ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ CHECK PLEASE] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ CHECK PLEASE]

PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]

The rules of crosswording are a thing of beauty. Obviosuly they’re there for a reason; Margaret Farrar set them up when she was the first crossword puzzle editor so that she could quickly weed out bad puzzles from the slush piles. It’s amazing that of all the innovations that have come since the dawn of the crossword, we still cling to her rules: 180 degree rotational symmetry, no more than 38 black squares and 78 entries, shortest words are three letters, all the letters are checked.

Having said that, there are times when the rules should be thrown out the window. I’ve seen a couple two three puzzles that had 80 entries and the puzzle was great. You could say that the symmetry rule should always be employed, and certainly there are those who agree with that. But there are some amazing puzzles Frank Longo has done for the New York Sun that has simply ignored symmetry altogether so that he could have insane 7×8 corners. Hell I made a puzle for the Onion where I ignored the symmetry rule for a themed puzzle only because I couldn’t come up with a suitable number of thematic entries. But I felt that the theme warranted the rule break.

Basically, if you have a very good reason to ignore the rules, go for it. But it has to be a very good reason. Above is a puzzle where I ignored one of the main rules but for a very specific reason. Hopefully you feel it was worth it. Enjoy it. New puzzle on Wednesday.

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