Not Very Well Hidden, Really
April 3, 2020 10:21 AM Subscribe
Crossword editors are strange arbiters of cultural relevance. Read tweets by Awkwafina or Olivia Wilde on learning that they’ve been immortalized in the black-and-white grid—it’s the bookish version of handprints on a slab outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. But any pub-trivia attendee—exposed to categories on craft beer or things that smell like sourdough or whatever the emcee is into—will tell you that personnel is policy. That crossword mainstays such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal are largely written, edited, fact-checked, and test-solved by older white men dictates what makes it into the 15x15 grid and what’s kept out. The Hidden Bigotry of Crosswords By Natan Last
At the end of "Rex Parker's" crossword blog post yesterday [spoilers: has the solution for the April 2 NYTXW] he printed an "Open letter to the Executive Director of Puzzles at the New York Times" [full text in the blog and link to an online petition] by Last, Claire Muscat and Anna Shechtman and signed by a large number of constructors calling for a more inclusive editing process.
Bonus: Crosswords Have Always Been a Solace in Times of Trouble
Previously
At the end of "Rex Parker's" crossword blog post yesterday [spoilers: has the solution for the April 2 NYTXW] he printed an "Open letter to the Executive Director of Puzzles at the New York Times" [full text in the blog and link to an online petition] by Last, Claire Muscat and Anna Shechtman and signed by a large number of constructors calling for a more inclusive editing process.
Bonus: Crosswords Have Always Been a Solace in Times of Trouble
Previously
ha! I do crossword puzzles every day, and I think about this all the time! I'm not into puzzling social media, so I haven't been aware of the commentary / criticism, but to me, every puzzle is a bit like a Rorschach of the author's psyche, and yes, I am judging!
posted by taz at 11:11 AM on April 3, 2020 [23 favorites]
posted by taz at 11:11 AM on April 3, 2020 [23 favorites]
I recently ended my subscription to the NYT puzzle (1039 puzzles solved!) in large part due to the kind of bullshit described in the article. But the decision was made easier by the fact that, very often, the NYT puzzle just fucking sucks. These are related problems; if the puzzles were not being written and edited primarily by shitty white guys, they would probably not, for example, include a minimum of two baseball-trivia clues per puzzle.
When Shortz is out and the NYT generally stops with its useless both-sides approach to everything, I'll consider checking out the puzzle again.
posted by sinfony at 11:20 AM on April 3, 2020 [14 favorites]
When Shortz is out and the NYT generally stops with its useless both-sides approach to everything, I'll consider checking out the puzzle again.
posted by sinfony at 11:20 AM on April 3, 2020 [14 favorites]
On one episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway, Drew Carey referred to Edam as "the crossword puzzle cheese," and I've been cracking up over that ever since.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:24 AM on April 3, 2020 [36 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:24 AM on April 3, 2020 [36 favorites]
Was just noticing that the New Yorker's recent crossword puzzles have included a lot of unfusty clues, and I've started noting the names of the puzzlemakers because of this. Which just put Natan Last on my radar, because he's one of them.
posted by bendybendy at 11:37 AM on April 3, 2020 [11 favorites]
posted by bendybendy at 11:37 AM on April 3, 2020 [11 favorites]
I am certainly not a crossword obsessive, but I do enjoy doing one when I have the time (usually on a plane or waiting room).
I honestly have never noticed the name associated with any of them.
I just kind of assumed they were done by committee regardless of whose name by appear.
I wouldn't have been at all surprised if you told me the name was a nom de plume, like a Franklin W. Dixon of the puzzle page.
posted by madajb at 11:40 AM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
I honestly have never noticed the name associated with any of them.
I just kind of assumed they were done by committee regardless of whose name by appear.
I wouldn't have been at all surprised if you told me the name was a nom de plume, like a Franklin W. Dixon of the puzzle page.
posted by madajb at 11:40 AM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
christ, what an ________
(Seven characters, everybody has one)
posted by nickggully at 11:42 AM on April 3, 2020 [28 favorites]
(Seven characters, everybody has one)
posted by nickggully at 11:42 AM on April 3, 2020 [28 favorites]
Christ, what an eyebrow
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:44 AM on April 3, 2020 [103 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:44 AM on April 3, 2020 [103 favorites]
That can't be right but I like the down clues I have already
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:45 AM on April 3, 2020 [50 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:45 AM on April 3, 2020 [50 favorites]
*fills in "OPINION" in pen*
posted by Earthtopus at 11:45 AM on April 3, 2020 [49 favorites]
posted by Earthtopus at 11:45 AM on April 3, 2020 [49 favorites]
Christ, what an Stomach
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:46 AM on April 3, 2020 [19 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:46 AM on April 3, 2020 [19 favorites]
The flip side of the disbelief that anyone in their audience would know who Flavor Flav is and the winking glee of those racist and sexist clues is that the body of knowledge that is expected and near-mandatory for even moderately difficult puzzles is absolutely locked into the mindset of an upper-middle-class white man living in 1975. A brand of razor I have never seen for sale, the right fielder for the 1949 St. Louis Cardinals, and a comic sidekick dog whose last film appearance was in 1947 are unthinkingly accepted as common knowledge. An unbelievable amount of cruft has accumulated in the standard crossword dictionary and so much of it is ripe for replacement with cultural referents that are more current, more inclusive, and which might require more knowledge than regurgitating the list of 50 or so vowel-heavy words that people lean too heavily on anyway.
