Cross Words Over Crosswords

[This article originally posted to http://thewritejob.blogspot.com/2009/09/cross-words-over-crosswords.html on September 30, 2009]

I'm a casual crossword-puzzle doer. I work on the LA Times one that my newspaper carries on Sundays, the one in the weekly Onion, and the monthly National Geographic's. I'm not a fanatic over solving entire puzzles. I'm somewhat proud if I complete somewhere between 80% and 100%, but don't fret too much if I'm able to complete only 10 words. High and total completions don't occur often.

In working crossword puzzles, I don't do web lookups, I don't use a thesaurus, and only occasionally look in a dictionary. As another indication of my casual methodology, I use a pen. Oh, sure, I letter in answers that turn out incorrect, then do a somewhat messy job of striking out the wrong stuff. At least I've learned to be a bit conservative and initially skip over words I think I might be wrong about, returning later.

Crossword puzzles seem to have evolved from the ones I used to encounter way back. Or maybe it's because I'm not seeing the types I used to work on. No longer do I see the following kinds of clue helpers:

• Two words
• [foreign language]
• Abbreviation
• Plural

Puzzles these days seem to assume some exposure or schooling in very elementary Spanish and French, life experiences spanning back to the 70s, and/or convenient researching via dictionary, thesaurus, Internet, .... I've seen a couple of common clues and/or answers appear in several puzzles. Puzzle makers seem to love ENOLA (as in Enola Gay) and any part of COUER D'ALENE. (Even though I studied some French in the past, I always have a tough time spelling the not-heart part of the term without looking it up.)

Anyway, one puzzle had some clues that I considered irritatingly inadequate; it was an LA Times one (August 30, 2009), themed Organ Transplant. (OK! I'm sure I couldn't create nice-looking, diagonal-axis symmetrical puzzles like those elegant ones I pen in. I'm aware that there are software puzzle creators that make the tasks easier for human creators. I just don't take puzzle solving seriously enough to want to dive in to create any.)

The following list shows the position, the answer, the official clue, and my opinion on a better clue. (Yes, I finally reached the close-in-look part of this blog item!)

• 41A, answer: TATTOO
  Clue: Body language
  Better clue, IMO: Inked body expression


• 62A, answer: PLUS
  Clue: Furthermore
  Better clue, IMO: +


• 87A, answer: ENDORSE
  Clue: Back
  Better clue, IMO: Recommend


• 31D, answer: TOO
  Clue: Overly
  Better clue, IMO: Also


• 37D, answer: ATON
  Clue: Hardly
  Better clue, IMO: 2000 pounds


• 49D, answer: ANTS
  Clue: Farm workers
  Better clue, IMO: Picnic "guests"


• 56D, answer: SIDEB
  Clue: Cassette half
  Better clue, IMO: Single's second-choice song


• 91D, answer: DARTS
  Clue: Dashes
  Better clue, IMO: Pub target game


• 96D, answer: GLASS
  Clue: Calm water metaphor
  Better clue, IMO: Window material


• 102D, answer: JIM
  Clue: Dandy dude?
  Better clue, IMO: Diamond or Slim

In case any reader now feels like working on an LA Times crossword puzzle, visit http://games.latimes.com/index_crossword.html?uc_feature_code=tmcal.