![]() Thus, my vote for “toughest day of the week to construct” is Monday, though I believe I’m in the minority amongst my colleagues. And while there are several tried-and-true theme types out there, the goal is for the puzzle to be fresh and exciting for the solver. At The Times, where I review our crossword submissions, the most common reason for rejection is the puzzle’s theme not being quite interesting enough overall. More importantly, while it’s one thing to make a themed puzzle, it’s another thing to make a good themed puzzle. That said, themed puzzles can take various forms, so sometimes there may be crazy grid constraints involved in pulling off a novel gimmick. ![]() Not only is the grid daunting enough to complete, but it should be full of fun, interesting vocabulary throughout, with a minimal amount of short “crossword-ese” holding everything together. Meanwhile, a theme-less puzzle – run every Friday and Saturday in The Times – has mostly longer words and a more wide-open grid by nature. On the surface, a themed puzzle is easier to create once you’ve figured out your theme set and grid pattern, the filling is relatively easy (albeit tedious at times). Is it easier or harder to build a puzzle with a theme?Ī. I still remember crossing McCormick Road from my Echols dorm for those 1 p.m. When I got to IAN, for instance, I immediately wondered if there was anyone named Ian I could somehow tie to UVA, and then those Ian Frye field goals came to mind! Same with BIO, although my only class in Gilmer was CS 1110. When I clue an answer, I usually just sit there and think for a few moments before hitting up any search engines, dictionaries and whatnot. You might joke, but there’s definitely truth to this. ![]() Did you come up with all the UVA clues just based on your great memories of being on Grounds?Ī. That said, some of the difficulty can be ascribed to the fill itself: answers like the uncommon name VIGGO, the hard-to-parse GEN X/IN OT/IT’S LIT, and the tough-ish words CLAVE/UVEA/BOSC/ALVEOLI all add to a potential solving challenge. The puzzle I’ve made here has mostly Monday- or Tuesday-level clues, so it’s on the easy side, meant to be accessible to solvers of any skill level. The New York Times Crossword gets harder as the week goes on, with larger Sunday puzzles at about a Thursday difficulty. How does this UVA puzzle compare on the scale of difficulty with New York Times crosswords?Ī. You always want to tackle the patterns with the fewest options ahead of time, so you’ll know early if something needs tweaking.įor instance, at 16-Down, that initial O?S?E? pattern yielded only OYSTER, OUSTER, and OUSTED in addition to ON SPEC. That top-right corner, with those GO/HOOS/CORNERSTONE theme constraints, was the most challenging area … but it’s also where I began. In its report in March, FiveThirtyEight said the duplicate puzzles were revealed through a database created by Saul Pwanson, a software engineer from Seattle.Out of all these steps, filling the grid takes the longest, because there’s so much trial and error. “We conducted our own investigation and we are satisfied with how Universal Uclick has responded to the situation.” “USA Today continues to take this matter very seriously,” the statement said. Parker was never an employee of USA Today and that no future puzzles in Gannett publications would be edited by him. In a statement on Tuesday, Gannett said that Mr. Parker on Tuesday night were unsuccessful. Parker would take a three-month leave of absence as editor of the Universal Crossword puzzle.Įfforts to reach Mr. ![]() In the statement, Universal Uclick said it began an internal investigation after the reports of plagiarism appeared and its findings “confirmed some of the allegations.” The company said Mr. Parker would not return as editor of the USA Today crossword puzzle and his work would not appear in Gannett or USA Today Network publications.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |