new puzzle! extra innings

The weekly puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme is "extra innings," to celebrate the start of the Major League Baseball season.

The puzzle is a little trickier than usual, because the theme entries are placed in non-standard locations - not symmetrically located across from each other.

This puzzle was created early in the history of the site, before I knew about the standard rules for creating crosswords. It's still pretty good, so I hope you will give it a try! Here's a permalink to extra innings.

new puzzle! odd menagerie

The weekly puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme is "odd menagerie," hope you enjoy it!

new puzzle! seasonal menu

The weekly puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme is "seasonal menu" (permalink).

new puzzle! third themeless

The crossword puzzle for this week is themeless. This is our third themeless puzzle. Here's the permalink:
http://worldofcrosswords.com/index.php?p=24

new puzzle! unlikely hairdos

Yesterday, the weekly puzzle went up at World of Crosswords. Its theme is "unlikely hairdos." Here's the permalink, http://worldofcrosswords.com/index.php?p=23.

how do you feel about clechos?

A "clecho" is a "clue echo" - where two or more crossword puzzle clues are similar or the same. For example, in the L.A. Times crossword of Feb 19, 2012, 45A and 105A are clechos; both clues are "Hm...". The corresponding answers are, of course, different. 61A ("Design deg.") and 62A ("Designer Saarinen") are also considered clechos, even though they are not quite the same.

So far as I can tell, the term clecho was first used to describe the repeated use of "Eagle" as the theme clue in the October 6, 2010 L.A. Times puzzle. The word "clecho" was reportedly coined by one "Dennis," who writes at the L.A.Times Crossword Corner blog.

I'm happy with clechos when they occur as theme clues. In that case, it's perfectly clear what's going on, and it highlights the theme. However, when they appear scattered about throughout the puzzle, I get a little annoyed. Is it supposed to be clever? Is it just lazy? If the two clues are not close together, I might actually miss the fact that they are clechos; then it's kind of pointless.

There's a little discussion going about clechos over at the cruciverb puzzle forum. If you've got an opinion, post there, or here in the comment section.

new puzzle! look sharp

The weekly puzzle is up at World of Crosswords. The theme is "look sharp". Here's the permalink, http://worldofcrosswords.com/index.php?p=22, for posterity.