Also please stop using Roman numerals. I hate them and regard the inclusion of a Roman numeral clue/answer as a sign that you have totally given up. Next time try not to grid yourself into a situation where you need LVII to be something to make it work.
posted by Copronymus at 11:54 AM on April 3, 2020 [49 favorites]
Also please stop using Roman numerals. I hate them and regard the inclusion of a Roman numeral clue/answer as a sign that you have totally given up. Next time try not to grid yourself into a situation where you need LVII to be something to make it work.
posted by Copronymus at 11:54 AM on April 3, 2020 [49 favorites]
That article leaves out the history of women writing and editing crosswords - the first crossword editor at the NYTimes, frex. They were frivolous and new and something you could publish through the post, of course they were feminine when they started.
posted by clew at 11:54 AM on April 3, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by clew at 11:54 AM on April 3, 2020 [10 favorites]
If you're looking for alternative sources, Queer Qrosswords has two really good collections of themed puzzles by LGBTQ+ creators, and you can get them by donating to any of the charities they are supporting.
posted by mbrubeck at 11:56 AM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by mbrubeck at 11:56 AM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
I learned to "grade" crosswords from my parents. After completing one (or giving up), you just write a little "B+" or "D-" in one corner. It certainly doesn't solve any of the problems here, but it's a nice way to get in the last word.
posted by imelcapitan at 12:10 PM on April 3, 2020 [23 favorites]
posted by imelcapitan at 12:10 PM on April 3, 2020 [23 favorites]
"Not Very Well Hidden, Really"
But how many letters? I hope it's 8, I've got a bunch of those (apparent, manifest, revealed, unmasked...)
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:14 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
But how many letters? I hope it's 8, I've got a bunch of those (apparent, manifest, revealed, unmasked...)
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:14 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was going to say that I find this to be less true of the New Yorker crossword than other crosswords, but then I realized that Natan Last is one of the people who makes the crosswords for the New Yorker. So yeah, that's intentional.
Anyway, looking forward to reading this, because it is definitely something I have noticed.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 12:14 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
Anyway, looking forward to reading this, because it is definitely something I have noticed.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 12:14 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
Next time try not to grid yourself into a situation where you need LVII to be something to make it work.
Yes yes yes, but I think the ever-present obscure compass points (NNE, ENE, SSE) annoy me even more.
posted by oulipian at 12:19 PM on April 3, 2020 [18 favorites]
Yes yes yes, but I think the ever-present obscure compass points (NNE, ENE, SSE) annoy me even more.
posted by oulipian at 12:19 PM on April 3, 2020 [18 favorites]
Thanks for this. I just a few weeks ago started counting the numbers of women and of men mentioned in the i newspaper general knowledge crossword. (All must have data.) There are not many women, and the small number there are are almost all actors or musicians, as opposed to scientists, politicians, sportspeople etc.
posted by paduasoy at 12:22 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by paduasoy at 12:22 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
"Not Very Well Hidden, Really"
Obvious.
posted by Silvery Fish at 12:23 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
Obvious.
posted by Silvery Fish at 12:23 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
On one episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway, Drew Carey referred to Edam as "the crossword puzzle cheese," and I've been cracking up over that ever since.
I recall that as well. I have often thought that in the highly unlikely event that aliens are trying to learn about American culture through crossword puzzles, Herman Melville will not be known as the author of Moby-Dick or Bartleby, the Scrivener, but rather as the man who wrote Omoo.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:32 PM on April 3, 2020 [27 favorites]
I recall that as well. I have often thought that in the highly unlikely event that aliens are trying to learn about American culture through crossword puzzles, Herman Melville will not be known as the author of Moby-Dick or Bartleby, the Scrivener, but rather as the man who wrote Omoo.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:32 PM on April 3, 2020 [27 favorites]
An olio of musty white man trivia (9 letters)
posted by sugar and confetti at 12:40 PM on April 3, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by sugar and confetti at 12:40 PM on April 3, 2020 [9 favorites]
The prevalence of crap like EDAM and OMOO and ESSEN and ESAU derives from the use of American-style dense grids. If you want something different, go try one in the Guardian where there are five or so different formats of puzzle where only every other letter crosses and the clues can be a lot more clever, even leaving aside the full-on cryptics.
Within the American format, I'll defend Roman numeral clues, at least when they involve arithmetic, as well as compass-point clues since a basic knowledge of geography will generally get you at least one of the last two letters. What I can't stand is the LA Times style where fully half the clues will be "actor in [something I've never heard of, let alone seen]".
posted by 7segment at 1:04 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
Within the American format, I'll defend Roman numeral clues, at least when they involve arithmetic, as well as compass-point clues since a basic knowledge of geography will generally get you at least one of the last two letters. What I can't stand is the LA Times style where fully half the clues will be "actor in [something I've never heard of, let alone seen]".
posted by 7segment at 1:04 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
I haven't done any crosswords in a while, but the clue I got sick of was "Hawaiian goose (4 letters)"
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:07 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:07 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
Man, I feel this big time. NYT is a default for me, especially lately since I have a stack of NYT books (thanks Mom!) and I really love the tactile aspects of solving with a pen (never any crossouts, never).
Although I'm a devotee, the culture gatekeeping in the crossword has always felt implicit, just below the surface. Really glad to see it amplified, here.
I couldn't find the link, but I recall a Daily Show segment where a clue was "good, in hip-hop" and the answer was "ILL". Some prominent blogger/journalist took this to task, no, you're mis-understanding the slang. Round-and-round it went, and the debate treated the whole matter as a cute little joke, rather than a respectable part of the crossword cannon, like, you know, 18th century operas or cabinet members.
