I have always wondered (just once in a while) how crossword puzzle-makers set about to make crossword puzzles. If you stop and think about it, there’s more than just picking out some words that intersect conveniently like they do in a Scrabble game. There’s some sort of guild rule that says the black separating squares have to be laid out in a balanced, symmetrical pattern within the puzzle.
Now I could understand some people having the patience and cranial tendency to carefully craft a crossword puzzle in a week or two. But the rate that they are turned out – by the dozens every day – indicates a trade-secret that hastens the construction. They are not only used in daily newspapers (who buy them from a news syndicate, therefore some duplication in several papers), but in various magazines and in paperback books that are entirely filled with a couple of hundred puzzles.
Personally, I have never met nor even heard of anyone who creates crossword puzzles. Maybe they’re not allowed out during daylight hours, I don’t know. But I am curious about how long it takes a pro to make a new puzzle from scratch. And I’d be interested to find out just what sort of formula they use to slap one together so that it lines up just right with those symmetrical squares. I tried running a Google search for “How to make a crossword puzzle” and all I got was 1,150,000 links to computer programs that do it for you. That’s great. I can make a puzzle now if I wanted to. I don’t want to. But it still doesn’t answer my questions.
I’m afraid that the craft of creating crosswords from scratch will soon die out much like that of creating ornamental ceiling plaster. Not only will computers be taking over the task, but people aren’t solving crosswords as much anymore. Have you noticed that the numbers of dedicated books in the drug store magazine racks has diminished? There used to be a dozen or more choices to purchase. Now there are only about four to choose from. And the skill level of them is noticeably lower. Why is that? Funny you should ask, because I think I have the answer.
The big deal now in casual puzzling is this Japanese number puzzle game called Sudoku. Using just the ten basic digits, they’re another form of mental challenge. But I believe that the real reason that it’s taking over from crosswords is directly related to the recent collapse of the public school system. Children are not being taught much of anything any more and two glaring shortcomings are vocabulary skills and spelling. Most people under the age of 30 are seriously deficient in the range of their vocabulary and they just cannot do a decent crossword anymore. Thus the dumbing down of the crossword difficulty being published nowadays. But they can all remember ten basic digits, zero through nine. So here comes Sudoku.
And here we go to check out this equipment for today. I’ll go get the coffee started. I can count the scoops needed.
