11/30/2023 0 Comments Atlantic cryptic crosswords![]() Knowledge, cultural references, and current affairs. Thus, too, I think, the letter bank and the aforementioned consonantcy: the more different the pieces of the base are, the more surprising it is that it works (".has G, R, G, S, L, and-yeah, wow, those really are the same consonants as.").Dan Silver: “This is an American-style crossword but wearing a bowler hat, carrying a briefcase, with a rolled up umbrella under its arm, and a British accent.”Ĭross Atlantic is a hand-compiled, and resolutely British take on theĬlassic American broadsheet crossword puzzle, says the Telegraph, withĪccessible clues comprising straight definition, humorous wordplay, general And thus also a really good rebus, as well a rebus can be mundane or overwrought, but between the two lies a good stretch of "Wow, that actually works". Hence the typical Ucaoimhu variety cryptic, in which layers interlock or Wombat's "Color Ado" or even most other mere mortal variety cryptics. Letter banks allow for some of the most surprising bits of wordplay, as with Xemu's (co-written?) "surgodentalic, Screen Actors Guild, triangular coordinates, Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, United Nations secretaries-general, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion".Īnd I think that perhaps one criterion for a truly beautiful puzzle, one that carries it past a merely "great" puzzle, is a certain amount of surprise on the part of the solver: a reaction of "Whoa, I can't believe the constructor made that work". That one was lovely, and indeed memorable. Other Contenders: the humble logic puzzle the coolly homonymohomophonic corn maze on a brisk October evening the Bongard problem, in which the parts on the left follow a rule but the parts on the right do not, as in the game Zendo a colossal 3D jigsaw puzzle the challenge of getting a precisely constituted group of Lemmings into their cave. ![]() Every crossword was just 70 occurrences of the word ESNE. Really, you should have seen it before we got there. Back in the day, a few of us younger constructors (among them the immensely talented qaqaq) adopted the variety cryptic as our rallying flag, and changed puzzlemaking forever. I've probably made about 50 or 60, only a few of which could be considered classics. Personal Connection: I'm fairly often thought of as a good constructor of these. I came home with about a dozen made by a variety of constructors thedan constructed a particularly delightful one, which I hope he'll release into the wild. At the NPL convention, though, they run in packs. In the US, they remain a niche puzzle curiosity, unlikely to catch on when simpler puzzle types like word searches, sudoku, and acrostics are available in bulk. Impact: In the UK, variety cryptic crosswords are seen in many major newspapers. ![]() It is precisely because you don't trust the constructor that makes a variety cryptic the most fun you can have solving a puzzle. People make grids out of fishbowls and pyramids they use superfluous words, randomly placed words, bendy words, and assorted other madnesses. And it is a variety cryptic crossword, in that those two constraints are not enough for the constructor, and so some other zaniness must be inserted. It is a cryptic crossword, in that the clues are broken into two halves, a definition half and a wordplay half. It is a crossword, in that it contains a pattern of crossing words. There are three words in its name that should be dealt with in reverse order. Why: At the National Puzzlers' League convention this weekend, there was near unanimity among the cognoscenti that this was the Holy Grail. Here's the grid by two of the greatest constructors of these, Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon of The Atlantic Monthly. What: The variety cryptic crossword, a modification of the British style of crossword.
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