ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Does anybody really think the crossword is going to disappear? Does anybody really think that with the folding of some venues that run puzzles (be it on-line or print or both) that crosswords are going to cease existing? If you read this article from the Times yesterday you’d probably think so. You’d think that as these markets are closing, the crossword would be doomed because they’ve “historically languished” on the Web.
While it is true that some puzzles are disappearing from newspapers, magazines and websites, are we really to believe that they cannot thrive on the Internet? I would ague that crosswords have gained popularity with the Internet. Probably due, at least in part, to the fact that you can solve any major newspaper’s crossword on-line, and in many cases for free. The New York Times has not only gained an even larger audience for their puzzles, they’ve also printed money with their on-line service.
The article’s author, Douglas Quenqua, argues that crosswords are unlikely to do well on the Web for two reasons: First, the average age for solvers is, supposedly, “well within the AARP membership requirements,” (and presumably this age group does not use the Internet). Second, paper and pencil is part of the puzzle solving experience. Could he have used two more tired stereotypes of puzzle people?
According to Dean Olsher’s latest book, “From Square One,” an estimated 63 million do crosswords “at least occasionally.” And, yeah 65 and older is one of the biggest demographies of crossworders. Taking a look at this latest U.S. Census shows roughly 35% the 65+ group are on the Internet. (I hate this demography, by the way. A 65 year old is completely different from a 75 and an 85 year old. But, I guess if they aren’t bringing in tax money, they’re all bunched into the same bracket in the government’s eyes.) What Quenqua totally ignores and Olsher points out is that solvers in the 35-44 year range make up practically the same number of solvers as the 65+ group. 85% of 30-49 year olds are on the web. But even more telling from the Census figures is that all age groups show a massive increase in Internet usage over recent years, and it seems reasonable to predict that this trend will continue.
The argument that puzzles cannot be delivered through the Internet because people prefer to solve using pencil and paper just doesn’t make sense. Just because you find a puzzle on the Internet doesn’t mean that you can’t print it out and solve it on paper. I offer three ways to access puzzles on this site: two of which allow a puzzle to be printed out (FWIW: certainly many people solve it in Java according to my site statistics. Now, I know many of you choose to do it in Across Lite. Just out of curiosity, how many of you print it out from there? Feel free to leave your answers in the comments section.) My guess is that the people who originally got into crosswords with pencil and paper just cannot imagine any other way to solve it. It will be interesting to see how the millions of iPhone/BlackBerry crossword app users feel once the new format for digital distibution of puzzles takes place.
Of course, the money quote in the article came from my boy Rex Parker. He sez the main reason for non on-line solving is that “people don’t bring their laptops to the bathroom.” Jeez, I’m sure Rex talked this guy’s ear off about loads more interesting things, but it’s a shame that this one-liner is all he gets. FWIW: I do indeed bring my laptop to the bathroom, though not necessarily to do a puzzle.
This is just a continuation of the same tired Luddite argument: that change is a bad thing. We’ve heard this from time immemorial. The phonograph was supposed to stop people from seeing live music. The radio was going to going to stop newspapers. Television was going to kill the radio. Cable was going to kill movie theaters. Now the Internet is supposedly going to kill all of media entirely. In every one of these instances, the new innovation didn’t make everyone’s life worse, instead it enhanced them. It made it easier for people to enjoy the things they enjoyed in the first place This is the way of the world: change is a good thing! This is all about making people’s lives better. This is all about convenience, and convenience is going to trump everything else.
I know you’re going to say: that’s easy for you to say, Brendan. You have your blog and you’ve got an outlet for all your puzzles. What about all the other puzzlemakers? Where are they going to post their wares?
To which my response is: it will be just a matter of time until the only way to get puzzles is digitally and all of us puzzlemakers are on-line exclusively. Probably, a goodly majority of them for free. I can see the puzzleholics out there cannot wait.
I print from Across Lite. I prefer a consistent formatting for all my printed puzzles.
I read the question about printing just as my 1998 inkjet black-only printer finished sputtering out the last clues of the puzzle. When I print, I do it from Across-Lite because I can change the black squares to light grey and save ink.
From the printer to a clip board. Pencil and paper always. I’m 53, but got serious about crossword puzzles when I was in my late 30’s. Doing the puzzles on-line is a totally different experience,somehow just not as much fun.
I print from Across Lite – since it gives me the option to format the page in a southpaw-friendly format (i.e., grid in the SW corner of the page).
BTW – I wonder how many others will take a look at the blank grid and immediately notice 1) its asymmetry and 2) its similarity to the black square pattern of the 7/10/09 NYT. (It looks like you started with the blank grid and removed seven cheaters and one other square, dropping the word count from 64 to 62 but no doubt making for a MUCH more challenging fill.)
I see you borrowed (were inspired by?) Mr. Krozel’s recent layout – can you talk about that at all? Do you like the asymmetric grid?
As for your poll, I use Across Lite and print from there about 50% (for carrying around to solve during boring times).
