Hi. I was wondering...why are so few crosswords added? Some days there are none added. Maybe you could add a few more editors to that department.

I think it has been said before somewhere on these forums that editing crosswords is more time consuming than editing quizzes, due both to the format and that they are still a fairly new thing here, so even the more experienced crossword authors can easily make mistakes that need to be corrected.

I think it has also been said, that because of that, not all the quiz editors WANT to edit crosswords, or they simply don't have the time to.

Plus, crossword editing is TOUGH! There are not a lot of AUTHORS who want to WRITE the quizzes, so it doesn't matter how many EDITORS there are. If there aren't enough good crosswords going online, you don't need that many editors. I'm sure they edit crosswords a LOT, especially SilverMoonSong, who SPECIALIZES in crosswords, not quizzes, but so few crosswords are actually well written their first go-round. I'm sure a lot of crosswords are checked every day, but only a few every once and a while get online. They are hard to write, and once you think you have it perfect, you need to find a way to ADD a few more "filler" words to make it all work. It is a tough job to write and edit these! It takes time!

We don't generally get a lot of crosswords through the queues - not anything like quizzes.
And yes, they can be very time consuming to edit.

lol, I do know you probably get most of your crosswords from Soozy_Woozy. lol. She makes a LOT of crosswords in quite a fast time!

Yes, in my categories I'll see maybe three or four crosswords submitted a week, if that, whereas it is not unusual to see over a hundred quizzes in that time.

Crosswords or quizzes, it doesn't matter: you edit them all so wonderfully , Agony.



No, as it happens, I don't have a new quiz anytime imminent - what suspicious minds some people have. :-)

I always start playing a crossword, but I can never complete them. And even though there are 1017 crosswords online, it is still hard to find one that interests you. I guess we are spoiled by the nearly 90,000 quiz options. I wish that more people wrote crosswords. I wonder why they don't.

They are very difficult to write and the option is only available to our better quiz writers.

Ohhh...so all authors can't write crosswords? That makes sense. I wondered why so few (relatively speaking) chose to create crosswords! So, I guess there is no way to become a crossword author before you become a quiz author. :-( I wouldn't have minded trying to create a crossword, but I definitely don't want to try to write a quiz.

Thanks for clarifying, Skunkee.

It is real real tough making a crossword. I have written many quizzes but i am struggling to make even one crossword and I have finally given up! Crossword authors deserve a lot of appreciation for their effort, it is hard work!

What are the criteria to become a crossword author anyway? I would like to try my hand on them, but I'll need to write more quizzes first (got 2 online right now). It would however be nice to know when you can make crosswords (or, if it's a manually added ability, what the minimum criteria are before you can apply).

WesleyCrusher,

This might answer your crossword question: http://www.funtrivia.com/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post857833.

It says a bit, but not that much - I was rather wondering about a rough numerical approximation, i.e. if you consistently submit quizzes that go online on first try, approximately how many would you need to qualify? It would make quite a difference for the availability of crosswords on the site whether this number is 5 or 50...

Wesley, that answered it perfectly.
Some authors will take 100 quizzes, if they get corrections for EVERY quiz once or twice per quiz, and do not submit great quizzes.

Some will take 30 quizzes, if they RARELY get a correction notice, and they consistently send in great quizzes.

Just keep writing... You will get the chance eventually!

Plus, there are a LOT of quiz authors out there who have the ability to write crosswords, but do not know it.

I don't know when I was allowed. There is no note or message saying you can. Just keep checking back at the crossword page until you can.

Some authors will never be able to write a crossword, even with 500 quizzes. If they cannot write a good quiz, and the always have correction notices, editors will NOT let them become a crossword author.

I thought that rather than there being a specific cut off point - ie this person has 10 flawless quizzes ergo they get a little bonus package, such as creating crosswords and submitting more than one quiz at a time - the editors give that package when they feel it is deserved. And that criterion is likely to differ from person to person.

I will use myself as an example here if you don't mind, I have had many quizzes go through the first time of asking, but, amongst those quizzes - there have been some good quizzes and there have been some which border on almost shameful . Whilst the editor would have no reason to reject those quizzes as they are grammatically sound etc. it can still feel like a very ordinary quiz. So I think the criteria differs.

I, like Salami, didn't realise I was allowed to create crosswords immediately, I just happened to click on it one day and I was allowed.

If this is wrong however, I'm sure one of the editors will correct me

Something else to consider is willingness to work with editors.
While an editor cannot grant the ability to create crosswords if the system hasn't already awarded it, he or she can disallow submissions.
Quiz writers who fight making changes every step of the way and who delete or abandon quizzes, rather than make requested changes, are seen as poor risks. It takes a lot of effort to edit a crossword (and a quiz for that matter) and editors are reluctant to invest time in players who may not see the process through to completion.

It's a combination of automatic "so many quizzes, X quality, online" and editorial judgement, and that is why we won't give out a number. If we were to just give you a number of necessary quizzes online, it wouldn't show the intangibles that the editors are well aware of, but which don't show up in the quiz.

Author A has 15 quizzes online, 11 of which had one rejection note before going online. Author B has the same - 15 quizzes, 11 rejections. Author A has been trying new things, and has never had to be told the same thing more than once - all the rejections are for new issues, which hadn't occurred in earlier quizzes. Author B has to be told the same thing, over and over again - spellcheck your quiz, put titles in quotation marks, etc. He finally got a few online first try because all his quizzes are on exactly the same subject, and he's finally figured out that subcategory.

Anyone just looking at stats won't see any difference between those authors, but there is an enormous difference in how likely they are to be able to write a successful crossword. Author A will probably do a fairly good job right off, and will understand and deal with any issues that arise. Author B will probably never manage it.

One thing you should be aware of- we editors don't know the exact formula ourselves for when crossword writing is allowed, nor is it a privilege we specifically allow. It's something Terry has programmed into the system, and only he knows the secrets

Just a small request:
When a player gets a quiz online they receive a "Congratulations your quiz..."
note from the editor in their mail. There is also a "quiz history" in the edit. This makes it easy if you wish to contact the editor about any issues/problems with the quiz.
If you are fortunate enought to get a crossword online at the first time of asking (ie without a C/N) it is not always clear which editor has checked it as you do not receive notificaton in your mailbox. Some editors drop you a line to say it has gone online but not all do. It is not a huge problem but there have been a couple of occasions when I didn't know who to contact. Could a standard "Congrats..." message be introduced for crosswords?

I'll mention it to the others.

Thanks SM :-)

The problem is, the notification template for a quiz being placed online is automatically generated when we put a quiz online. There isn't one generated for crosswords, so we would have to send a personal note. Since there isn't a link for one of those on a CW template, this is something that might get missed, but we can try!

...and thankyou also Skunkee :-)

I just got the ability to create crosswords. They are a lot harder to create than quizzes.