google celebrates the 100th anniversary of the crossword

If you haven't seen it already, you should head on over to google's search page and click on the google doodle for today (Dec 20 2013). It's the 100th anniversary of the crossword puzzle and they've got a nice (but easy!) crossword for everyone to fill out.

summer break

We're having a summer break at World of Crosswords, going to a reduced schedule of two puzzles per month. Look forward to the new crossword next weekend!

new puzzle - 'dutch treats'

The latest crossword is up as of yesterday. It's called 'dutch treats' - and it's tough because the theme entries may be unfamiliar. But we hope you'll enjoy this introduction to Dutch desserts!

new puzzle - 'old glory'

The crossword puzzle for this week came out last Sunday. Its theme is designed to celebrate Independence Day here in the U.S. We hope you enjoy it!

Since it's the first Sunday of July, the puzzle is also available for solving on Standalone's Crosswords app (both on Android and Apple devices).

new puzzle - 'cookies and cream'

The latest puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is 'cookies and cream' - I think it's especially tricky.... Give it a try!

puzzle at Indy Week - 'head east'

One of our puzzles has been published today at Indy Week, a source of "[p]rogressive news, culture & commentary for the Triangle Raleigh Cary Durham ChapelHill" area. The puzzle is available free of charge on the web! Check it out - 'head east' - and have some fun in the sun!

new puzzle - 'summer picnic'

The new puzzle is up at World of Crosswords... The theme for this week is seasonal - 'summer picnic'. We hope you can enjoy solving it while getting some fun in the sun. Don't forget you can always print out the puzzle to take outside if you prefer!

oops!

We apologize for the lack of a new puzzle this week...  If you're looking for a substitute, please visit the archives, or check out a new puzzle from inkwell or BEQ. We promise we'll be back with a fresh crossword next week!

new puzzle - 'themeless 16'

We're on a themeless roll for the month of May at World of Crosswords. Last week's puzzle was themeless and so was the previous week's. Will the upcoming crossword be themeless as well? Check it out this coming Sunday...

new look - the clues get scrollbars!

Since we launched our crossword puzzle website in 2011, we've had requests from users to put the clues in a scrolling view, so that it's possible to view any clues next to the puzzle matrix. It made sense to us, so it has been implemented. Take a look! Here's the new view:

The scrolling view was implemented by yours-truly using the YUI3 ScrollView API. We hope this makes solving puzzles easier than before! Feel free to leave feedback either by email or as a comment here.

new puzzle - 'lost my pen!'

The new puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is 'lost my pen!'  This is the first crossword of the month, so as usual you can find it in the Standalone Crosswords app for iOS and Android devices.

If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at last week's themeless. That's our fourteenth to date.

Happy solving!

vacation week

We're taking a short vacation break from the crossword business this week... This is our first break since we started. Stay tuned for a new puzzle next week! Meantime you may wish to peruse our archives, or check out one of Brendan Emmett Quigley's tough puzzles.

new puzzle - 'reckless behavior'

The latest puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is 'reckless behavior.' I think the theme is particularly fun this week, and hope you agree!

This week's puzzle is also available on the Standalone Crosswords app if you'd prefer to solve it there. Enjoy!

new puzzle - 'squash it'

The latest crossword went up at World of Crosswords on Sunday. The theme for this week is 'squash it' - we hope you enjoy figuring out the theme entries!

new puzzle - 'fit the bill'

The new crossword is now available at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is 'fit the bill' - enjoy!

new puzzles - "don't bug me!" and "saint patrick's day wish"

I've been busy for a couple weeks, and didn't get around to announcing our latest puzzles. If you haven't already taken a look, check them out: don't bug me! debuted on March 9th, and we spelled out a saint patrick's day wish on March 16th.

There will be a new puzzle out tomorrow...

new puzzle - 'be specific'

The latest puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is 'be specific.' We hope you enjoy solving it as much as we enjoyed creating it!

By the way, you can also solve this week's puzzle on the Standalone Crosswords app, available on iOS and Android devices.

new puzzle - 'themeless 13'

Last Sunday's puzzle is a themeless - our thirteenth. Try it if you're in for a tough crossword!

I've been busy, and didn't post about our previous two puzzles. We've got a couple of themed puzzles for February - 'celebrate black history month!' and 'consecutive executives'. If you haven't already done them, give them a go and let us know what you think.

new puzzle - 'build a sandwich'

The latest puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme this week is 'build a sandwich.' This is one of my favorite puzzles so far! One of the theme entries is particularly tricky, containing a reference to a local point of interest for us. I hope you enjoy learning about it.

