Comments on: 1 Across: Matthowie's community blog

1 Across: Matthowie's community blog

painquale — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:07:31 -0800

Since Wordplay has come out, crossword puzzles have been on the rise. If you want to join in on the fun, read this primer by Will Shortz to get started, then download Across Lite, head to Cruciverb, and do free puzzles in the right-hand sidebar. Will Johnston's page contains a huge repository of Across Lite puzzles. If you get stuck, can't figure out why an entry is correct, or just want to chat about a grid's brilliant construction, try reading the crossword blogs. The best two are Diary of a Crossword Fiend and Rex Parker Does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. (Caution! Spoilers abound!) And, if you want to try your hand at constructing some crosswords of your own (submission guidelines for various papers here), Crossword Compiler is an outstanding piece of software. [Via this AskMetafilter question]

By: squarehead

squarehead — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:14:31 -0800

Thanks, painquale!

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:18:38 -0800

In an odd bit of synchronicity, we just saw the excellent Wordplay this weekend. Highly recommended.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:22:42 -0800

BTW, AcrossLite will not work on Intel Macs.

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:40:32 -0800

It is my life's ambition to either become a crossword puzzle editor or finish the Saturday NYT puzzle.

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:41:43 -0800

Though I suppose the latter precludes the former...

By: jtron

jtron — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:48:50 -0800

Blazecock (or anyone), what crossword programs would you recommend for Intel Macs?

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:54:10 -0800

Good post, I have not seen Wordplay yet and had forgotten about it, thanks for reminding me. About 5+ years ago I had a job that was very conducive to crossword puzzles, I got pretty good and could finish the NYT Sunday rather consisently. I now look at them and feel like that part of my brain has atrophied.

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:10:27 -0800

The only way to do the crossword is with a pen and the dead tree edition of the New York Times, at least for me. Doing one on the computer is sort of like reading a book on the computer.

By: smrtsch

smrtsch — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:22:21 -0800

From USA Today Crossword submission guidelines: "Themes should be upbeat, avoiding negative expressions and depressing words such as 'diseased.'"

By: paul_smatatoes

paul_smatatoes — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:24:12 -0800

am i the only person who's pretty much stopped doing them since that movie came out?

By: wfc123

wfc123 — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:36:15 -0800

Funny- since "Wordplay" came out, I have noticed a decline in the quality of the NY Times puzzles during the week. It seems like they are trying too hard to be clever and/or overdoing it with the themes. Friday's & Saturday's are still ok. But Monday through Thursday the puzzles are bordering on overkill with the themes.

By: Joey Bagels

Joey Bagels — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:52:13 -0800

Blazecock, I use AcrossLite on an Intel Mac at work with no troubles. (I just use the "print" function; I don't actually work the puzzle on my Mac Pro.) I was regularly doing the NYT crossword in newsprint before Wordplay came out, and the movie made me ask, "How are all those geeks getting those nice clean printouts of the daily puzzle, anyway?" Which led me to subscribe to the Times puzzles online, and now I happily work on my clean printouts instead. (I can always buy the paper if I really want to read the whole thing, but generally I just browse it on my desktop PC< handheld, or phone.) I don't think the point is so much being able to work the puzzles on screen -- although that's interesting in itself and you can compare your times with other solvers etc -- as it is having a nice, clean, manageable printout that I don't have to squint at during my morning commute.

By: sixacross

sixacross — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:57:00 -0800

I really like this post, as my username might suggest.

By: ericb

ericb — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:19:16 -0800

we just saw the excellent Wordplay this weekend. Highly recommended Ditto.

By: spock

spock — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:19:49 -0800

Since Wordplay has come out, crossword puzzles have been on the rise. Wordplay was made because crossword puzzles have been on the rise.

By: unSane

unSane — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:31:15 -0800

I'll tell you what drives me nuts: non-cryptic crosswords. with a cryptic crossword you KNOW you got the right answer with a straightforward crossword, you can never be sure that your 10-letter synonym for 'Mathowie's Community Weblog' is the right one. Does he have *another* one? My favorite crossword setter of all time is/was the Guardian's Aruacaria, aka The Rev. John Graham, the 'Tiger Woods of Crossword puzzles'. From his profile: "Not all compilers, it has to be said, approve of these methods. He used to be seen by some as a dangerous heretic. There are those, even now, who think he is undesirably liberal"

By: languagehat

languagehat — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:41:35 -0800

From the Shortz primer: my all-time favorite clue, "It turns into a different story" (15 letters), results in the phrase SPIRAL STAIRCASE. Worth it just for that! My wife and I do crosswords together just about every evening, and since we think the same way, much of the time when I see an answer I'll just wait a few seconds, knowing that she's probably about to write it in. We'll have to see that movie, I guess. I'll tell you what drives me nuts: non-cryptic crosswords. with a cryptic crossword you KNOW you got the right answer Funny, I feel exactly the opposite. I can't stand cryptics (but my wife enjoys them).

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:01:18 -0800

"Themes should be upbeat, avoiding negative expressions and depressing words such as 'diseased.'" One of the constructors for the Times makes the same kind of point in Wordplay. Namely, that people sitting down to do their crossword at breakfast don't want words like bile and pus.

By: merelyglib

merelyglib — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:34:57 -0800

This is great! Thank you so much, painquale! anybody know how i can get eraser marks off my monitor?

By: muckster

muckster — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:06:00 -0800

I'm glad everybody is enjoying their crossword puzzles and all, but honestly, if you weren't into them already, Wordplay wasn't all that exciting.

By: rossination

rossination — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:23:57 -0800

*cough* SIDEBAR *cough* Excuse me. I'm probably coming down with some sort of a cold.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:37:16 -0800

AcrossLite doesn't work on my iMac G5 edition without Classic, which I have never bothered to install. Is there any crossword puzzle software that is OSX native? (Could I be any dweebier?)

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:39:04 -0800

One of the constructors for the Times makes the same kind of point in Wordplay. Namely, that people sitting down to do their crossword at breakfast don't want words like bile and pus. Not me, I like a good heaping of bile in the morning. And I'd probably be a lot better at crosswords if they were death-themed. I'd get "catafalque" in a heartbeat.

By: ObscureReferenceMan

ObscureReferenceMan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:36:05 -0800

Great post! I will be reading more at home...

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:23:36 -0800

Blazecock Pileon writes "In an odd bit of synchronicity, we just saw the excellent Wordplay this weekend. Highly recommended." Same synchronicity for me!

By: jckll

jckll — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:05:52 -0800

In an odd bit of synchronicity, we just saw the excellent Wordplay this weekend. Highly recommended. Actually, that's probably just coincidence ;-)