Times Crosswords - Why do I not win!

[x_word_fan]

I regularly submit the Jumbo cryptic, Sunday Crossword and Mephisto. Anyone know how many people also do them - i.e. what are the chances of winning?

[pbeach]

I can't speak for the Times, but I do know that for the Sat and Sun Telegraph Cryptics and GK puzzles, they do get thousand's of entries.....
http://bigdave44.com/faq/prize-puzzles/

[albaqwerty]

do you put a stamp on the envelope?


sorry, couldn't resist.

[crofter]

Do you put a brightly coloured, eye-catching commemorative stamp on the envelope?

I'm being serious! It's worked twice for me with "The Spectator" ~ but "Not Yet" for Enigmatic Variations!

[juniperblue]

iv'e been doing the Jumbo cryptic for years and won nothing. I have however had a win with the Scotsman and a runner up with the Sat Telegraph. I think there are thousands of entrants.

[captainandy]

I was once told by a Times employee (enrolled on the same car maintenance eveningclass as me) that sackfuls of unopened crossword entries got shredded every week. Despite this, I still submit the occasional entry, winning very rarely. And getting a letter telling you you've won, doesn't always mean you have!

Last Christmas, the Times wrote telling me I'd was amongst the winners of their Christmas Jumbo Crossword Competition and that my prize, a pen, had been ordered, and would forwarded shortly. A few days later, I got a letter from their Competitions Editor saying there'd been a mistake. That the person who'd written to me I'd won, hadn't realised that there were only three and not four prizes, and that since mine was the fourth correct entry checked, it did not qualify for, and I would not be receiving a prize after all!

[Totterdown]

It is purely the luck ot the draw. I won twice on the Mephisto within two months. On the second occasion I did not receive the cheque very quickly although my name was in the paper so I rang them. They said there was a delay and at the same time the lady said she sometimes sets the Mephisto and there are usually about 5,000 entries per week for the Sunday Times Crossword (pen prizes) and about 2,000 per week for the Mephisto. I enjoy having a go at the Mephisto and am usually tearing my hair out by the end of the week, quite often not finishing it. So I consider myself lucky winning it twice, both times as a runner up prize.