Comments on Crossword Unclued: ABC Of The Crossword Grid

Colonel, I attempted the TOI quick crossword for a...

2009-09-08T11:27:53.217+05:30

Colonel, I attempted the TOI quick crossword for a brief spell many years ago. That's where I picked up words like EPEE and ERNE from.

I guess American crosswords are designed with more...

2009-09-08T11:24:30.118+05:30

I guess American crosswords are designed with more crossing letters, because quick clues don't lead unambiguously to the answer as cryptic clues do. A clue like "Animal in laboratory (3)" is most definitely RAT [T], even without crossings, but "Animal (3)" can have many possible answers. The solver needs more "checking" to verify which is the right one.

I'm talking about checking in the next post, which should be up by Thursday!

The American grid must be far more difficult to co...

2009-09-08T09:50:34.190+05:30

The American grid must be far more difficult to compile as the number of black squares are minimal which mean more letters crossing each other. That is why they use a lot of names I suppose.
The US LA Times CW apperas in the Times of India

Not that 15x UK Cryptic crosswords do not have "op...

2009-09-08T08:49:23.796+05:30

Not that 15x UK Cryptic crosswords do not have "open" places.
Shuchi, if you see the weekday syndicated cryptic crossword on page 2 of the Deccan Herald published from the city where you live, you will find that the grid is a little different, with many "open" squares - no so ubiquitous as in the US non-cryptic puzzle grids but nevertheless present.

Please take a look and confirm!

CV
in Madras, the home of The Hindu

That is why I do not like the "American" grids. In...

2009-09-08T05:59:09.041+05:30

That is why I do not like the "American" grids. In such grids, you could complete a word without even attempting to complete it. And that is neither interesting nor challenging, IMO

That's interesting, CV Sir. I wonder if copyright ...

2009-09-07T15:31:40.632+05:30

That's interesting, CV Sir. I wonder if copyright applies to empty grids too?

I find this a very good-looking grid. The source I got it from is visible as tooltip when you hover the mouse over it.

What you might not know is that the Cryptic Crossw...

2009-09-07T15:20:50.381+05:30

What you might not know is that the Cryptic Crossword Grid that you have used as an illustration was one of a set used by the very first compiler of The Hindu Crossword, having just copied it from its original source.

Some composers of The Hindu crossword use grids taken from other publications and some use original ones.

Thanks, fixed!

2009-09-07T15:14:48.067+05:30

Thanks, fixed!

I think you mean that the black squares are called...

2009-09-07T14:44:27.189+05:30

I think you mean that the black squares are called darks, blacks or blocks.
I guess blanks is a typo.