "The Aristocats" is trending on TikTok for people mimicking the goose-waddle scene. But the line that stuck in my mind was when Duchess says to Thomas O'Malley, "Oh, c'est tres jolie, monsieur. Very poetic. But it is not quite…
One for you movie buffs out there! Just to keep you on your toes this meta is a highly experimental mashup of rebus puzzles and crosswords. Because the end result proved to be even more obscure than I feared, I've also provided you with some hints…
Here's another "week 4" challenge for you (rather than frustrating you with an unsolvable "week 5"!) The answer to the meta is a poem. Answer & explanation: https://xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=165731#p165731
I walked past a bookshop, saw a book in the window, and this puzzle was the result! The title "Heart of Gold" is apparently a song by Neil Young. But it's also the name of the starship in Douglas Adam's classic book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the…
I must confess that I have never gone hunting, save for one memorable time when I was a child and Dad took us out rabbit shooting. Now rabbits are an introduced pest here in Australia so I guess we were just trying to do our bit to protect our native…
Full confession: I've never watched a single episode of the long-running UK drama "EastEnders". But there is something truly wonderful about the argot of the particular part of London in which this show is set. And so onwards to the puzzle! If you…
I created this puzzle in 2023 shortly after the final episode of season 1 of "The Last of Us" aired. Here's hoping that when this puzzle is published in April of 2024, season 2 comes out so that this puzzle appears amazingly relevant! [April 2024…