August 8, 2025 
One4Review
Let’s be real: asking comedians to shackle themselves to a crossword puzzle is a bit like herding cats—adorable, chaotic, and guaranteed to go spectacularly sideways. Too often, the result is a desperate band of comics clinging to old punchlines like a life raft. But here’s the thing—Crosswords doesn’t just survive the premise; it thrives on it.At its heart, Crosswords is gloriously simple. No screens, no gimmicks—just three comedians, a copy of the day’s Observer, and an audience with a stake in the outcome. It’s pure, communal game-show theatre, and the shared energy in that packed Laughing Horse room is electric.Ashley Haden is the perfect ringmaster for this delicate circus. Known for mining the darkest corners of the human psyche in his own stand-up, here he’s delightfully chummy—a benevolent taskmaster both guiding and goading. His deadpan delivery nudges the chaos along without feeling forced, and you can tell he’s enjoying being both master and accomplice to the madness.Joining him are Tom Mayhew and Pauline Eyre—two brilliant, quick-witted comics who treat spelling uncertainty like high-wire improv. They volley cryptic clues and tentative letters with both precision and absurdity, transforming crossword solving into a performance piece. Watching them wrestle with clues you yourself might get stuck on is oddly thrilling—tension meets levity in real time.What’s surprising is how genuinely tense it gets. Clue after agonizing clue, the stakes feel real—not for fame or fortune, but for group pride, collective brainpower. And in that pressure, something sublime emerges: comedy that happens when we all focus on one small thing together.Crosswords is exactly the kind of unpretentious gem the Fringe exists to deliver—face-to-face, brain-engaging, and unexpectedly moving. This is communal magic, and it’s one of those rare shows that leaves you smarter, smiling, and defying the notion that words alone can’t make you laugh. Click Here For Review