I have been doing crosswords for 30 years, since I was a kid. Back then, there was no such thing as online crosswords. I did the newspaper puzzle, I subscribed to Games, I bought the Dell puzzle magazines. Pencil and paper, eventually pen and paper.
Then I signed up for the NYT’s online puzzle service five years ago. ZOMG! Not only the NYT crossword, but a zillion others available in Across Lite? The folks at the old NYT forum pointed me towards Will Johnston’s Puzzle Pointers page and links to all sorts of other solid crosswords. I immediately started doing multiple puzzles a day, on screen via Across Lite. Why would I want to print out the puzzle? It’s not pencilling in squares that I enjoy—it’s answering the clues and working out all the interconnected words in the grid that I like. It seems silly to waste the paper to print out a puzzle. I do paper-bound puzzles in books and magazines, sure, but mostly I prefer online crosswording.
That’s cool. Three Across Lite downloaders with a printout. Hey, I printout the end of the week bears all the time!
(This is a dual response to Leo and Eric) I saw the grid from Friday and I felt there were too many cheaters. I wanted to redo the grid with substantially less squares. Even though the SW is even more wide-open than Joe’s puzzle, I’m disappointed I couldn’t lose at least three plus more squares in the NE quadrant. But, time pressure called and I had to deal with what I had for enough time to post it. (Plus it was really too nice a weekend to spend it indoors filling in a 62-worder.)
See what I mean folks? Innovation (Across Lite + Internet forums) equals happier customers.
Also Amy nailed it in one sentence, which took me a whole rambling post to say: “It’s not pencilling in squares that I enjoy—it’s answering the clues and working out all the interconnected words in the grid that I like.”
Medium??? Hard as F—! Hardest BEQ I’ve done in recent memory. Not bad at all. Just hard.
You are right about my having talked the reporter’s ear off. I was surprised to find my bathroom quote used as it was, though I didn’t mind. Few people take their laptops to the bathroom, but smart phones … those are probably in people’s pockets and purses anyway. Maybe when more people do puzzles that way, my observation won’t be as apt.
Telling people to “get over it” where their attachment to pen/paper is concerned isn’t apt to go over well. Question isn’t really one of paper v. screen, but of integration v. separation. Puzzle is a part of virtually every daily paper. That’s free advertising for the form. It’s right there, mixed in with other diversions and news. It’s part of an experience. A ritual. Making people seek it out online, where they experience it separate from other diversions – that’s a massive hump to get over. Not for hardcore fans, but for casual solvers (and, more importantly, for those who aren’t but might become solvers). If people don’t have the puzzle in front of them every day, will it continue to be popular? It’s a serious question. Will is complacent on this issue because *his* puzzle isn’t going anywhere. I think the puzzle is So Tied to the newspaper that the death of newsprint (if it happens in a big way, as seems likely) poses bigger problems to the widespread popularity of the puzzle, down the road, than we likely realize.
I’m glad the reporter didn’t use much of what I said, and basically left you internet pioneers out of the equation. Gives me more to write about. I call dibs on all your future ideas about the future of crosswords. 🙂
rp
HOLY SHIT, BRENDAN! It was only after I left my comment that I saw Leo’s comment, studied the differences between your grid and Friday’s, and realized that (a) your puzzle was a 62-worder and (b) you knocked out a bunch of the black squares. You weren’t trying, as Joe Krozel was, to put in quasi-thematic material, and that loosening of constraints allowed you to get much livelier fill despite the lower word count. Change my rating from 4 stars to 4.5 stars. Or maybe 4.75.
I will always prefer paper although I do many more puzzles online as time has gone on. My typing stinks and only AcrossLite is kind to me.
Computers were supposed to kill books. Then for many years, the largest section of the books store was the Computer section.
Crosswords will live on[line], but Rex is right about how people will find them in the first place. We can discuss comics in a similar manner.
[I thought this was a medium and I was much faster than Rex for once. A good start to the week.]
PS Interesting article (and comments discussion) on endurance of print as the medium of choice for news: http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/04/print-is-still-king-only-3-percent-of-newspaper-reading-actually-happens-online/
Bonita? Bonito?
Did notice that the puzzle was assymetrical (duh!) and was going to post a sarky comment along the lines of: “So what is that a picture of?” But I see there was more to it than that. It’s an interesting paradigm shift, much lower word counts (at least than most regular themelesses, I do realise there are exceptions) but ditching the restriction of symmetrical blocks. Considering that constraint doesn’t (much) add to solving experience but is mostly there to increase the effort in constructing – which is counterbalanced by aforesaid lower word count… I’m waffling, what I’m trying to say is: “I’m all for it!” That and I wouldn’t want to even try and fill that in, nevermind all the dropdead gorgeous fill that litters this beastie… Can I up mine to a five.
On another tack… It wasn’t that hard. Mind you, I’m almost never even near Crosscan’s time, never mind a minute faster… And I’m usually 2-3+X Amy’s, guess this was one of those lucky days every duffer has… Though I had almost nothing in on the first pass, no long gimmies too, but almost everything just fell second time round, was great… I’ll be back over 20 on Wednesday, I promise!