Usually a crossword is the last part of my day before bed. I usually argue that it is nicely compatible with my dish of ice cream and far away from any screen that I've usually been on most of the day. Sometimes, though, I joke that it's a sort of shame, furtively solving my xword around midnite, since here I am fairly well enjoying something that is a bigoted construct.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 1:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
Although I'm a devotee, the culture gatekeeping in the crossword has always felt implicit, just below the surface. Really glad to see it amplified, here.
I couldn't find the link, but I recall a Daily Show segment where a clue was "good, in hip-hop" and the answer was "ILL". Some prominent blogger/journalist took this to task, no, you're mis-understanding the slang. Round-and-round it went, and the debate treated the whole matter as a cute little joke, rather than a respectable part of the crossword cannon, like, you know, 18th century operas or cabinet members.
Usually a crossword is the last part of my day before bed. I usually argue that it is nicely compatible with my dish of ice cream and far away from any screen that I've usually been on most of the day. Sometimes, though, I joke that it's a sort of shame, furtively solving my xword around midnite, since here I am fairly well enjoying something that is a bigoted construct.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 1:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
This has always seemed obvious to me. If a NYT Crossword clue contains the word "rap" thrown in for "diversity," the answer is either Dre or Nas. They are the Edam of music.
posted by pangolin party at 1:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [16 favorites]
posted by pangolin party at 1:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [16 favorites]
Esau eats Oreos on an islet on the Ural...
posted by kaibutsu at 1:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 1:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [9 favorites]
Asta edits an ezine in Ely
posted by cadge at 1:17 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by cadge at 1:17 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
pangolin party don't forget "lil x" where x is one of 6 or so artists off a list Shortz has drawn up expressly for the purpose I'm sure.
posted by 7segment at 1:17 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by 7segment at 1:17 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
If you go by the NYT Crossword, Isao Aoki is one of the greatest golfers of all time.
posted by Etrigan at 1:18 PM on April 3, 2020 [36 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 1:18 PM on April 3, 2020 [36 favorites]
yeah but does he play Jai alai
posted by oulipian at 1:39 PM on April 3, 2020 [22 favorites]
posted by oulipian at 1:39 PM on April 3, 2020 [22 favorites]
i'll check next time I go to the agora to fill my ewer
posted by MrBadExample at 1:46 PM on April 3, 2020 [27 favorites]
posted by MrBadExample at 1:46 PM on April 3, 2020 [27 favorites]
I haven't done any crosswords in a while, but the clue I got sick of was "Hawaiian goose (4 letters)"
Now replaced by "Bird sounds like Eagle Eye's sister (4 letters)".
posted by w0mbat at 1:47 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Now replaced by "Bird sounds like Eagle Eye's sister (4 letters)".
posted by w0mbat at 1:47 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Look out for Ben Tausig's puzzles. He's white, but he's not old, and is a super nice and interesting guy. His day job is as a scholar who writes about protest music in Thailand, if that's any barometer reading of his clues being less fusty.
posted by umbú at 2:01 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by umbú at 2:01 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
It drives me nuts that "epee" is always the answer to "fencing sword." I mean, I have nothing against epee, but foil fits and sabre (or saber, for that matter) would be just fine.
Not to mention that a lot of the famous names were famous to my parents, and I'm a Boomer.
posted by Peach at 2:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [17 favorites]
Not to mention that a lot of the famous names were famous to my parents, and I'm a Boomer.
posted by Peach at 2:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [17 favorites]
oulipian: "yeah but does he play Jai alai"
Of course, while humming the Dies Irae
posted by chavenet at 2:33 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
Of course, while humming the Dies Irae
posted by chavenet at 2:33 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
I recently started doing the American Values Club crossword, (edited by Ben Tausig and written by some of the constructors behind the Onion AV Club crossword), which is refreshingly non-fusty and has very few sports clues. Slate runs their crossword once a week, or you can subscribe for the full archive.
posted by ectabo at 2:39 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by ectabo at 2:39 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
Every now and then I try out crosswords, but usually give up very quickly as I don't find a good starter ones. Where should a novice start, especially a novice who is not into sports nor grew up in the US (or England) for that matter.
posted by zeikka at 2:43 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by zeikka at 2:43 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
For getting started, some publications (notably NYT) have puzzles that are easy on Mondays and get progressively harder through the week. When I was in college I could always do Mondays, usually Tuesdays, rarely Wednesdays, but I didn't catch on and spent the end of the week feeling like a dummy.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 2:50 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 2:50 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
I did the NYT crossword for a while in undergrad when we got the paper for free for a handful of semesters, and looking back I do think part of the reason I didn’t actively seek it out when the university stopped buying us the paper was the overwhelming sense that old straight white boomer men were using the crossword as a vehicle through which to circlejerk over their boring ass cultural touchstones.
This is a great article for putting that to words. I think there’s something to the way a crossword seems innocuous and apolitical, because if you get into it, you begin learning facts and trivia that have been chosen by its authors and editors, and maybe you don’t have your critical thinking engaged and your political guard up like when you approach a novel or piece of journalism or even a comic strip.
It’s a small but pernicious form of canonization (what works and people are well known/important enough to be answers?) with all its problems, and I think the problems associated with canonization are at their worst when people aren’t thinking critically about the fact that it’s happening.
posted by Gymnopedist at 2:53 PM on April 3, 2020 [10 favorites]
This is a great article for putting that to words. I think there’s something to the way a crossword seems innocuous and apolitical, because if you get into it, you begin learning facts and trivia that have been chosen by its authors and editors, and maybe you don’t have your critical thinking engaged and your political guard up like when you approach a novel or piece of journalism or even a comic strip.