Since this is the first puzzle in the month of February, it is also available in the Stand Alone Crosswords app!  If you've already bought the app, you will find the puzzle there as of yesterday. For more information, check out my previous blog post about this cool app. If you don't already own the app, you may want to purchase it. You can try the free Stand Alone Crosswords Lite app to get an idea of how it works, before buying.

new puzzle - 'themeless 12'

The new puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. It's a themeless this week - our twelfth. (Does anyone else like the way that the word "twelfth" has the word "elf" in it?)

Solve our crosswords on mobile devices!

This month, World of Crosswords became a puzzle provider for the Crosswords app produced by Stand Alone, Inc. You can use their app on devices like the iPod, iPad, and Android tablets to work our crosswords!

We'll be providing the first puzzle of each month via Crosswords, and I'll post a reminder when this happens. The puzzle will remain available on our site, as well, so you can solve it in your browser, if you prefer (or you can print it out as usual from our website).

Our first puzzle to show up in Crosswords is 'fiscal cliff notes.' You can take a look at the screenshots below to get an idea of how the puzzles look in the app. The screenshots are from my Asus EEE Transformer Prime tablet (Android), but you can get the puzzles on many different devices, including the iPod Touch and the iPad.

new puzzle! 'grainy images'

The new crossword is up at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is 'grainy images.' Have fun figuring out the theme puns!

stale vs edgy grid fill

This post is for those who are interested in crossword construction!

Ben Tausig's Reddit interview got me thinking about a recent trend in crosswords towards "edgy" clues and fill, and away from stodgier old-school fill. (When I say "fill," I mean words in the grid which are not theme entries.)

I should explain my background before going further. I began working the N.Y. Times crosswords as a teenager, many years ago, when Eugene Maleska was the editor. Crosswords had the reputation of being for cerebral types, and I felt compelled to conquer the challenge of successfully (and speedily) working these puzzles. From an early age, I've preferred working on difficult problems; solving something that's easy is boring, and not much fun. So crosswords were right up my alley.

When I first started, I found that I was stymied by some very peculiar word entries: for example, "ELA," "STOA," "ANOA," and "NIDUS." Sometimes I was able to reveal the solution by filling in all the crossing entries. In the worst case, I'd wait for the solution to be published. Either way, I was initially frustrated by the inclusion of such bizarre, uncommon words in a puzzle. It was an outrage! How could they expect anyone to know such obscure terms!?  Over time, of course, I'd soon be able to match a clue with its peculiar word entry. I never used these words, and never saw them used, either in written or spoken language. But I knew what they meant (more or less)!

Today such words are called crosswordese, and you can certainly find enough people who despise them. I have come to look at them fondly, however. When I see the clue "Guidonian note," I know exactly what to plug in. Although I may not have a firm knowledge of what it means (and according to Tausig, it's not a real word), learning about it has made a small dent in my knowledge of music. Even the entry "ULEE," which initially bothered me no end, has me interested in viewing a film I might never have heard of, otherwise.

So I'm no longer bothered by crosswordese. I consider it just another interesting challenge. I like fresh and trendy fill as well... though I prefer references to higher quality pop culture such as The Simpsons, and have a bias against references to reality TV.

I'll point out that I'm not into sports, so I'm just as much handicapped when trying to solve a sports-related clue as someone else might be by a reference to Greek architecture. But that doesn't invalidate the clue.

At World of Crosswords, I'm the one mainly responsible for producing the grid fill. While I enjoy crosswordese, I recognize that it can be a big problem for many solvers, so I try not to put too much of it into a single puzzle. We're trying to produce difficult puzzles, but not overwhelmingly so!

I recently had a discussion with Carla (the clue writer at WOC) about the word "PIKA." After I researched it, I was glad that I was introduced to the word and the very cute animal itself... I hope you agree!

Ben Tausig interview on Reddit

I'm late to publish about this, but better late than never! Ben Tausig has done an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") on Reddit. Go take a look, it's fun!

new puzzle! "it's alive!"

The latest puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme for this week is, in the immortal words from Young Frankenstein, "it's alive!". We hope you won't find the puns too deadly...

new puzzle! 'fiscal cliff notes'

However you feel about the temporary resolution to the "fiscal cliff" in the US, we hope you will enjoy this week's crossword. The theme title is 'fiscal cliff notes.' We trust that it will tickle your economic fancy!

new puzzle! 'take one'

The crossword puzzle which brings in the new year is 'take one'. I enjoyed coming up with the theme entries for this one - I hope you enjoy solving them just as much!