ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ HAND JIVE]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ HAND JIVE]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Cluing isn’t much fun. For me at least. I guess I wouldn’t be a very good cryptic puzzle writer.
In the odd chance you didn’t already know this, the grid is made first, then the clues. Not the other way around. Also, future clients, take that information and mull it over before asking me to make a puzzle based on the clues/answers you’ve given me. While I’m here, I cannot make a New York Times-esque crossword wherein every entry has something to do with your product. Can’t be done. Stop asking. You wouldn’t like it if I told you how to run your company either.
Sorry about that. I had to get that off my chest. Where was I?
Now, say you get lots of fun stuff into a grid, then it’s fun to clue. Sort of. Well, at least those fun entries. It’s just those damnfool repeaters, the vowel heavy stuff that is in every crossword … how in God’s green Earth is there a clever new fresh way to clue OREO or AREA?
For me, I usually try and go as low as I can word-count-wise, when making a puzzle. Lower word count means less cluing, and also, more open spaces to jam fun stuff into it. Having said that, the old tired entries that nobody wants to see ever again are inevitably in the fill holding it all together.
But let me tell you something, I simply cannot imagine doing cluing before the Internet. Obviously, it had been done, but I’m just dumbstruck. If you need a new clue for ERIC today? Hit up Wikipedia. Unsure how that entry is used in everyday speech? Google it and read the results. Baseball stats? Song lyrics? Facts about States? Just a couple clicks away. Simply amazing. Previous puzzlemakers must have had libraries dedicated to this stuff. And even those books must have went out of date fast.
Still doesn’t mean I enjoy doing this cluing stuff.
Postscript: Hat tip to my father-in-law who gave me the idea for this puzzle. Wait, not the idea idea. You see, he gave me a book of lists of curiosities about music, thinking I could use it to make a book of music puzzles, and, oh dear. I’m going to just shut up now before I make it worse.
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