Crossword Puzzles
Introduction
In high school I sporadically did the daily puzzle in the Boston Globe, which I think is syndicated. I didn't take crosswords seriously until I saw the excellent film Wordplay, a documentary made in 2006 about the New York Times crossword puzzle. Prior to this, I didn't know that anyone could submit puzzles to be published or even anything about crossword themes. After seeing the film, I began both solving and constructing puzzles.
Solving
I started solving in the summer of 2006. Those who have seen the movie will know about the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. I competed online in 2007 and did abysmally; according to the rankings online, I would have placed 601st out of 698. I went to the 2008 tournament this past year and had a lot of fun; another year's solving experience has allowed me to improve by leaps and bounds to 572nd place out of 699.
I've been keeping track of my best times for solving the New York Times crossword, valid when the puzzle is 100% correct:
| Monday | 3:37 (August 17, 2008) |
| Tuesday | 4:33 (September 23, 2008) |
| Wednesday | 7:04 (August 26, 2008) |
| Thursday | 12:53 (October 2, 2008) |
| Friday | 16:01 (July 4, 2008) |
| Saturday | 17:15 (September 20, 2008) |
| Sunday | 33:05 (August 3, 2008) |
Constructing
I began constructing around the same time I started solving. Luckily, there are very useful resources available online to beginner constructors. Probably the most useful at the time was this site which has a compilation of particularly creative themes. Also important is cruciverb and its mailing list. Virtually everyone in the crossword constructing communitiy is on the list, and there are many people willing to mentor beginners. I was very fortunate to get help here when I was starting.
My New York Times puzzles:
