CROSSWORD SOLVER PUZZLE: [ PO BOXES]
PROGRAM: [Crossword Solver]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ PO BOXES]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ PO BOXES]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
Got an interesting press release the other day. It was tossed over the transom at BEQ.com headquarters. Yes, there’s an actual transom at BEQ.com headquarters. And yes, things are routinely tossed over it, like the occasional unsolicited manuscript and idle threats to kill me because my puzzles are “too hard.” More often than not, my neighbor just tosses his trash (empty beer cans, candy wrappers, doggie bags with dog turds, etc.), but, I digress. This latest endeavor by T. Campbell of Norfolk, VA, stood out among the detritus and I felt was worth mentioning to you.
Fans of the webcomic Fans might recognize T’s name. Or, perhaps you recall I had posted a crossword themed comic that T published a few weeks back. (Yes, that’s me in the fifth row and fifth column.) Well, T’s been branching out of the lucrative webcomic market and attempting to put down stakes in the even more lucrative field of independent puzzlemaking. And his latest puzzle venture is an attempt at a record breaking-doozy.
Back in 1949, Robert Stilgenbauer (who?) apparently set the record for the largest American-rules crossword at 111×111. Impressive, but I think it’s a pretty dubious record. Crosswords have become demonstratively better in the last 62 years. Hell, they’ve become demonstratively better in the last 10 years. T seems to think he could top it. He’d like to set the record by making a 120×120, and he needs your help. A quick visit to his Kickstarter page will help him visualize this dream. He’s estimating the themeless will have a mind-scrambling 2000 entries. (Over/under for Dan Feyer’s time solving this one: 25 minutes). All angels who back the project will receive their own copy to solve.
Just throwing it out there: there ain’t no way I could be convinced to write 2000 clues for one puzzle. But, Godspeed, T. I’m rooting for you buddy.
Probably worth mentioning: I seem to recall that some of the editors at Games magazine set the longest American-rules crossword which was something like 25 squares wide and two or three football fields long. It was part of a 24 hour construction contest pitted against other countries, each using their own language and construction rules. I’m not sure this qualifies as the world’s biggest per se as the teams were allowed to repeat words every, I’m going to guess, 25-30 rows. Is the repetition aspect the reason this one’s not the biggest puzzle? Peter Gordon, I know you were part of this. Chime in in the comments section, please.
Anyway. Share the puzzle. New one tomorrow.
Photo credit: Guardian Safe And Vault
Logged enough hours on my Atari 7800 that I got the theme straight away. I mistyped “poo” in a square at one point and wondered if there were enough words to make that work in a puzzle. Guess you could use other words for scat to flesh it out.
Who wrote that wall-sized xword you used to could buy in Hammecher Schelemercher or whatever that catalogue on airplanes is called? Not Sky Mall, the other one. Seems I recall they marketed it as the world’s biggest crossword. Somebody bought it for me as a gift in 1997. I had it on my wall and used to try to do it but it was a pain in the ass, and my apartment was really dark and had some sort of rotten vegetable smell that I never figured out where came from, so I never stayed there long enough to get much traction on the puzzle.
This one (spoiler alert!):
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/76004?promo=search
91,000 squares and 28,000 clues.
@Wade — it’s pretty darn clear from the catalog picture that the HS puzle has unchecked letters….
Yeah, I imagine that’s where the “American-rules” part of the record comes into play.
Erica and Darth, thanks, yeah, I see that now.
Still, rules were made to be broken, right? Guys? Guys? . . . Anyone?
Truth to tell, Wade, I beat the HS puzzle years ago, using its rules. The puzzle was called “Ubercross Alpha” and literally used the HS puzzle’s grid, just built outward a little. But nobody seemed to care about it too much (and I wasn’t even able to display it online at the time). So I’ve been following American standards for the big ones ever since.
I’m happy to break rules sometimes, but you can’t break them at the same time you’re going for the record, or the playing field just isn’t level.
From Crossworder’s OWN Newsletter (aka Tough Puzzles), August 1990:
what, those four? they couldn’t have sent our A team? 😉
I just would’ve liked to have been a fly on the wall to hear Peter Gordon and Stan Newman argue about what constitutes clean fill.
Flies understand English, right?
I am both oddly proud and disappointed to hear this, Dan. If you remember what those crossings were, I’d love to know about them.
I got the HS puzzle as a gift, but had no interest in solving it after giving it a gracious try. However, it did come in handy one Halloween when I needed a quick costume for a party. I made a sandwich board of sorts by using spray adhesive to attach two pieces of the puzzle to poster board and wore black and white checked clothing underneath.