Subject: Fully Crossed CW Challenge - COMPLETE
Posted by: spanishliz
Date: Jul 29 19
As the Lounge's Anniversary Month nears its end, and by popular demand, it's time for a new crossword challenge!
What we are looking for this time is a dozen "American-style" crosswords. What's that you ask?
A fully-crossed (American-style) crossword is one in which every letter in the completed grid is part of two answers, one Across and one Down. There are no 'unchecked' letters. Here is a recent example.
When constructing such a puzzle, it is important to double and triple check to ensure that every word in the grid has a clue, as words will 'fill in' in one direction as you enter clues in the other.
To keep it interesting, we'll ask for at least six of the puzzles to be in a category other than General.
There's no need to "claim" anything, just get your puzzle(s) online and post them in this thread when they are.
Have fun!
Completed Puzzles (12/12):
1. OK I Can Do This - 1nn1
2. Crossing Words #2 - zorba_scank
*3. Music Box (51) - Pollucci19
4. Double Crossed - Leith90
*5. Personally, Every Letter is a Winner - Bernie73
*6. The World We Live In 19 - 1nn1
*7. I've Got the Music in Me - CmdrK
*8. That's Entertainment - Pollucci19
9. Fully Crossed - Creedy
10. Topic Blender #53 - CmdrK
*11. Crossed Animals - Creedy
*12. Double Crossed: At the Movies - Leith90
*Asterisked crosswords are in categories other than General (and we need six of those!)
Posted by: spanishliz
Date: Jul 29 19
As the Lounge's Anniversary Month nears its end, and by popular demand, it's time for a new crossword challenge!
What we are looking for this time is a dozen "American-style" crosswords. What's that you ask?
A fully-crossed (American-style) crossword is one in which every letter in the completed grid is part of two answers, one Across and one Down. There are no 'unchecked' letters. Here is a recent example.
When constructing such a puzzle, it is important to double and triple check to ensure that every word in the grid has a clue, as words will 'fill in' in one direction as you enter clues in the other.
To keep it interesting, we'll ask for at least six of the puzzles to be in a category other than General.
There's no need to "claim" anything, just get your puzzle(s) online and post them in this thread when they are.
Have fun!
Completed Puzzles (12/12):
1. OK I Can Do This - 1nn1
2. Crossing Words #2 - zorba_scank
*3. Music Box (51) - Pollucci19
4. Double Crossed - Leith90
*5. Personally, Every Letter is a Winner - Bernie73
*6. The World We Live In 19 - 1nn1
*7. I've Got the Music in Me - CmdrK
*8. That's Entertainment - Pollucci19
9. Fully Crossed - Creedy
10. Topic Blender #53 - CmdrK
*11. Crossed Animals - Creedy
*12. Double Crossed: At the Movies - Leith90
*Asterisked crosswords are in categories other than General (and we need six of those!)
41 replies. On page 1 of 3 pages. 1 2 3
havan_ironoak
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This is tougher than it sounds but you're on. Any rules as to what percentage of boxes or clues need be "on topic" for the categorized ones? Reply #1. Jul 29 19, 10:03 PM |
spanishliz
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Tough, but fun eh? :) I hadn't really thought of a per centage for the themed puzzles, but shall we say 65-70% on topic? We can revise that a bit perhaps, either down or up as the puzzles come in and we see how folk are doing with it. Remember, even really simple words like "and" and "the" can be fitted into whatever topic you are writing about, if you are clever with your clues. Reply #2. Jul 29 19, 10:12 PM |
| havan_ironoak
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I had a puzzle in the works that I thought might be made to fit the challenge with a bit of work but it would require some major reworking. I think I'll submit that one as is and start fresh with this challenge in mind. Reply #3. Jul 30 19, 12:03 AM |
1nn1
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I have spoken to spanishliz about this challenge and as I would like to play (as this type of CW is not my strong point), I will not be editing any crosswords submitted for this challenge (but I will be editing others). So please mark your quiz in the Editor's box if your crossword is indeed for the challenge. Thanks Reply #4. Jul 30 19, 12:59 AM |
Creedy 
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I'd like to give it a go, but in the category General. If it's already filled, no worries. Reply #5. Jul 30 19, 3:11 AM |
| spanishliz
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It's a good idea to start fresh I think. Looking forward to seeing all of your efforts. Reply #6. Jul 30 19, 6:21 AM |
| spanishliz
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Here is the first one, from 1nn1: https://www.funtrivia.com/crossword/play.cfm?gid=6633 Hope you don't mind me posting it for you! Reply #7. Aug 01 19, 9:15 PM |
| 1nn1
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Thanks SpanishLiz. Appreciated for editing and posting. It was easier than I thought it would be but still harder than the 'conventional' CW. The proof-reading to ensure you have every clue listed is very time-consuming and I still missed one! Despite double-checking. I think I couldget to like this style of CW... in time Reply #8. Aug 02 19, 4:19 AM |
moonraker2
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Nice work 1nn1. I was tempted to spend time on the challenge, and in fact did make progress on a themed crossword. However, my aim was to keep the answers 100% related to the subject, and whilst I was close, could not reach the target on my initial attempt. Reply #9. Aug 02 19, 2:45 PM |
| 1nn1
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I speak here as a Crossword author not an editor. With themed CW, it is very difficult to get 100% clues on theme. moonraker2 and Pollucci19 are the only two I know who can reproduce this requirement consistently. Both favour the British format which is not a criticism. With the American/Fully crossed format, you have a very tight grid and with this format it is very much how letters rather than words fit together. Getting themes together in such a format is challenging. getting one without fillers would be very difficult (I will not say impossible as this is yet to be proven). Whilst FT CWs allows a few liberties that 'national newspapers' do not, I think most FT serial authors set their own standards, Whilst I try to avoid prefixes, suffixes and acronyms if I can, to get this CW out I had to use a suffix (which I abhor) and two acronyms ( which I barely tolerate). At least I did not have to resort to airport codes (Shudder) for Burkina Faso cities or other such remote places (BTW , the capital is Ouagadougou and the airport code is OUA which is very useful in this sort of CW). It will be interesting to see how the regular British-format authors cope with the requirements of this sort of CW. It was one of the reasons I wanted to participate in this challenge as a player not an editor. Reply #10. Aug 02 19, 6:03 PM |
| zorba_scank
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Here’s mine. I didn’t think I could do it, but I’m so glad I tried. https://www.funtrivia.com/crossword/play.cfm?gid=6636 Reply #11. Aug 03 19, 12:27 AM |
pollucci19
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Music Box (51) makes its debut https://www.funtrivia.com/crossword/play.cfm?gid=6638 Reply #12. Aug 03 19, 6:24 AM |
agony
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As neither an author nor an editor of crosswords, but just a player, I much prefer this style, so I'm looking forward to playing all of these. Reply #13. Aug 03 19, 6:52 AM |
| spanishliz
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The puzzle by pollucci19 is the first "not General" one of the challenge, being in Music. Reply #14. Aug 03 19, 7:11 AM |
CmdrK
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Well, now I won't have to tie up my weekend working on a music CW. Thanks, mate! :) Reply #15. Aug 03 19, 12:12 PM |
| 1nn1
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The collective requirement is for six quizzes to be "other than General" All six of these could be Music crosswords. Go for it. Reply #16. Aug 03 19, 2:11 PM |
| spanishliz
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As 1nn1 says, go for it! I purposely made that requirement vague enough to allow for more than one in any of the "other" categories. Reply #17. Aug 03 19, 3:47 PM |
leith90
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Just wondering about the 'fillers'. I have played some CWs (in puzzle magazines) that might only have 10 or so answers that actually fit the 'theme' of their CW. To me it seems a cop-out and I would prefer the majority of the answers to fit the bill. Does FT have an unwritten rule about the amount of fillers allowed in a grid? Reply #18. Aug 04 19, 6:00 AM |
| spanishliz
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There isn't really a rule about fillers, but if I see something submitted to a specific topic with more "general" words and clues than specific ones, I'd probably move it to General. As you have noted, newspaper (and other) themed puzzles often have only a few words/clues that are fully on-theme. With that in mind, I'm happy to say that there's absolutely no need for every clue/word to be on-theme, just as many as possible. Always remember, too, that they way you write the clue can make almost any word fit a theme. A completely general puzzle can become a Brain Teaser with cryptic clues. Reply #19. Aug 04 19, 7:03 AM |
| Creedy
|
Mine has been (re)submitted to the General category. I used the same template and it was challenging, to say the least. One of the hardest challenges I've done anywhere on this site. When it was sent back to put in a missing clue, and alter one other clue, it was like opening Pandora's box. I kept altering the whole thing and couldn't stop. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got. Finally did the entire thing again from scratch. In the meantime, I've had a house full of eight screaming, fighting, crying, laughing, completely destructive, horribly MESSY kids and their parents. In the middle of it all, the parents threw a birthday party for one of them. I think the crossword saved my sanity. I also think a Hercules Bomber has dropped a weapon of mass destruction on the house. Reply #20. Aug 04 19, 7:34 PM |
41 replies. On page 1 of 3 pages. 1 2 3
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