It’s a small but pernicious form of canonization (what works and people are well known/important enough to be answers?) with all its problems, and I think the problems associated with canonization are at their worst when people aren’t thinking critically about the fact that it’s happening.
posted by Gymnopedist at 2:53 PM on April 3, 2020 [10 favorites]
The put "beaner" as a word in the NYT crossword puzzle? Seriously, WTF? I'm probably a lot more crass about this stuff than some folks here—but that's almost hard to believe.
posted by SoberHighland at 2:59 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 2:59 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
THE ONLY PLANT IS ALOE
posted by pykrete jungle at 3:14 PM on April 3, 2020 [19 favorites]
posted by pykrete jungle at 3:14 PM on April 3, 2020 [19 favorites]
I agree 100% with this article -- although I prefer cryptics, and as an American it's hard to find cryptics that aren't full of the British version of stuffy-white-man-content.
Every time I do an NYT Crossword I run into things like "1978 Yankees Shortstop" that make me feel like I'm too young to get all of the clues. And I'm 50 YEARS OLD for Christ's sake.
The put "beaner" as a word in the NYT crossword puzzle? Seriously, WTF? I'm probably a lot more crass about this stuff than some folks here—but that's almost hard to believe.
Speaking as a 50-year-old white dude who grew up in a 20% hispanic neighborhood, I'm willing to believe they never ran into that word. I never heard that slur until it was in "Breaking Bad."
But, you know, it's their job to research words and the internet exists. So there's no excuse.
posted by mmoncur at 3:24 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
Every time I do an NYT Crossword I run into things like "1978 Yankees Shortstop" that make me feel like I'm too young to get all of the clues. And I'm 50 YEARS OLD for Christ's sake.
The put "beaner" as a word in the NYT crossword puzzle? Seriously, WTF? I'm probably a lot more crass about this stuff than some folks here—but that's almost hard to believe.
Speaking as a 50-year-old white dude who grew up in a 20% hispanic neighborhood, I'm willing to believe they never ran into that word. I never heard that slur until it was in "Breaking Bad."
But, you know, it's their job to research words and the internet exists. So there's no excuse.
posted by mmoncur at 3:24 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
THE ONLY PLANT IS ALOE
Sometimes AGAVE is seen in the wild.
posted by vers at 3:36 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
Sometimes AGAVE is seen in the wild.
posted by vers at 3:36 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
Newspaper Gal in the foreground, puzzle composer in the background.
It's GNU. Or is it EMU?
posted by bartleby at 3:38 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's GNU. Or is it EMU?
posted by bartleby at 3:38 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
BRIE is also a four-letter cheese.
posted by madcaptenor at 4:02 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by madcaptenor at 4:02 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
BCUP, ORE, ISAO, ELAL, OGLE, ETSY, AKA, ANTE, SRTA, ERR, AERIE...I see these words in my sleep. Then there are the endless clues of the type "home of the Falcons/Bears/Coatis", which require you to know and care about US university sports. And don't get me started on the names of actual players of professional sports teams...
posted by senor biggles at 4:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by senor biggles at 4:13 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
I wonder what the ratio of people that know about the movie Ulee’s Gold from crosswords to people who have actually seen the film is.
posted by umbú at 4:25 PM on April 3, 2020 [15 favorites]
posted by umbú at 4:25 PM on April 3, 2020 [15 favorites]
I am glad to see people agitating for change in the NYT crossword. I will also note that when I had to be in the psychiatric hospital for a few days in 2018, a massive NYT crossword puzzle book was my only solace.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:59 PM on April 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by ocherdraco at 4:59 PM on April 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
I’m glad they got a word in from Ben Tausig. The AV Club crossword has been doing good work on this issue and on pay equity for constructors for a long time — I think this may have improved recently thanks in part to his agitation, but not too long ago, NYT constructor pay (for one of the few remaining truly lucrative parts of the paper) was really insultingly low. AV Club just finished a long run of co-featuring the Inkubator crosswords mentioned in the article too.
I had a multi-year every day NYT streak that I bailed on when I realized how many of the puzzles were making me mad, both for the reasons outlined in this article and just general laziness/lack of invention/missed opportunities in construction. They really are very consciously vanilla along every possible axis a lot of the time. Between the AV Club and the free puzzles BEQ publishes I’m pretty well set.
I actually am half convinced Tausig hastened this issue at the NYT specifically. Between the better pay and the greater freedom for inventive constructing I suspect some of the best constructors saved their best stuff for the AV Club.
posted by range at 5:06 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
I had a multi-year every day NYT streak that I bailed on when I realized how many of the puzzles were making me mad, both for the reasons outlined in this article and just general laziness/lack of invention/missed opportunities in construction. They really are very consciously vanilla along every possible axis a lot of the time. Between the AV Club and the free puzzles BEQ publishes I’m pretty well set.
I actually am half convinced Tausig hastened this issue at the NYT specifically. Between the better pay and the greater freedom for inventive constructing I suspect some of the best constructors saved their best stuff for the AV Club.
posted by range at 5:06 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
The prevalence of crap like EDAM and OMOO and ESSEN and ESAU derives from the use of American-style dense grids. If you want something different, go try one in the Guardian where there are five or so different formats of puzzle where only every other letter crosses and the clues can be a lot more clever, even leaving aside the full-on cryptics.
