Crosswords

Board Games
1

I made an FRCC crossword puzzle.

It doesn’t strictly adhere to all the layout rules, but you know what? Making a totally-conforming one is really hard!

Here is an online player that renders it properly, other players that google finds don’t line up the clues correctly.

I would upload the puzzle file so you could all play it, but the forum prohibits file uploads that aren’t jpg, png, or gif. Suggestions that aren’t shady-ass filesharing sites? Just go with a shady-ass one?

Update: here’s the puzzle file.

1 Like
2

Is that page supposed to work? I just keep getting “Error Loading Puzzle” on all of them.
I tried it on two different browsers, BTW.

1 Like
3

Well yeah, you need a puzzle file. Which I haven’t uploaded yet.

4

Just use Google Drive or Dropbox?

5

Dropboxed.

6

That’s about all the effort I’m going to put into it.

Partial Answer

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

A letter obviously got changed when I was taking the screenshot.

7

Only one attempt.

8
fine

image
image886×876 44.9 KB

9
Here's the solution.

image
image1124×1127 58.4 KB

Across
1 Camping location? BUSH
5 Chair and driver? AKIO
9 CS GO league ESEA
10 See 13 SAC
13 With 10, Section 9 series GITS
14 Units of interest to Rym, but not Scott ABVS
15 Card game Rym and Scott aren’t likely to play UNO
16 It follows if? ELSE
17 Int’l gaming division SCEE
18 Fast engine, fast? FTL
19 UNIX veterans SANTAS
21 Party role TANK
22 A bad opponent may keep you this FED
25 It’s out of this world? ISS
26 (blank clue) SOFA
33 “That clock never rings!” TECHNEWSROUNDUP
48 Googling home improvement might take you there EHOW
52 Where Pierre’s games go, vis-a-vis la table SUR
56 Handegg issue CTE
57 Bygone South Parker CHEF
60 Mega gun BUSTER
65 The mother of all Plants? REM
66 Player in Essen, maybe HERR
67 PC maker ASUS
68 Podracer ANI
69 Titular dolphin ECCO
70 CTRL-Y REDO
71 Pox epicenter PAX
72 Ion cannon effect STUN
73 Light bike locale TRON
74 Recent highlight, briefly TOTD

Down
1 Blue X-Man BEAST
2 It may be A, B, or C USBCABLE
3 _ Wonders SEVEN
4 The Dominator HASEK
5 Smith and associates AGENTS
6 Utility garment KILT
7 _ me, Mario! ITSA
8 Computing platforms OSES
10 Satisfy (to say) SUFFICE
11 They get you in the game ANTES
12 Poxes COLDS
29 CS sniper AWP
33 River BG TNE
40 DJ Pretzel locale OCREMIX
44 Shoryuken, for example UPPERCUT
51 Smart computer WATSON
52 Common game currency SCRAP
53 A student athlete? UTENA
57 Treasure repository CHEST
58 Science unit prefix HECTO
59 Green blade? FROND
60 Simpson imp BART
61 Account USER
62 Account elevator? SUDO

Looks like the hint for 26 across got dropped. Oops. I can’t remember what I had for that one. I’m suspicious I uploaded an earlier version of the file, because given that first and last letter, I probably would have gone with SODA and made a joke about either gamer fuel or Scott’s weak throat.

10

Mr. Pwanson collected and analyzed a bunch of crossword data. Turns out a prominent crossword editor was up to some major shenanigans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHfK8EUIzg

2 Likes
11

Oh yeah. I briefly saw this headline awhile ago, but didn’t look into it further. Will watch the video to get the scoop.

12

Good talk. I also love that there’s a CSV conference. Because of course there is.

1 Like
13

Play it here.

14

The NYT pays puzzle authors more for Sundays than the rest of the days. Makes sense, but I never thought about it before.

Puzzles Size Published 1 – 2 Published 3+
Monday – Saturday 15 × 15 $500 $750
Sunday 21 × 21 $1,500 $2,250

If they had one full-time crosswordist doing all of them, those rates come to $350,000 a year. Wonder how much Will Shortz gets paid.

https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/submissions/crossword

15

I hit 365 days on my NYT crossword streak.

Would have been like 11 months ago, but I missed a day for no reason. It’s not like I had anything going on in May 2020!

3 Likes
16

I just learned about the Indie 500. The most recent theme is science. They have previous years’ packs for free too!