65 years old Across Lite user who never uses paper and doesn’t even like paper puzzles anymore since I started doing them on my computer. Now when I’m finished, there’s no ugly smudges, erasures or bad attempts to write-over a wrong answer.
Today’s themeless was a joy and I say that despite the fact than my time was so slow. I see people here complaining about how hard it was and then see their times were way better yhan mine. Another reason why I needn’t enter the ACPT…
Although I’m 62 and have been doing crosswords my entire life, I now solve only on-screen with Across Lite. For years I didn’t bother with the Mon-Thurs NY Times because they were too trivial to be worth getting newsprint all over my writing hand. But since Across Lite appeared, I do the NYT Monday-Thursdays, too. I have a crossword retrieval program that gets going long before my mail program and browser start after morning boot-up, so I polish off 4 Across Lite puzzles every morning, finishing most mornings before the browser and mail programs are running.
I’m 35 and I print out via Across Lite.
I wish AL had an option that let me print out the puzzle at the same size it appears in the paper though: When I started using AL I discovered that my eye had learned whether a possible answer/word would fit the available boxes just by looking at the grid. AL’s grid is bigger than the NYT-in-print grid and I’m finding it stupidly difficult to re-learn that glance-to-know thing.
30, been doing puzzles of some kind all my life but “serious” crosswording only for the last 18 months. however, even before then i occasionally did crosswords in across lite as long ago as 1996-97. across lite is still my preferred way of doing any puzzle, but i’ll certainly make exceptions for beauties like patrick berry’s masterpieces, or diagramlesses, or other variety grids.
this one… medium, i think. i haven’t looked too hard yet at how it has changed (if at all) from the version i test-solved.
I do your puzzles online as I do most puzzles. The exceptions are the hard Saturday NYT & Newsday puzzles which I print out and co-solve with my wife.
I’ve always had sub-standard handwriting, partially due to being the only left-hander in my grade school class and the rest due to pure stubbornness about writing things 500 times for practice. So similar to Amy, it’s the completion of puzzles I enjoy and not looking at my chicken scratches.
I do pretty much all my puzzles in AL if they’re available in that format (CS, LAT, BEQ, Jonesin, AV/CR, WSJ, sunday Globe and Inky). Only ones I regularly do on paper are the NYT (because my dead-tree paper publishes it in syndication and I’m therefore not motivated to pony up $40 a year) and Gaffney’s contests.
Back to today — another fantastic puzzle! Your last three have all been right up my alley. The only minor disappointment was that I wasn’t able to add another BEQ-favored alt-band to my memory banks; I knew the country singer and, well, that was pretty much it for the music references (actually, the absence of one of those things-I-can-ONLY-get-from-the-crosses allowed me to fly a little on this one).
Loved cluing for 43A and 28D; missed 48A the first time through because EIGHTYONE didn’t fit and thought that clue was, well, probably not the best. And my initial reaction is that BONITO is the correct name for the fish, though I don’t doubt that BONITA is correct somewhere in the world as a regional variation.
I’m 43 and have been “seriously” solving puzzles for about 2 years. I always print them out and solve with pencil and paper. I think if I were a better solver, I would solve them online. As it is, harder puzzles can take me a long time to complete, so I like to have a printed version and pop in and out of it throughout the day. Sometimes I even keep it folded up in my pocket to solve wherever I might be!
I wish the LA Times had an Across Lite version, though. Printing from the aplet is kind of icky.
steve, the LAT does have an across lite version! you need to sign up for an account at cruciverb.com to get it, but it’s free.
Great job on the puzzle–particularly interesting to find BROMATE, although it would be more appropriately clued as “the oxyanion of element #35” (the true salt of bromine being bromide). Chemistry!
I’m in the 30-49 demographic (though not for much longer!), and print from AL. Although I prefer doing almost everything else online (especially things that involve typing, since I hate to hand-write), crossword solving isn’t one of those things. Two reasons I prefer to print from AL and solve on paper: (1) I can put the grid exactly where I want it relative to the clues, and (2) I can see all the clues at once. The single thing that drives me most nuts bout solving via applet or AL online is that I can’t see all the clues at once. (Is there a way around this that I just don’t know about?) However… I don’t like the aspect of having to handwrite answers in.
Acrostics, just the opposite. I stopped solving them entirely for a while because I was so bored with transferring letters back and forth. Once I discovered the NYT applet, I was back in love with acrostics with a vengeance. I haven’t solved an acrostic on paper since.
Amen.
My my, hey hey,
Crossword puzzles are here to stay,
Hey hey, my my,
Crossword puzzles will never die.
Online puzzles are bigger and better than ever. That’s where many of the solvers are today, and that’s the future. The economics still need to be worked out, so that puzzlemakers aren’t working for charity.
Fwiw, I used to solve most AcrossLite puzzles on the pc, but for the past six weeks I print about 90% of them and don’t use a timer. It’s rather freeing. For papers I subscribe to (Sunday NYT, LAT), I solve in the dead-tree editions.