Yes - compare the NYT crossword posted above (tight grid full of tiny obscure words - DEG, SSE, ETO - like one of those high-level scrabble games where the words are just meaningless solutions to abstract computational problems) with any of the Guardian crosswords (loose grid with mostly normal words; because each word has squares not shared with any other word, every clue has to be reasonably solvable). I don't really do crosswords, but I can tell that these are almost completely different kinds of games.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:51 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
Yes - compare the NYT crossword posted above (tight grid full of tiny obscure words - DEG, SSE, ETO - like one of those high-level scrabble games where the words are just meaningless solutions to abstract computational problems) with any of the Guardian crosswords (loose grid with mostly normal words; because each word has squares not shared with any other word, every clue has to be reasonably solvable). I don't really do crosswords, but I can tell that these are almost completely different kinds of games.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:51 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
During some anniversary of the invention of the crossword, the NYTs published some old examples from the 20s, 30s etc., and I couldn't do them at all. That's when I realized that crossword puzzles were like IQ tests slanted to reward certain classes of puzzlers. I have read "Omoo", though, and would recommend it.
posted by acrasis at 5:53 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by acrasis at 5:53 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
goddamnit, i wish they hadn't posted those online crosswords and i should have known better to have done them in ink!
i'm having a bear of a time getting it off my monitor!
posted by pyramid termite at 5:58 PM on April 3, 2020 [11 favorites]
i'm having a bear of a time getting it off my monitor!
posted by pyramid termite at 5:58 PM on April 3, 2020 [11 favorites]
Try using some Wite-Out on it.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:00 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:00 PM on April 3, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's also fun to go back to the puzzles from the 90's in the NYT crossword app, and feel the full heat of obscure pop culture that was forgettable even then. With a healthy dose of 'only an old man would know this' which slowly become 'only dead people know this.'
posted by kaibutsu at 6:02 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 6:02 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
Speaking of "old-white-man crust", I'm reminded about a letter to the editor in the local paper about one of the puzzles indignantly wanting to know how "ska" was a real english word, and how could it show up in a puzzle. And had been me a couple of days before, 60ish, a ska fan since my twenties, thinking about how the puzzle had in fact started to lose its cruftiness ....
posted by mbo at 6:32 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by mbo at 6:32 PM on April 3, 2020 [7 favorites]
It's also fun to go back to the puzzles from the 90's in the NYT crossword app, and feel the full heat of obscure pop culture that was forgettable even then.
There's a similar experience if you find one of the Trivial Pursuit editions that focuses on pop culture before the 80s. There are so many Van Johnson movies and Ricky Nelson records that almost no one alive remembers at all, let alone well enough to answer trivia questions about.
posted by Copronymus at 6:36 PM on April 3, 2020 [11 favorites]
There's a similar experience if you find one of the Trivial Pursuit editions that focuses on pop culture before the 80s. There are so many Van Johnson movies and Ricky Nelson records that almost no one alive remembers at all, let alone well enough to answer trivia questions about.
posted by Copronymus at 6:36 PM on April 3, 2020 [11 favorites]
There are so many Van Johnson movies and Ricky Nelson records that almost no one alive remembers at all, let alone well enough to answer trivia questions about.
If memories were all I had then I'd rather drive a truck!
posted by Max Power at 6:42 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
If memories were all I had then I'd rather drive a truck!
posted by Max Power at 6:42 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'll enthusiastically second that recommendation for Ben Tausig's AVCX, which I have subscribed to since they started, and also Cruciverb has a right-margin list of each day's free puzzles from various sources.
posted by PhineasGage at 7:47 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 7:47 PM on April 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
That open letter at the Rex Parker site is great. I was stunned to read the first of the three measures they'd like to see Shortz et al do:
We ask that constructors receive access to proofs before their puzzles go to print. This practice is not only consistent with the Times’ editorial workflow in many other departments, it is also standard practice for all public writing. Though we acknowledge that the Times’s editorial team will have final say over entries and clues, we feel strongly that it is our authorial right to know what will be published under our bylines. This change to the Times’s editorial process will have a felicitous secondary effect: the constructor will serve as yet another test solver with the ability to lobby for cultural references that they think merit a place in the puzzle and to register concern over any reference they consider offensive and wouldn’t want attributed to their handiwork.
One example Natan Last provides - the NYT would take a puzzle submitted by a woman, a puzzle with no clues related to men, and change one of the clues so that it included a man, without telling the author before publication - is just absurdly obnoxious behavior from the NYT crossword editors.
posted by mediareport at 7:54 PM on April 3, 2020 [16 favorites]
We ask that constructors receive access to proofs before their puzzles go to print. This practice is not only consistent with the Times’ editorial workflow in many other departments, it is also standard practice for all public writing. Though we acknowledge that the Times’s editorial team will have final say over entries and clues, we feel strongly that it is our authorial right to know what will be published under our bylines. This change to the Times’s editorial process will have a felicitous secondary effect: the constructor will serve as yet another test solver with the ability to lobby for cultural references that they think merit a place in the puzzle and to register concern over any reference they consider offensive and wouldn’t want attributed to their handiwork.
One example Natan Last provides - the NYT would take a puzzle submitted by a woman, a puzzle with no clues related to men, and change one of the clues so that it included a man, without telling the author before publication - is just absurdly obnoxious behavior from the NYT crossword editors.
posted by mediareport at 7:54 PM on April 3, 2020 [16 favorites]
This is one of the reasons I do Japanese logic problems.
The bigger reason is that I have about ten years' supply and not doing them is how I got into this mess
posted by Merus at 8:22 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
The bigger reason is that I have about ten years' supply and not doing them is how I got into this mess
posted by Merus at 8:22 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
I like the Quick and Fun crosswords by Matt Gaffney. He's still a dude but his clues are at least of an age as myself, like "Julia's Role in Ocean's Eleven" or "language of Liberia". Few sports clues and no Roman numerals yet, although the sports clues tend to be well known people like Yogi Berra or someone sort of contemporary like "Won World Series in 2004“.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:48 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by fiercekitten at 8:48 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a similar experience if you find one of the Trivial Pursuit editions that focuses on pop culture before the 80s. There are so many Van Johnson movies and Ricky Nelson records that almost no one alive remembers at all, let alone well enough to answer trivia questions about.
