thing of the past | thing to come
What: The variety cryptic crossword, a modification of the British style of crossword. Here's the grid by two of the greatest constructors of these, Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon of The Atlantic Monthly. For the full puzzle, go here.
Why: At the National Puzzlers' League convention this weekend, there was near unanimity among the cognoscenti that this was the Holy Grail. There are three words in its name that should be dealt with in reverse order. It is a crossword, in that it contains a pattern of crossing words. It is a cryptic crossword, in that the clues are broken into two halves, a definition half and a wordplay half. 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. People make grids out of fishbowls and pyramids; they use superfluous words, randomly placed words, bendy words, and assorted other madnesses. It is precisely because you don't trust the constructor that makes a variety cryptic the most fun you can have solving a puzzle.
Impact: In the UK, variety cryptic crosswords are seen in many major newspapers. 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. At the NPL convention, though, they run in packs. I came home with about a dozen made by a variety of constructors;![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
thedan constructed a particularly delightful one, which I hope he'll release into the wild.
Personal Connection: I'm fairly often thought of as a good constructor of these. I've probably made about 50 or 60, only a few of which could be considered classics. Back in the day, a few of us younger constructors (among them the immensely talentedqaqaq) adopted the variety cryptic as our rallying flag, and changed puzzlemaking forever. Really, you should have seen it before we got there. Every crossword was just 70 occurrences of the word ESNE. You owe us.
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.
Why: At the National Puzzlers' League convention this weekend, there was near unanimity among the cognoscenti that this was the Holy Grail. There are three words in its name that should be dealt with in reverse order. It is a crossword, in that it contains a pattern of crossing words. It is a cryptic crossword, in that the clues are broken into two halves, a definition half and a wordplay half. 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. People make grids out of fishbowls and pyramids; they use superfluous words, randomly placed words, bendy words, and assorted other madnesses. It is precisely because you don't trust the constructor that makes a variety cryptic the most fun you can have solving a puzzle.
Impact: In the UK, variety cryptic crosswords are seen in many major newspapers. 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. At the NPL convention, though, they run in packs. 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.Personal Connection: I'm fairly often thought of as a good constructor of these. I've probably made about 50 or 60, only a few of which could be considered classics. 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. Really, you should have seen it before we got there. Every crossword was just 70 occurrences of the word ESNE. You owe us.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.
Profile
- selinker
- Mike Selinker
- Lone Shark Games
Page Summary
- qaqaq : [+2]
- (Anonymous) : [+4]
- thedan : [+1]
- scarlettina : [+2]
- qaqaq : [+3]
- jangler_npl : [+1]
- (Anonymous) : "near unanimity among the cognoscenti" is a joke, right? [+1]
Comments
And how about some props for connect-the-dots. No respect, I tell ya, no respect.
Unless "puzzle hunts" can be counted a puzzle type...
By the way, who are you, Anonymous?
Edited at 2008-07-16 06:22 pm (UTC)
BTW, I still say the locked room mystery is the greatest puzzle type of all time. :D
- Rei
I feel like I should submit my own choice here, but there's a lot of pressure in this category. I shall think on this.
Just a note on LJ editing, actually. If you want to refer to someone by their LJ name and refer to their blog, you can code it thusly (without the spaces except the one between "lj" and "user"): < lj user = "scarlettina" > which will end up looking like this:
We now return to your regularly scheduled commenting....
Edited at 2008-07-16 05:55 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2008-07-16 05:57 pm (UTC)
My favorite of mine was the overloaded one I did for PROUST/SUPPORT OUR TROOPS and VOLTAIRE/LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT.
I am on board with the Cryptic as overall winner, though when you posed this at the convention I was leaning a bit towards the rebus. Good analysis all around.
And 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". Hence the typical Ucaoimhu variety cryptic, in which layers interlock; or Wombat's "Color Ado"; or even most other mere mortal variety cryptics. 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". 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...").
I will happily order my mastodons to throw cannonballs at you sometime soon.
Ever been to an NPL convention? You might see more than a few Nikolis around there.
And finally, do you have an opinion, or just a condemnatory comment?