One nice feature about the online versions of puzzles is that I can do it right here in my office, pretending I’m busy with actual work.
I rarely print the puzzle out from, so whenever I solve on paper it is in the actual newspaper. Finally, just as soon as the iPhone came out there was a crossword app, which is nice if you need a puzzle fix and you’re away from your computer.
Mark
At 27, I have been solving puzzles for most of my life and constructing for quite a few years. The puzzle won’t ever die. And the Internet won’t kill it, either.
However, there is something to be said about solving a puzzle in a newspaper. In fact, I get all my news online but the puzzle is one of the reasons why I still order a paper. I’m young and perfectly capable of adjusting to technological changes, but it’s just not the same.
I can remember watching my dad sitting at the table every night while he solved the puzzle. I’d come up behind him and try to answer what I could at that age. For me, crosswords represent a simple pleasure. They’ve been a way to relax at night, pass the time on car trips, or something to do while soaking up some sun. So much of the things we enjoy (TV, Internet, phones, games, etc.) come from electronical things. It’s nice to not always feel so attached to them. And a paper can be solved anywhere, even on a stormy day when the electricity goes out. That’s why I will always prefer a puzzle or game in it’s simple state, rather than its “new” electronic version.
Puzzles are loved too much to ever die. At times, I will solve online. But, if it’s a puzzle I can’t get in a paper and I’m really looking forward to solving it, then I always print it out. That’s just how I like to do it.
In my 50s and have been solving puzzles online since the NYT offered them; before that, on paper since I was a kid. I now have the double benefit of solving online while printing the puzzle on two pages for the FIL. Life just gets better!
Another very nice rejoinder to the easy NYT today, BEQ. Thanks. (and I particularly like your graphic, today – my sentiments exactly!)
terrific themeless. I like solving in across lite. Very straightforward. monetizing content: the great problem of our time.
All puzzles online – Across Lite – except Saturday and Sunday NYTs which get delivered; I sit back, relax and solve away on paper.
Not sure about the death of newsprint, but my weekend subscription to NYT will die if they don’t fix the second puzzle situation soon.
Aside, I thought video DID kill the radio star.
Eric –
You might be interested in my OmniDownload program: http://is.gd/1xouj You just double-click on the icon and it downloads all the puzzles for the current day in Across Lite format. You can also select which ones to download via the README file. I bring it up since you do the NYT syndicated puzzle, which this program also downloads to Across Lite format. It could also be useful for Steve (commenter below) since it does the LAT puzzle. It also (of course!) gets the BEQ puzzle on the relevant days.
So far: two satisfied customers. But I think this might be the type of thing that others would be interested in.
I’m not so sure that there aren’t casual solvers building up in the Twitterverse. Lord knows the parade of puzzle tweets seem to be going up.
How do people decide what books to read, TV to watch, music to listen to? I think the Internet if anything has afforded people to make up their own mind from a wider array of choices.
Hah. In the odd chance you didn’t know it, I was trying to “one-up” if you will, Joe Krozel’s New York Times puzzle from last Friday.
Thanks, Bob.
i have been completely spoiled by Across Lite. i hate doing them on paper, to the point where i won’t even download a pdf version of something and print it out. also hate embedded java versions like the LA Times’s, which i will do only in case of emergency
this puzzle was uneven. most of it was pretty good, very good even: fun, breezy, just challening enough…until i got to the NE, which was a f$%*ng train wreck. TIMBALS and MOSLEMS? oughta be a law against crossing alternates. even worse: you crossed them with some TV actor and a newspaper cartoonist.
also, i did get it easy enough, but “sets up a date” does not work for ASKS OUT, it seems to me. you ask out a person, but if you “set up” said person “as a date,” you are matchmaking.
Interesting. I have to fire up the browser to get the four Across Lite files, and if I don’t have breakfast before I do that, my wife will divorce me. Other than that, I like your style.
Interesting as well.
Yeah, the variety puzzles aren’t there yet in interactive form. And seeing as each one of those is specific to that puzzle, I doubt we’ll see those interactive files soon.
Have you seen my handwriting/printing?
Okay Eric: I’ve been listening to This Heat today. You can store that one in yr. memory banks.
Hi, I print them out, prefer the portability. Plus, started doin them in the paper.
Bump that number up to three. (I’m guessing, let me give it a run this week, but from what I can gather, this looks boss.)
I wasn’t very good at Chemistry, at all.
I think I have a mental illness, because I only enjoy solving Acrostics on paper.
I believe Across Lite is the future, download it well and let it lead the way…
Helping people slack off at work since 1996!
Good to know.
That graphic made me laugh, too.
I’m 5 months shy of Medicare and I can’t remember the last time I used a pen and paper. The only time I print out puzzles for the clipboard is when I’m on a long international flight in case I don’t like the inflight triple feature. I might be a little prejudiced since I’ve been in the computer hardware business for more than 40 years, but that’s another war story.
Getting people to buy content has been a problem since day one.
