The Long-Distance Puzzle Club: Sharing Puzzles by Phone

How can two people share a daily puzzle by phone?

Simply agree to do the same day's puzzle before you ring — everyone playing Puzzle Pastime on a given day gets identical puzzles, so you and your sister, or your oldest friend, or your dad three counties away are all holding the same hand of cards. It gives a telephone call a middle: not just 'how are you' but 'right, have you done the crossword yet, because 3 Down is a stinker.'

What can a puzzle club of two actually play?

Four dependable formats: the race, the rescue, the quiz night, and the postal branch — each needs nothing but the day's puzzles and a telephone.

• The race: both do the sudoku after breakfast; first to finish rings the other
• The rescue: save your last stuck word and give each other one clue each
• The quiz night: one reads today's trivia aloud, the other answers, swap tomorrow
• The postal branch: one prints the weekly pack for the other, answers withheld until requested

What if one of us isn't online?

The club still works: the online member prints the weekly pack and posts it, and you're both solving the same dated puzzles all week. The telephone does the rest, as it always has.