CROSSWORDS: 2020s

Highlights | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | References

Highlights

  • 2020: Covid; Constructing Crosswords offered; Thinking Inside the Box by Adrienne Raphel
  • 2021: An A.I. (Dr. Fill) Wins ACPT 2021; NYT abandons .puz files

construction2020

course2021

  • 10th Anniversary of CROSSWORDS and YOU (this course)!
  • An A.I. Finally Won an Elite Crossword Tournament (ACPT 2021)
    Its name is Dr. Fill, and it isn't allowed to keep the prize money; Slate; 4/27/2021    ;
    (more articles: Solving: References: AI)
  • Crossword Fans Are Mad At The New York Times no .puz files; 8/3/2021
  • NYT Games No Longer Available on Across Lite as of Aug. 10 i.e., no .puz files; 8/2/2021
  • Cartoons & Puzzles Issue NewYorker; 12/20/2021
  • THE CROSSWORD PLAY (or Ezmeranda's Gift) by Donna Hoke
    in THE CROSSWORD PLAY we join an expert level crossword puzzlemaker in a puzzle-making workshop, where she
    guides us through the conventions, strictures and rules of crossword puzzle creation -- until things get a bit unruly
  • Brennan Elliott and Lacey Chabert Are Back Together
    Crossword Puzzle Mysteries: Riddle Me Dead     4/9/2021
  • 'Crossword Mysteries: Terminal Descent; Lacey Chabert, Brennan Elliott Return
    In Hallmark’s 'Crossword Mysteries: Terminal Descent'     1/12/2021
  • 'Crossword City Chronicles' Gets 1/25/2021 Steam Release! 1/17/2021
  • Letters to Margaret a romance graphic novel by Hayley Gold;
    "If you thought the world of crosswords was black and white, you’d be... mostly right.
    They, like all of us, are caught in a highly polarized imbroglio between sides stuck in their
    black and white thinking. Well, maybe it’s time to consider how the other side sees things.
    So, I made a similarly polarized comic. It’s so polarized that it’s literally divided in half.
    The same series of events are twice-told, each from a different character’s perspective,
    and each packing a different set of solvable crosswords by Mike Selinker and Andy Kravis.
    You can solve along and take the puzzles apart with the characters, maybe gaining new
    perspectives on things as you work your way through each side.

    One side’s protagonist, Derry Down, believes that the New York Times crossword reinforces
    stereotypes, is non-inclusive, and uses offensive clues. Across the aisle (and the bookbinding)
    is Margaret "Maggie" A. Cross, who's maddened by blogger critiques that call for stemming
    the choice of words and topics broached in the NYT crossword in the name of sensitivity.
    The twosome's opinions clash on the web, in the crossword blogosphere, and IRL on the
    campus of Columbia University — but to complicate things, Maggie is visited by the voice
    of puzzles past: Margaret Farrar. The first editor of the Times crossword emerges in the form
    of letters, as Ms. Farrar attempts to edit Maggie’s amateur puzzle with a 1960s sensibility."
  • One Step Sideways and 13 Down by Lucy Burnett;
    poetry was devised from collaging crossword clues from the newspaper, a process that
    stems from a preference for asking questions over providing answers. At the same time
    a kind of alternative surreal political commentary emerges from the gaps provided by the clue
  • My Mother as a Crossword Puzzle Eleanor Booker; page 1, page 2
  • The Marlow Murder Club
    a classic cosy mystery (and first in a series) with UK-based, crossword-setting, 77-year-old heroine Judith Potts
  • The Year in Crosswords, 2021
    NYT supports more flexible layout but dropped .puz (Across Lite) files/format;
    AI program Dr. Fill won its first American Crossword Puzzle Tournament;
    many discussions/puzzles about inclusiveness:
    Hayley Gold's romance novel Letters to Margaret, NYT did a Black constructors week,
    David Steinberg published crosswords from LGBTQ+-identifying constructors at Universal;
    publications, crowdfunding, word lists, tools;
    accomplishments, firsts, tournaments;
    media, podcasts; theater; gaming; fun with data;
    people, constructors; scholarly works; 1/1/2022
  • Orca Awards -- none in 2021?

2022

2023

2024

  • "As you may have heard, I recently celebrated my 30th anniversary as editor of the NYT Crossword.
    Wow, a lot has changed over 30 years.

    When I started in 1993, the crosswords weren’t yet online and email was still new, so everything was done on paper.
    The Crossword was a department of one, and I pretty much did everything myself — editing, proofreading, fielding
    comments from the test solvers, answering submissions, responding to reader mail and doing anything else that
    needed doing. I remember working 60- or 70-hour weeks. To go on vacation, I had to edit ahead, because the
    crossword never stopped.

    Submissions in those days arrived on paper by mail. To edit a manuscript, I crossed out the contributor’s clues
    that I wanted to change and wrote new ones at the side. Accuracy was paramount, but I also edited for freshness,
    color, a sense of fun, New York Times style and the desired level of difficulty for the puzzle’s day of the week.
    On average, about half the clues were mine. Each Friday I’d take a week’s worth of edited puzzles to the old
    Times Building on 43rd Street in Manhattan to be typeset. Proofs would be sent to me a few days later for approval.

    My first few months on the job were rough. All 3 of my predecessors (Margaret Farrar, Will Weng and Eugene T. Maleska)
    were deceased, so I had no one to ask for advice. Previously I’d been the editor of Games magazine, which had
    younger readers and puzzles that were easier than those in The Times, so that was the audience I was used to.

    Well! Complaints poured in that I was making the puzzles too easy. OK, I thought, you want hard? I’ll show you hard!
    And I cranked up the difficulty. Predictably, complaints then poured in that I was making the puzzles too difficult.
    Eventually everything reached a happy medium.

    The Times Crossword went online in 1996. At first, digital solvers were a novelty; today they are a majority.
    Soon I was typesetting the puzzles myself on a home computer rather than The Times doing it, which eliminated
    the need for proofs going back and forth.

    As the Crossword became more popular, the number of submissions increased, especially after the movie
    “Wordplay” came out in 2006. We now receive nearly 200 submissions a week. Over time, The Times added
    KenKen (2009), the Mini (2014), a second page of puzzles in the The New York Times Magazine (2016),
    the annual Puzzle Mania section (also 2016) and more puzzles in the daily paper (2020) — not to mention
    numerous other online games.

    In short, there’s more work to do than ever. But now I collaborate with an extremely talented group of colleagues.

    What hasn’t changed: the same smart, educated, ingenious audience of Times readers. You are very special.
    Creating and editing puzzles for you is something I’ll never get tired of." ~Will Shortz, in Gameplay newsletter, 1/1/2024
  • Tournaments Boswords: 2/4/24, ACPT: 4/5-4/7/24, Lollapuzzoola: NYT,
    Westwords: 6/23/24, Midwest Crossword Tournament: 10/5/24
  • Orca Awards for 2023 crosswords; 3/10/2024

References