I’m 49, do ’em all in Across Lite when possible…I like flying around the grid with the arrow keys and, in those cases where I just get stuck, I like the “Check” feature. I also get a kick out the “happy pencil” popup at the end. I also like keeping a digital archive of all the puzzles I do. Would like to be able to tag puzzles with info such as name of constructor, so that I could for example quickly pull up puzzles by a certain constructor or with a certain (non-bullshit) theme.
I also prefer to play chess online, even if my opponent is physically present…again, the extra features add lots of value (moves are automatically recorded, easy to work through alternative strategies, etc.)
I thought this puzzle was a medium, by my standards. Only real sticking point was north central area…never heard of a %#$&ing TIMBAL, didn’t know even French to recognize SOIE, and didn’t know Chip SANSOM (though familiar with the born loser).
@Alex…Thanks for sharing your download program, I look forward to trying it.
I was on a Trevor Horn (he was the Buggles) kick a few weeks ago. Great stuff.
Across Lite does spoil you, that’s for sure.
If you’ve ever seen me walking around town/on the subway/out shopping with Liz, chance are I’m filling in a puzzle I just printed out.
Glad to see that “Non-Bullshit Theme” is becoming part of the crossword vernacular.
I’m 25; any of the puzzles that I can do in under 10 minutes (Monday-Wednesday Times), I’ll do online and save the ink. Anything else, I like to print it out. But I love actually filling in a puzzle–especially the NYT Magazine one–letters glide across that paper stock.
My high school always had free copies of the New York Times, so I’d always grab the crossword and do it surreptitiously during class. I’ve never quite got over that habit.
And I love that over the years, it’s refined my handwriting!
I always print from Across Lite unless I’m on vacation or someplace where I don’t have access to a printer. I always time when I solve, and I’m significantly faster on paper, though I think I’m in the distinct minority there. I feel like I can always point the pencil exactly where I want to go when I’m on paper. I get pretty frustrated trying to translate where I want to go into the right keyboard commands when I’m solving online, kind of like running uphill. Plus the tournament is on paper, so I figure that’s how I should practice.
I didn’t realize, until I read Mr. Quenqua’s article yesterday, that the Atlantic Puzzler was going away. I’m seriously bummed about that. I’ve been solving that puzzle for over 30 years and it feels like losing an old friend.
Great BEQ puzzle today, by the way. I love the Monday Themeless idea.
I do the print-outs from ALite for my regular regimen (NYT, LAT, BEQ). I like ink-on-paper, complete portability, and printing a second copy for my spouse (M,T,W, Th). I’m using pencil in the Patrick Berry Masterpieces book because it seems like the answers should be erased and the book given to someone else (assuming I finish it in this lifetime). The thing is just too handsome to sit on a shelf.
I sense an addiction. Say it’s 6:45 P.M., and I’m finishing dinner at the Palace Kitchen in Seattle. Tom Douglas’ incredible Coconut Cream Pie never crosses my mind. An after dinner sip of that delicious Lagavulin single-malt, forget it. There’s just ifteen minutes till the puzzle is available! I’ve got to get home! Now! Saves me thousands.
Oh, I’m in the age 10 -100 demographic range.
Roughly 40 years of puzzling (I started the NYT in junior high) and I only print out the variety puzzles that can’t be done online (Cox/Rathvon et. al.). Count me as another who got back into acrostics through the applet.
On a side note, I vastly prefer Conceptis’ Calculodoku to Kenken because of the nicer applet.
Thanks for the reminder that I need to put something in the Tip Jar. I just started solving your puzzles last month and I’m looking forward to working through the backlog.
I don’t think I’m free to pass on the software program I use. It was written by Jim Lopushinsky and given to me by him. I’m typing his name here in case he Googles himself or already reads your blog and wants to make the program more widely available.
The crossings of “ASKS OUT” and “RIDE OUT” ; “WAS ONTO” and “YEARN TO” seemed kind of cheap, but otherwise I thought the fill was very solid. As Amy said above, though, Krozel had a reason for his asymmetrical grid, and yours seems kind of pointless (themeless).
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy doing the crossword. I’m a bit of a crossword whore.
After typing the above, I remembered that you are a bridge player, Brendan, in which case you may know the name Jim Lopushinsky, since he wrote the ACBLscor program. And speaking of bridge, will you be at the summer nationals in D.C.? I’ll try to find you and meet you if you are.
I posted this down below, but what the hey … I have a program that will download the interesting puzzles every day too, available here: http://is.gd/1xuE2 One advantage is that it downloads some puzzles not generally available in Across Lite format.
I’ll solve on-screen (AcrossLite) for early-week/easy puzzles (or if for some reason I don’t have a choice). For the harder ones, I definitely need to be able to see all the clues, so I print the puzzles out and carry them around on a clipboard. Hate hate hate the applet. With a passion. Don’t get me started.
I think it’s a shame that people are so resistant to paying for online content. There’s a FaceBook group of people all incensed because they think FB might start charging. Hell, I’d pay! It’s totally worth it to me! Same for news (and puzzles).
Oh, and I’m 44. PuzzleMom, who’s 64, hates AcrossLite and prefers the applet. (!!??!?) Although I think she’d rather solve on paper if she had the choice.
First, nice puzzle, interesting riff on the Saturday NYT grid.
Second (in response to Rex Parker and BEQ):
I think that if puzzles do move online they will become much more popular for the following reasons:
1. More online puzzles equals more free (good) puzzles: One reason that a lot of my friends and I’m sure others dislike crosswords is that they don’t do the good ones. If people were exposed to more high quality puzzles like the ones already online (see BEQ, Jones, Tausig, the Onion, Gaffney etc.) then they would know why people enjoy doing them in the first place. If more quality puzzles go online then more people (especially those who wouldn’t pay for a NYT) would be able to enjoy crosswords as they should be. I personally rarely solved a puzzle until I started getting the NYT for free on campus and started visiting the various blogs. If puzzles go outside of the paper then they will also be more accessible to younger solvers leading to many future addicts. Like most addictions once you have a taste of the good stuff it’s tough to stop.
2. The puzzles themselves would adapt to the internet: If the puzzles go online who knows what innovation might appear in the puzzle itself. We could have movies or audio files for clues or aspects of the internet could be integrated into puzzles. Plus the grid itself would be more timely since the time from puzzle to posting would be severely limited. So, moving to the internet would actually improve the solving experience and therefore increase its popularity.
3. The puzzles could work with social networks: Puzzles would spread much easier if people sent links via twitter and Facebook. If videos could go viral, it makes sense that a puzzle has the ability to go viral. Facebook groups (as well as blogs) would establish a connection between solver and constructor. Basically, if the puzzle is online it is easier to pass around than on paper. Right now as Brendan likes to allude to, many people don’t appreciate the fact that many different constructors with different styles write puzzles. However, by going online constructors can make their identity known. Thus, with their names tied heavily to the puzzle there is an incentive to write better puzzles and try to increase their appeal. The puzzle is both an intimate experience between solver and constructor as well as a personal battle to solve the puzzle. Facebook and Twitter has the capability to take that intimate experience and transform what is normally a solitary activity into a large social one. If this takes off then puzzles will be more popular.
A lot of times we don’t understand how beneficial these types of changes could be. I’d never trade in my iPod for Discman or an 8 track. (I might consider one for a record player though because vinyl is cool)
Who said you don’t learn nuthin’ from crosswords? Aaron’s learnt penmanship!
Yeah. I hope Hex land on their feet (something tells me they will).
Thanks, I think Themeless Monday is a winner.
I’m in that demographic range too!
Link to Conceptis?
Yeah, that corner was a little loose. But c’mon, at what price? Everything else was fairly dope, right?
Money, money, money. Is that all we’re going to talk about?
Whoa… what a missive. Let’s go point for point:
1. As with everything, there’s mountains of garbage for people to wade through in order to find the true diamond in the rough. How to get them here (or to the other quality puzzles), that’s the real question.
2. Agreed.
3. I agree that Twitter is an untapped market for promotion (and certainly passing a puzzle around the Twitterverse is easy). From my cursory review on TweetDeck people are certainly “group solving.”
I went through that “vinyl is cool” phase; even had the opp for one of my bands to release a big fat 12″ slab of vinyl, and wouldn’t ya know it DID sound better than emptythrees. But man nothing beats the convenience of iPods.
Somehow I now feel like a @#$%ing idiot for paying for the NYT puzzles online. At least I am FIENDISH and split it with a friend.
Make it four. Thanks Alex!
Nearly 50, print out the PDF. Started solving early 80’s Maleska era puzzles with lab colleagues. I time myself only for the ACPT at-home puzzles. I think I am still attached to paper because I can see many more clues at once. My hand/eye coordination in Across-lite and the Java app is pretty poor. Maybe I should practice…
I thought today’s puzzle was easy except I could not come up with the cartoonist’s name for the longest time. Ack, I really don’t like that strip.
I’m 56 and solved on paper forever, but I much prefer solving on-screen with AL, partly due to bad handwriting, partly due to numerous mistakes in entering things in the wrong places on paper. Like others, I had given up on acrostics until the applet saved me the drudgery of copying letters back and forth; AL is the same thing on a smaller scale for crosswords. The only thing I do on paper is diagramlesses (and printing out Sunday puzzles for my wife to do). I keep thinking that I should go to ACPT one of these days (not an easy trip from Vancouver) and so should get some practice on paper, but it hasn’t happened yet.
I like what the freedom of asymmetry can do for a puzzle like this one.
But somehow I’m not getting 13D: [Blow hard] = BLUFF; none of the definitions of BLUFF I see have anything to do with blowing. This plus BONITAS plus MACON for MEDOC plus reading “blackjack” as “poker” slowed me down in the NW a lot.
Crosswords are already irrelevant, on-line or in print. I have never seen statistics of who does crossword puzzles but the regular puzzler is as rare as they come. We’re at a population of over 300 million people in America(800,000 in Oahu alone!) and Matt Gaffney gets at best, 250 correct responses to his contest?! People will pick up a crossword and try it out on an airplane trip but day to day puzzlers are like the California condor.
