Or maybe the future of antitrust law in the US. What’s at stake? Oh, nothing much - just the future of the internet. It hurts the community as a whole, far more than any bad cropping of a puzzle ever could.The first big trial of the modern Big Tech antitrust movement is here: On September 12, the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Google’s search engine monopoly begins. The crossword community is a brilliant group of people they’re clever and hardworking and constantly innovating.Īnd it sucks to see some members of the community take advantage of others. I love shouting out smart clues by constructors, not only so other people can enjoy the wit and wordplay, but so that the right person gets the proper credit. If that’s what is happening here - and Evan makes a fairly compelling case - that’s not just a crime against crosswords, it’s a crime against fellow constructors. It was a poor choice, and a puzzle that never should have made it to solvers.īut as for stolen clues, that’s something else entirely. The second puzzle, the one with the unpleasant pattern, doesn’t deserve the same benefit of the doubt. Sure, it made the crossword nigh-unsolvable, but there’s no malice there. Now, the first puzzle I posted was silly. Evan’s keen eye has caught more than a few questionable examples of clues that seem to have been pilfered wholesale or altered slightly by Vox constructors. They’re also founded in defending the work of fellow constructors. His criticisms are never unfair or mean-spirited on the contrary, they’re founded in trying to make the puzzle better by pointing out poor choices. He’s not doing it to make his own puzzles look better by comparison as a top-flight constructor, he doesn’t need to. ![]() No, Evan has been dunking on the Vox crossword for what feels like forever. This unfortunate grid was published by Vox, but it was later deleted, as reported on Twitter by constructor Evan Birnholz:Įvan is an avid follower of the Vox crossword, but not because he’s a fan. Yeah, you noticed I didn’t say “all crossword venues.” ![]() Good lord.)īut in reality, the vast majority of crossword venues won’t publish puzzles so undermined by careless choices. (Unless you’re checking out r/crossword or reading Rex Parker’s blog, where they find so-called crossword indignities by the dozens. Granted, these are far rarer in the major outlets. No, sometimes, a crossword is harmed by crummy fill or an abundance of nonsense abbreviations or numerous Naticks formed by crossing obscure words with other obscure words. They’re not always so obvious and clumsy, though. Good luck figuring out which across word is clued by “mesake of a ed ratio” or one of the many other mangled clues along the left-hand side of the puzzle. Look at it! They cropped all four sides of the puzzle in order to fit the available space. ![]() There are numerous ways people can transgress against the noble crossword, harming both the body and the spirit of the crossword itself.įor instance, check out this picture of a crossword from The Los Angeles Times, republished in a local newspaper, which was shared on reddit: You might think it’s over the top to shudder every time someone promises a crossword but publishes a crisscross instead.īut it’s true. “Crimes against crosswords? Isn’t that a bit dramatic?”
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