It’s still a good grid to use when the setter wants to incorporate a theme or perhaps use the perimeter to spell out a message. There’s nothing wrong with this pattern, but it tends to favour the setter versus the solver – the answers will have more unchecked letters, making it easier to fill the grid and less helpful for the solver who needs some starting letters. The opposite is E/E which looks like this: The lights (horizontal/vertical lines of white cells) are in what is sometimes called an O/O pattern – that is, they account for ODD numbered rows and columns. It isn’t very interesting to look at, but it does have one significant feature. So we start with a blank grid (I’m just showing NW corner sections for now as it’ll be pretty obvious what the rest of the grid looks like): This latter consideration is quite important every time you manage to crosscheck a database answer you eliminate at least one letter that would otherwise have to contribute to another answer, thereby making the fill process just a tad easier. It’s a good idea to get one of these placed as early as possible because it will quickly determine some aspects of the grid design and, of course, whether or not there are other database clues which can intersect it. When checking what I have in the database I’ll look first for any long-answer (12+ letters) clues. The clue-writing process is not restricted to an active crossword – inspiration for a clue can come at any time and I try to ensure I have some way of scribbling an idea for later use and there’s no point in adding these ideas to a database if they’re going to stay there unused! To help me get started I always have a small stock of pre-written clues. The chosen puzzle is based on a self-designed grid, since one of the primary intentions here is to describe how this design process unfolds. Some of the details are inevitably a little fuzzy but, hopefully, as we go along I’ll be able to cover these by approaching the description as if it were a fresh puzzle.
This puzzle was set some time ago but I’ve selected it because my memory of writing it remains reasonably fresh. The article finishes at the point when a crossword such as this would be ready to send to an editor and – like any setter – I would just have to sit back and wait for the email asking me to make changes to certain clues that’s what editors are for!
Whether or not all of the clues stand up to scrutiny isn’t of great importance. Instead, I’ve tried to give an insight into how I go about dissecting an answer to identify wordplay components – it’s all about the scribbled notes, rejected ideas and “a-ha!” moments that come with pleasing discoveries. Please note this is in no way intended to be a guide to writing cryptic clues, so while some technical aspects are mentioned there is no attempt to explain how/why particular techniques succeed or fail. Just a quick note you before you start reading.Īfter the description of filling the crossword grid, the article gives an account of the clue-writing process. In front of each clue we have added its number and position on the crossword puzzle for easier navigation.From The Top A start-to-finish story of setting a cryptic crossword puzzle. If you are done solving this clue take a look below to the other clues found on today's puzzle in case you may need help with any of them. This clue was last seen on NYTimes JPuzzle. GIVE KUDOS TO New York Times Crossword Clue Answer In case there is more than one answer to this clue it means it has appeared twice, each time with a different answer. Anytime you encounter a difficult clue you will find it here. It is a daily puzzle and today like every other day, we published all the solutions of the puzzle for your convenience. It started over 100 years ago in the NYT Magazine. The NY Times Crossword is a classic American puzzle.
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