The same can be said for the argument between the casual puzzzler who wants a People puzzle versus a BEQ or a Jonesin’. The serious puzzler is much rarer then the casual one. At this point who really gives an F? The bottom line is that there will be a business of making puzzles and there will always be a small fringe group that is into it.
The same can be said for hobbies and pursuits that are much more popular. The reality does not take away from the enjoyment for those that are into it. The road less travelled for me has always been more satisfying, and I say, hell with the rest of ’em.
The reporter’s argument sounds all too familiar – I read it every month in the Bridge Bulletin. Interesting parallel – online bridge sites are doing well, especially Bridge Base – a true international community. It is a Godsend to housebound bridge players. Online puzzles are a great resource for those of us who live in the hinterlands and don’t have access to the better puzzles in our daily paper.
I don’t get same day access to the NYT so I’m happy to pay the online subscription and use AL for that and all other puzzles I solve. I only print them when I need something to do like wait in a doctor’s office.
I’m trying to start a one-woman campaign to get Across Lite on Amazon’s Kindle and other e-Readers. It seems like a natural fit to me. You can buy all manner of puzzle books, download and solve them on the Kindle. It already has a full qwerty keyboard. I take my Kindle everywhere I’m going to have to sit and wait for anything – I’d love to be able to do puzzles on it as well.
I’m in the 60+ demographic and hardly techno-phobic.
FWIW, I solve yours in AcrossLite on the computer, but I print out Matt Gaffney’s, but that’s mostly because I don’t want to join the Google group.
Wow!! Over 80 comments so far today. Congrats, BEQ. Your following is growing. I’m eligible for AARP – whose mail goes right to the trash bin – but have been doing crosswords online with AL since discovering the NYT, and never looked back. Paper is messy if you’re left-handed and the only time I resort to it is for long plane flights.
http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/ (I think I learned about this on Tyler’s blog)
I am 50 and stoooopid with computers, so half of what’s been written makes no sense to me, but I did click on Alex’s link. Nothing happened. Is that a Mac thing? I am willing to make the dead-tree-to-screen conversion, but it will have to be easy. The crosswords can be challenging. I’m OK with that. But the technology cannot, or I’ll run the other way screaming and having a fit. The desert heat does that to a guy.
The puzzle: The NE killed me, but the rest was great fun. I enjoyed the solve.
jesser in NM, also a (mediocre) bridge player FWIW
When I originally started doing crossword puzzles at the beginning of high school, I was solving beside my mother on paper and I continued to solve only from the newspaper or Dell magazines until my sophomore year of college. At this point, I got a NYT xword subscription for my birthday two year ago(joy!) and have been solving in Across Lite ever since.
Solving in Across Lite feels so much more comfortable to me, much more so than a pencil and paper. Also, it is always nice to solve a Monday puzzle in under 3 minutes in Acr. Lite. Something that I haven’t yet mastered on paper 🙂
Also, sometimes I hook up my computer to the television set so friends and I can solve a tough BEQ puzzle or a Saturday Stumper. It’s a lot easier than everyone crowding around one piece of paper.
Jonathon
I like solving online but I learned from the crosswords in the campus newspaper. I wonder if new solvers will have a harder time finding good starter puzzles. Of course I didn’t have anyone to explain to me what an ogee or an adit were back then either. (I’m in the 30-49 yo bracket.)
Just have to say tee-hee at the three-way tie today… I’m sending 4:49 vibes to Howard B.
The one problem I had with the Krozel “homage” is that it doesn’t look like a broken heart anymore… 🙂
I’ve never had any connection to newspaper crosswords, since my “awakening” at age 29 came when I discovered the burgeoning blog community and free online puzzles. My worry is more that the new generation won’t discover crosswords (and get hooked) as easily online as they would in a newspaper…
I print from AcrossLite and solve with gel pens. Speaking only for myself, the tactile experience of forming the letters with that pen is part of the enjoyment of doing a puzzle – call me crazy if you want to. Although I have solved puzzles online over the course of time, it’s not relaxing to me (I don’t have a laptop, for one thing). I imagine having something to put in my lap would make a difference there, of course. I love to type, too, but I love to type fast, and I don’t get that same rush from the stop-start of doing the puzzle online; I’m not a fast solver and never will be. P.S. This puzzle was not a Medium for me – I was shockingly off-wavelength with you, which is odd given recent experience.
Jesser –
When you click on the link (which I’ll put here again: http://is.gd/1xuE2) it should begin a download. Your browser should open up a download window and ask if you want to save something.
I’m also a mediocre bridge player. We should start a crossword fanatic/mediocre bridge player tournament.
Excellent write-up. And of course you’re right, crosswords are flourishing and should continue, regardless of platform. Sadly, it’s news organizations that are struggling to adapt.
Don’t forget that video was supposed to kill the radio star!
