THE winner of The Northern Echo’s Champagne Christmas Crossword is Lynda Bradley, of Hartburn, Stockton.

“I am amazed,” said Lynda, 56, who was doing a crossword when the Echo phoned to break the good news. “I’ve been doing it for years.”

She is a mother of five grown-up children and was assisted in completing the giant crossword by her husband, Stephen, a retired electrician.

“It didn’t really take too long,” she said. “I had it on the table and kept coming back to it, doing a few at a time.”

She wins a magnum of champagne for being the first entirely correct entry drawn out of the hat. The crossword, which appeared with the Echo on December 27, is believed to be the largest published by a newspaper in this country.

Having completed the 400-clue crossword, Lynda is preparing for another mammoth challenge later this year – the 150-mile Coast to Coast challenge on her bike, from Whitehaven, in Cumbria, to Tynemouth.

The crossword solution is available on the Echo’s website at thenorthern echo.co.uk/leisure/mindbo dysoul/champagnexword or send a stamped addressed envelope to Champagne Crossword Solution, Editorial, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF.