Whilst it's not of paramount importance, the number of 'plays' on each crossword appears to have broken down. The two most recent ones published show 0 plays, whilst others are not increasing when played.

Worked fine when I first tested, but now it won't submit on either of two laptops. Firefox on both, slightly different versions. Win7 Home Premium on one, Win 10 on the other.

Hi Terry

I love the new crossword format but can't use it. I'm having some difficulty with it which I think is related specifically to my tablet.

The keyboard covers the lower half of the grid so I can't fill in the bottom row of clues. Is there a way for me to tap the keyboard on and off? Or is there something you can do your end to help me?



Android version 6.0.1 Tablet Nexus 7

Browsers, puffin, Firefox, and chrome

The above image is "mobile view", when I switch to "desktop view" the keyboard disappears so I can see the grid but still can't fill it in.

Google no longer offers updates and support for this tablet so I don't think I can update anything this end.

Any help would be appreciated but I understand if it's not possible to fix.

Thanks.

The new crossword format is terrific!!

Unfortunately, my difficult daily challenge today expected me to play a crossword with a missing answer field... Oh well, you can't win them all!

I updated Firefox to the latest version on the Windows 10 laptop, crosswords still won't submit.

Firefox Windows 10 laptop works perfectly for me.

Wanna trade? I'm on v56.0 of Firefox, same for you?

57.0.2 (64 bit)

Would still love to be able to delete by using the 'delete' button as opposed to the 'backspace'.

Also didn't we used to be able to jump to the next answer box by using the Tab button? Or am I thinking of somewhere else. Would like it back if it was here

We didn't have the tab feature previously and I have requested it be added to the new format. Not sure if that will happen now.

The new interface is a great improvement over the previous version.

Did you report this problem to someone? If not what crossword?

Hmmm interesting, firefox on windows 10 here works fine too.
57.0.2 most recent update.

My guess is that there's some common add-on, virus program, etc on both your laptops interfering with the game?

Can you try disabling other stuff on your laptop to see if anything works?

I think there is a way to start firefox with all add-ons disabled, for testing.

My laptop is fine (Windows 10 Firefox 57.0.2) - it was only seekernym who had an issue. Well, this issue, at least. Possibly related to V 56.0? But I never had trouble with any previous versions, so something else is likely the issue.

Hmmm interesting, firefox on windows 10 here works fine too.
57.0.2 most recent update.

My guess is that there's some common add-on, virus program, etc on both your laptops interfering with the game?

Can you try disabling other stuff on your laptop to see if anything works?

I think there is a way to start firefox with all add-ons disabled, for testing.[/quote]


I only use two add-ons, neither of which I'd be willing to go without to play a crossword. That said, I do want to know what the problem is if it's on my side.

I did notice that for some reason I'm on the 32 bit version of Firefox, so I plan to uninstall and do a fresh install of the 64 bit version, testing crosswords as I go. Probably not until the weekend, will let you know how it goes.

Terry,

I didn't report it at the time but I have since sent the author a correction note.

I played Crossword of the Week, "All Kinds of Everything (2)" and did it entirely in Standard Mode (no Easy) -- but was given the 200-point COTW bonus instead of the 400 (which is what it normally awards for completing the Weekly Crossword without help).

Also, on the completion screen, there's this little bit of gobbledygook at the end of the option to compliment the crossword author: Like something? Send a compliment! wcongr

The new crossword interface seems to have been ironed out. Can we talk about rewards for crossword authors?

What rewards would you suggest?

I'd like to see us get points as quiz authors do. And I'd like us to get a piece of the pie (so to speak) in the Author's Kitchen. I'd like to see all of this retroactive to when we started. I realize that some crossword authors would be inundated with ingredients and recipes from the Kitchen, so maybe one ingredient and recipe for previous puzzles and five ingredients and a recipe for each puzzle put online going forward.

Recipes and ingredients were never retroactive for quizzes. :s

I thought a quiz was only worth three ingredients. then again, I have so many that I don't need that I don't really notice how many new ones arrive each time.

I don't tend to notice either, but we're probably in the minority.
That said, if this sort of stuff were retroactive, it would mean the game is over for a lot of people. Kind of saps the point out of accumulating if everything just becomes automatically accumulated.

Right, because quiz authors were awarded them from the start of the Author's Kitchen. Crossword authors weren't included in the Kitchen or in getting points for writing. And yes, you get 5 ingredients for a published quiz. The point is that crosswords have never had an equal status with quiz authoring; have only had little status, really. Right now there are more badges for playing crosswords than there are for authoring them. And the 3 authoring badges are all we get.

It's fun to put together a crossword and have people enjoy it, but altruism aside, if it's important enough to make the home page of FT, it should be rewarded.

A big part of this is that for a long time, crosswords were restricted to certain authors.

Their equivalent at this point would likely be photo quizzes of which there are three badges available (license to shoot badgelet, TRIC Z badgelet, and Executive Author badge).



You should see the imbalance for quiz-writing vs. quiz playing.


I agree that crossword authors should get more rewards, by all means, but our creation numbers give a lot away as to why there's been little movement on that side of things. We currently have four editors for crosswords across all twenty categories (to the twenty-five in the quiz side).

I'm just not sure if just piling more badges on people is the incentive as it likely just means that the people who enjoy crossword writing keep on doing what they would already be doing. Then again, I don't really have a solution and maybe I'm rambling and maybe I should just go to bed.