I could go either way when solving puzzles (paper or online), but having them on paper is a more portable way for me to solve. I guess this may not be the death of the crossword in general, since the good puzzle writers know enough to multitask and put their puzzles online, and there’s enough of a fan base to keep these puzzles alive. However, I can hope it is the death of the _crappy_ newspaper crossword, like the one you mentioned from your vacation that had no theme and looked like a regular (non-themeless, non-wide-open) grid. Far as I know, those puzzles mostly exist in print only. My guess is that the demographic for fans of these puzzles is not tech-savvy enough to explore those options, so it’s likely they’ll find what they’re looking for in the Fast N’ Fun puzzle magazines on newsstands.
I always print from AcrossLite.
My (late) two cents – I do across lite on the computer sometimes, print across lite sometimes, do the NYT in paper at lunch. It just depends. I work on a computer all day at work and sometimes it’s nice to be NOT on the computer.
Plus, you can print out an across lite puzzle and have it next to your keyboard at work, have work stuff up on the screen, and be able to take little mental breaks by looking down at the puzzle when you should be working…. Also paper printout is a more covenient format for boring meetings.
Well, I am more used to solving on paper, but AcrossLite is a great thing. You still get the satisfaction of solving that damned impossible corner that’s had you stuck for a while, but with 100% less dead tree. And my chicken scratch is hard to read anyway.
But there is something satisfying about solving in the newspaper, newsprint on your hand and all. So I’m kind of torn. Timing/speed aside, I do like online solving.
Oh, this puzzle was a great one, seemd to flow nicely. Although BONITA / BONITO had me for a while.
I do Mon. and Tues. on line because it only takes a few minutes. The rest of the week I print it out in AL because I don’t time myself and I like the freedom to carry the puzzle around with me as I’m doing stuff. Plus it’s more a comfortable solving in bed or in a easy chair than sitting at a terminal or holding a laptop. It’s also easier to put it down and come back to it if it’s just sitting right beside you. BTW I’m a couple of years shy of 65 and have been seriously doing puzzles for around 4 years. Got started to stave off dementia and got addicted.
Oh, and excellent puzzle which I found just a tad harder than medium. 4 stars from me.
I’m an Across Lite guy. And i don’t print it out.
Let’s bring this to 100!
What she said, nearly exactly.
I almost always print out the puzzle in Across Lite. Love the feel of pencil on paper. I love having many internet options available for puzzles and solutions.
I’m an old fart (63) and I always do your internet puzzles online. While I always have some hard-copy puzzles available, I find I prefer solving onscreen.
Loved this particular rant, BEQ. (Enjoyed many others too, but have just lurked.) Statistically, I’m a 46-yr-old who solves many puzzles online daily. Sometimes tho I print some out when we’re having friends over — we actually enjoy passing a puzzle around (only allowed to fill in one word on your turn) on particularly hard or particularly clever puzzles.
Also, I remember reading in some history text that the Luddites said the invention of the telephone would render us all illiterate because it would put an end to us writing letters to each other. Then when email was invented, it was claimed by the Luddites that this would put an end to talking to each other via telephone. Then the cell phone was allegedly going to once again end our literacy because we would no longer email each other. I think the last I heard is that we will once again not talk to each other because of texting.
Hard to keep up with all of these anti-technology theories. 😉
There is a joy to solving on paper…indeed a simple pleasure of life. It gives me a cozy feeling to be winding down each day (after sitting in front of a computer at work) and using pen and paper to get into the crossword zen zone. Just slows down time.
Late to the conversation (as always), just wanted to add that I’m a longtime Reagle fan, but have slowly started to expand my horizons, especially after watching Wordplay.
Anywho, started co-solving Reagle back in high school with a buddy (I’m 38 now), always on paper in the back of the SF Examiner Sunday Magazine, then called Image.
Now I’m grateful that Lloyd litzes the puzzle so that I can load them up on my Palm Centro and play them with Ben Gottlieb’s awesome Crossword Puzzles for Palm OS. I know it’s available on the iPhone as well, but I likes my QWERTY keyboard. I’ve actually got a backlog of Reagle puzzles I’m working through, along with some Tausig Onion puzzles, and now some BEQs.
And yes, I solve in the bathroom. And in bed. And when I should be working. :-}
I occasionally will solve in Java but usually I save the Across Lite file and 90% of the time will print it out from there before solving. I’ve recently rediscovered your site and have been catching up on the blog posts. This seemed like as good a place as any to thank you for providing so many different ways to access your puzzles. Very cool of you to go to the trouble of making them available Java, PDF, and PUZ.
I know I’m late to this thread, but I actually like solving on the computer, but HATE acrosslite. Hate it so much in fact that a friend and I coded up an alternative as a web app: http://xwordapp.com/. Our idea was to have a “print-like layout” and I think we nailed it! (other than that, though, it’s pretty rough around the edges). Would love to hear what you think.
I generally embrace digital media, but haven’t been sold yet on online solving. For access to puzzles I print and solve, it’s fine. But solving online for me is tedious and slow. For one, I hate not being able to scan all the clues at once, especially if I’m jumping around. And all the clicking to orient my cursor is just a hassle. For me, nothing beats ink on newsprint!