Trivia games by their nature focus on a time and a place and test one’s cultural familiarity; original Trivial Pursuit is aimed squarely at American boomers. As a Canadian Gen-X type I was doubly peripheral to this cohort, but I could acquit myself well enough in the game. It wasn’t until I played with a bunch of people who included a Swede a decade my junior that I began to realize how focused these things are. Quoth Mats, “How do you people know all these things about Gilligan’s Island and Watergate?”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:07 PM on April 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
Trivia games by their nature focus on a time and a place and test one’s cultural familiarity; original Trivial Pursuit is aimed squarely at American boomers. As a Canadian Gen-X type I was doubly peripheral to this cohort, but I could acquit myself well enough in the game. It wasn’t until I played with a bunch of people who included a Swede a decade my junior that I began to realize how focused these things are. Quoth Mats, “How do you people know all these things about Gilligan’s Island and Watergate?”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:07 PM on April 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
“How do you people know all these things about Gilligan’s Island and Watergate?”
Q: What do the professor and Gilligan need to break into that hotel room?
A: Some bamboo and a couple of coconuts, while the Howells distract the hotel staff using very large tips.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:17 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
Q: What do the professor and Gilligan need to break into that hotel room?
A: Some bamboo and a couple of coconuts, while the Howells distract the hotel staff using very large tips.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:17 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
The plumbers aren't professors, that's for sure.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:25 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:25 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
I am a 50 something white male so I am biased in that way. I hate the NY Times crossword. I can generally finish them with the exception of Sunday which I just would lose interest in most of the way through.
The only puzzle I would do was the New York Magazine "Cue" crossword by Maura Jacobson. Sure they had a few of the arcane filler clues, but for the most part they were of the times in which they were crafted. Interestingly, I still do them although they are on their 3rd editor since Jacobson retired, but I now struggle with the popular culture references. That is a good thing in my mind. To me, the crafters are trying to stay of the times.
I never liked the NY Times ones as I said, but naive me never really understood why until I started trying ones that I thought or had been brainwashed into thinking were not as 'serious'. I grew up thinking that if it is in the NY TIMES it must be intellectual and proper. Meh.
The NYTs is clearly a paper for a previous generation. Maybe even previous to my generation. To me, relevance, crossword or editorial or any other way, is the ability to relate to and address the issues facing the next generation. There is always a next generation so learn to adapt. Btw, I see no reason why a paper couldn't publish more than one crossword per day. Here's one for you old white guys (like me) and here is one for everyone else that is more inclusive and relevant.
Now, as for old editions of Trivial Pursuit, I get those references and do well. I think I remember Gilligan's Island from their original air dates. The Professor was MacGyver before MacGyver was MacGyver.
posted by AugustWest at 11:42 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
The only puzzle I would do was the New York Magazine "Cue" crossword by Maura Jacobson. Sure they had a few of the arcane filler clues, but for the most part they were of the times in which they were crafted. Interestingly, I still do them although they are on their 3rd editor since Jacobson retired, but I now struggle with the popular culture references. That is a good thing in my mind. To me, the crafters are trying to stay of the times.
I never liked the NY Times ones as I said, but naive me never really understood why until I started trying ones that I thought or had been brainwashed into thinking were not as 'serious'. I grew up thinking that if it is in the NY TIMES it must be intellectual and proper. Meh.
The NYTs is clearly a paper for a previous generation. Maybe even previous to my generation. To me, relevance, crossword or editorial or any other way, is the ability to relate to and address the issues facing the next generation. There is always a next generation so learn to adapt. Btw, I see no reason why a paper couldn't publish more than one crossword per day. Here's one for you old white guys (like me) and here is one for everyone else that is more inclusive and relevant.
Now, as for old editions of Trivial Pursuit, I get those references and do well. I think I remember Gilligan's Island from their original air dates. The Professor was MacGyver before MacGyver was MacGyver.
posted by AugustWest at 11:42 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
It's also fun to go back to the puzzles from the 90's in the NYT crossword app
There's a similar experience if you find one of the Trivial Pursuit editions that focuses on pop culture before the 80s
When Trivial Pursuit started issuing modular decks, they did a 1980s edition. Since one of my hobbies is digging through the game sections at thrift stores, I have this deck.
If you want a window into the howling id of American douchebaggery that got us where were are right now, that 80s Trivial Pursuit deck is actually not a bad place to start.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:30 AM on April 4, 2020 [17 favorites]
There's a similar experience if you find one of the Trivial Pursuit editions that focuses on pop culture before the 80s
When Trivial Pursuit started issuing modular decks, they did a 1980s edition. Since one of my hobbies is digging through the game sections at thrift stores, I have this deck.
If you want a window into the howling id of American douchebaggery that got us where were are right now, that 80s Trivial Pursuit deck is actually not a bad place to start.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:30 AM on April 4, 2020 [17 favorites]
So... part of the reason that I enjoy the NYT is the progressive difficulty. I like the Thursday--Saturday crosswords because of their structure and challenge. However, I also agree with the fusty-ness complaints and some of the problematic issues above.
