Audio, Re-Release, and Especially Crossword Puzzles

Jeff Cohen

A little business before, um, other business: Starting TODAY, you can download a copy of A WILD GHOST CHASE, the first Haunted Guesthouse novella, on audio from Audible, if you click here! (I haven't heard it yet, so don't spoil it for me!) All the other Haunted Guesthouse titles will be on their way shortly, and I'll let you know as sure as I have dates confirmed.

Also: The Comedy Tonight (formerly Double Feature) mystery series is coming back! No new titles yet, but there will be re-releases of the first three starting August 1! Details to follow in this space.

As devoted fans of this blog (or anyone who's ever tried to reach me at a certain hour in the morning) undoubtedly know, I am a devotee of the New York Times crossword puzzle. I never miss one, and very rarely fail to solve it. Yes, I do the puzzle in ink, but I don't think that communicates arrogance or even confidence. It's easier to write over something on newsprint than it is to erase.

I do not, therefore, present myself as an expert on solving the puzzle, because I'm not. I'm in the "experienced amateur" category, not by any means a master, but a plodder, someone who will solve but in what the true artists would consider an eternity. The last place finisher in a good crossword competition would certainly beat the pants off my best time ever.

So if I can't be as good or as fast as this guy, I can take some pleasure another aspect of my puzzle. It is, in fact, one feature of my daily puzzling that might actually add to my time, but I consider it essential, and perhaps the one and only specialty I can claim in the area.

My filled-in puzzles look good.

I'm serious about that--the letters I write in those little boxes are crafted. I consider it a form of art to paint in the answers with the clearest, most appealing characters I can create freehand. I want someone who sees the completed puzzle (like the guy who takes my newspapers for recycling, because who else is going to see it?) not to stop in awe of the care taken to be legible, but at least to note the lack of panic evident in my writing. 

In fact, I'm less concerned about the fact that I filled in a box incorrectly, and more about how to best repair the mistake so that it isn't terribly evident. (The "T" in "BIG CAT" above is an example of a badly repaired error.)

So in the interest of public service, allow me to offer a few tips in how to fill in your crossword squares as elegantly as possible.

1. Finish your "O"s. There's a real temptation to pick up the pen halfway through an O. You've made your point; why keep going? Because the result will be worth it, and the quarter-second it loses you won't really hurt.
2. Plan your "A"s ahead of time. Are you going with the classic pyramid shape? The more rounded archway? An O with a line through it? Decide before you start so you don't have to change mid-A.
3. Be consistent. No good making one sharp pointed V and then making another that could be mistaken for a U. You might change styles from day to day, but never in-puzzle.
4. "I"s: With or without the horizontal lines? Personally I write simple verticle lines for an I. That way it's much easier to adjust if it turns out I was wrong.
5. Rest your wrist on something. My desk has no actual writing space. I know. But to compensate, I use a clipboard for my puzzle solving. This requires either folding the broadsheet into a clipboard-ready size (see above) or making a copy of the puzzle on a letter-sized piece of paper. The effort's worth it. Trying to make legible characters on a folded up paper with no backing is near impossible, as any NJ Transit or MTA commuter can testify.
6. Make sure your "E"s look like "E"s. This, again, is a style choice. I go with the squared-off "E" because I think it looks closer to type, which is my goal. Others prefer the rounded "E" that looks like a backwards 3. Personally, that doesn't do much for me, but to each his own. Just remember rule #3. And that's not a backwards "E", which rhymes with "P" and that stands for "Pool."
7. A "G" is not a "C" with a line in it. Don't simply use letter templates; make each character its own entity. While you will want to make letters that can be changed into others (a "V" can become an "M" easily, for example), you don't want letters with no personality. Find a middle ground.

I hope this humble tutorial will improve the cosmetics of crosswords around the land. Please feel free to pass it along to other solvers. But don't bother with the speed demons who actually time their solving experiences, instead of savoring the creative process. They're just not going to listen.

 

P.S. Next week my friend Simon Wood will be filling in for me. I hope you enjoy his entertaining post--but not TOO much--I'll be back two weeks from today!

Comments

[Patty]

Wow, I didn't know there was an art to crosswords. I admire your dedication and striving for perfection.

I do crosswords on a more "hit or miss" timetable, often do them when I'm traveling. Of course, I live in South Dakota and have never had much contact with the NYT's, yes, it is available but I don't go looking for it.

[Nancy Roeessner]

I tried to do. NYT puzzle once, on a Sunday. Epic fail, as they say. This was before the Internet, so I went to the library to research Greek mythology for the crossword and other subjects I knew nothing about. Too much work.
Anyway, my big lettering sin is switching my pointed W's for rounded ones - like the U mistake, but twice as bad.

[Toni Lotempio]

Yeah to the Comedy Tonight series being resurrected! I have every single one (and someday I hope Jeff will sign them for me LOL)