So which crossword should I try that has a similar difficulty level to Thursday--Saturday NYT, but isn't so bad? I've just signed up for the American Values crossword, but while the puzzle I did was fun, it was a lot easier.
posted by vernondalhart at 12:56 AM on April 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
So which crossword should I try that has a similar difficulty level to Thursday--Saturday NYT, but isn't so bad? I've just signed up for the American Values crossword, but while the puzzle I did was fun, it was a lot easier.
posted by vernondalhart at 12:56 AM on April 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
vernondalhart, the AVXC does a range of difficulty (the 5 star rated ones are on a level of Friday/Saturday). Themeless are generally more difficult than themed.
The Saturday Stumper from Newsday is even more difficult, but is only Saturday.
(For "fun", some really advanced solvers will do the Stumper "downs only"- just reading/ solving the down clues.)
posted by damayanti at 4:07 AM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
The Saturday Stumper from Newsday is even more difficult, but is only Saturday.
(For "fun", some really advanced solvers will do the Stumper "downs only"- just reading/ solving the down clues.)
posted by damayanti at 4:07 AM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
“Christ what an ano” since the NYT puzzle considers it an acceptable spelling of “año.”
posted by obfuscation at 5:57 AM on April 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by obfuscation at 5:57 AM on April 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
I will never not be delighted with finding Alan Alda in my morning crossword. I stand by this joy to the end.
posted by double bubble at 6:12 AM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by double bubble at 6:12 AM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
My grandmother LOVED puzzles. She was mostly into cryptics, which I found completely baffling, but we would work on NYT puzzles together (this is back in the 80's) and I remember realizing that I had no interest in learning enough about Broadway musicals to be able to solve those puzzles.
posted by Drab_Parts at 6:17 AM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Drab_Parts at 6:17 AM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Christ, what an opinion
posted by notoriety public at 6:32 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by notoriety public at 6:32 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
I enjoy crosswords. I grew up doing them with my dad (old white guy). Maybe part of the reason I like them is that they remind me of spending time with my father. I agree that "they have a sort of exclusive jargon or subculture, in that you have to learn the language and be familiar with the type of item that gets used." But a lot of things that interest me required me to learn some new jargon & become familiar with different types of items. Like, say, reading about astronomy, or listening to trap and hip-hop on the radio, which I also enjoy.
posted by crazy_yeti at 6:45 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by crazy_yeti at 6:45 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
This conversation is giving me ennui. I’ll be in my aerie.
posted by rmless at 6:51 AM on April 4, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by rmless at 6:51 AM on April 4, 2020 [7 favorites]
Sure, but since things have a jargon by necessity, because you have to be able to talk about discursive concepts to understand them. Crosswords aren't limited in that way - all words are fair game, so if the creators use a limited vocabulary, that's a choice, not a requirement.
I do a lot of trivia, and I see similar problems there. The guy who writes our local league tries to write trivia that will interest women, but he has so little frame of reference for it that his questions about women's interests tend to be either impossibly obscure or ridiculously easy with little middle ground.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:55 AM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
I do a lot of trivia, and I see similar problems there. The guy who writes our local league tries to write trivia that will interest women, but he has so little frame of reference for it that his questions about women's interests tend to be either impossibly obscure or ridiculously easy with little middle ground.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:55 AM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
I am curious how many of the folks here have tried to construct a crossword puzzle? (Earlier) Like everyone else in this thread I used to roll my eyes at NENE and a bunch of other over-used fill words. Then I started trying to construct my own crossword puzzles. Humility ensued.
posted by PhineasGage at 7:33 AM on April 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 7:33 AM on April 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
I not only made one, but I made it a cryptic, and I submitted it somewhere ... Maybe Games magazine? It was rejected, obviously, but I was young and foolish, and it was fun. I think the rejection was pretty nice, some explanation and suggestion I get more practice. I wish I still had it!
posted by taz at 7:43 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by taz at 7:43 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
original Trivial Pursuit is aimed squarely at American boomers.
I (late 30s, USian) have won games by channeling my best guess of how my dad would answer a clue.
posted by gauche at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
I (late 30s, USian) have won games by channeling my best guess of how my dad would answer a clue.
posted by gauche at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
I wrote a poem about crosswords a few years ago.
Thank you to the Basque
For inventing Jai Alai
Thank you to oleo
For keeping bread undry
Thank you, Mrs. Howe,
For naming your son Elias.
And thank you, Ernie Els,
For the service you provide us.
Thank you, ski lifts, for t-bars
And mines, to you, for adits
Thank you, Elia Kazan,
Without you I might not have had it.
Thank you sots in bars,
For all the ale you guzzle.
Without your contributions,
There'd be no crossword puzzle.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:15 AM on April 4, 2020 [36 favorites]
Thank you to the Basque
For inventing Jai Alai
Thank you to oleo
For keeping bread undry
Thank you, Mrs. Howe,
For naming your son Elias.
And thank you, Ernie Els,
For the service you provide us.
Thank you, ski lifts, for t-bars
And mines, to you, for adits
Thank you, Elia Kazan,
Without you I might not have had it.
Thank you sots in bars,
For all the ale you guzzle.
Without your contributions,
There'd be no crossword puzzle.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:15 AM on April 4, 2020 [36 favorites]
frecklefaerie, I love it!! For your aone effort, I award you this somewhat ochre colored 👑so much better than the ecru one!
posted by taz at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by taz at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2020 [7 favorites]
If it's not not permitted as a friends-and-family-self-link, may I suggest Outside the Box puzzles for crosswords that escape the grid?
Jeopardy winner (and Guess My Word creator) Joon Pahk runs a subscription site with really neat crosswords that definitely eschew a lot of these hoary fallbacks. He mostly uses the format of the Rows Garden, which has hexagons (rose) with answers that go either clockwise or counter-clockwise overlaid on horizontal answers (rows). The bi-weekly (once every two weeks) variety puzzles are mostly constructed by other people.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:44 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
Jeopardy winner (and Guess My Word creator) Joon Pahk runs a subscription site with really neat crosswords that definitely eschew a lot of these hoary fallbacks. He mostly uses the format of the Rows Garden, which has hexagons (rose) with answers that go either clockwise or counter-clockwise overlaid on horizontal answers (rows). The bi-weekly (once every two weeks) variety puzzles are mostly constructed by other people.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:44 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
Christ, what an opinion
And thus was born "metafilter crossword slang," in which words are replaced with others which could answer a particular crossword clue.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2020 [12 favorites]
And thus was born "metafilter crossword slang," in which words are replaced with others which could answer a particular crossword clue.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2020 [12 favorites]
damayanti: Where do you find those? All of the ones that I see in the crosswords app through their subscription are labeled "moderate".
posted by vernondalhart at 10:44 AM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by vernondalhart at 10:44 AM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
eft is the word for a young newt
posted by ovvl at 7:19 PM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 7:19 PM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
I am not sure I have ever seen Omar Epps in anything but a crossword puzzle. (I'm sure he's a fine actor, I just haven't gotten around to seeing House yet.)
posted by kristi at 7:21 PM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by kristi at 7:21 PM on April 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
eft is the word for a young newt
...I got befter....
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:45 PM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
...I got befter....
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:45 PM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
I have gotten a good 8 years out of an easy crossword book I am slowly working on. I always just thought of it as being for old people, because the references are so out of date. I never seem to get smarter at them because I still don't know who the hell these old actors and sports figures are. Sorry Will Shortz!
And the "jokes". Oh my god. So many struggling jokes. Any AAVE is "in the hood" and any informal language is "slangily".
At my old work we bought a few big crossword books and we had certain crossword authors who received a frowny face rating from us. I stand by it, but now I blame Will Shortz even more for his failings.
This article was great because I used to think of crosswords as being sort of a niche interest of old white people and that I peculiarly shared their taste in this regard. Not that peculiar I suppose, being a young white person instead of an old one. I didn't really think about who was making the choices. Just felt like I was talking to somebody's grandpa and letting a lot of nonsense go rather than expecting them to get it. Now I want to find these other crossword writers and it will be way more fun.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:53 PM on April 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
And the "jokes". Oh my god. So many struggling jokes. Any AAVE is "in the hood" and any informal language is "slangily".
At my old work we bought a few big crossword books and we had certain crossword authors who received a frowny face rating from us. I stand by it, but now I blame Will Shortz even more for his failings.
This article was great because I used to think of crosswords as being sort of a niche interest of old white people and that I peculiarly shared their taste in this regard. Not that peculiar I suppose, being a young white person instead of an old one. I didn't really think about who was making the choices. Just felt like I was talking to somebody's grandpa and letting a lot of nonsense go rather than expecting them to get it. Now I want to find these other crossword writers and it will be way more fun.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:53 PM on April 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
eft is the word for a young newt
24 down in last Sunday's NYT crossword. NYT uses it *a lot*. At least EDE for "Dutch commune" seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Speaking of last Sunday's NYT crossword, did anyone notice it's by a 22-year-old video game concept artist named Ricky Cruz? It includes clues about Beyonce's role in Lion King, Nintendo, a Shia LeBouef movie/Rihanna hit, "Cartoon character who works at the Krusty Krab" and Thanos.
Hey, at least they're paying attention.
posted by mediareport at 8:44 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
24 down in last Sunday's NYT crossword. NYT uses it *a lot*. At least EDE for "Dutch commune" seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Speaking of last Sunday's NYT crossword, did anyone notice it's by a 22-year-old video game concept artist named Ricky Cruz? It includes clues about Beyonce's role in Lion King, Nintendo, a Shia LeBouef movie/Rihanna hit, "Cartoon character who works at the Krusty Krab" and Thanos.
Hey, at least they're paying attention.
posted by mediareport at 8:44 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
damayanti: Where do you find those? All of the ones that I see in the crosswords app through their subscription are labeled "moderate".
The AVXC? I get them delivered to my email via my subscription, so maybe that's a display issue with the app you're using. The last one (March 31) was a 4.5/5; ditto the 26th.
posted by damayanti at 11:33 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
The AVXC? I get them delivered to my email via my subscription, so maybe that's a display issue with the app you're using. The last one (March 31) was a 4.5/5; ditto the 26th.
posted by damayanti at 11:33 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
There is some kind of glitch in either the Crosswords iOS app or the .puz file itself that leads to every AVXC puzzle being labeled "moderate" for me. I used to check the emails to see the difficulty but have settled on more of a life's-a-box-of-chocolates approach to the difficulty level...
posted by range at 12:27 PM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by range at 12:27 PM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
It drives me nuts that "epee" is always the answer to "fencing sword."
Shinai has a lot of vowels.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:05 PM on April 6, 2020
Shinai has a lot of vowels.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:05 PM on April 6, 2020
« Older Universal Right To Food | Voleflix, a public domain movie site Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
In fact part of the reason I have not pursued crosswords more despite liking them is that I feel they have a sort of exclusive jargon or subculture, in that you have to learn the language and be familiar with the type of item that gets used. The idea that there are people rebelling against that ingrained structure and creating their own crosswords with a fresh voice and style is invigorating to me!
I'd love to hear anybody's recommendations for crosswords or puzzle sources that are more inclusive and less encrusted.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:09 AM on April 3, 2020 [9 favorites]