“Wordplay” outs some famous solvers

A lot of people saw the movie “Wordplay,” in which some famous folks, champion solvers, crossword constructors and Will Shortz (editor of the New York Times puzzles and creator/host of the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament) are featured solving and talking about the joys and rewards of crossword puzzle solving.

Movie reviews were pretty good overall, and crossword “crazies” probably enjoyed it more than others. (Having attended and competed in the tournament for several years now, I particularly liked seeing my crossword friends on the big screen!)

Constructors community center

Since this blog is for SOLVERS, it’s probably not terribly relevant to tell you about Cruciverb.com, but I’ll do it anyway. Cruciverb is for constructors — the people who create crossword puzzles.

I actually enjoy the give-and-take and some features on Cruciverb, even though I have no interest in becoming a constructor. I mostly just lurk and follow the discussions that are of interest, ignoring a lot of the technical stuff.

The site was created by Kevin McCann, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and it’s billed as the “Crossword Constructors Community Center.” You have to register to access much of the site. I’ve included a link at the right, just in case you want to check it out.

The best pointer to high-quality puzzles

Will Johnston has assembled a great website that has pointers to a slew of high-quality crossword puzzles from major newspapers throughout the United States. It includes links to daily and weekly puzzles in The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New York Sun, Wall Street Journal, and a couple of syndicates that supply other papers.

The site also has links to resources for crossword solvers, discussion forums, and other useful tools/references. It’s the best “one-stop shop” for crosswords on the net.

If you’re as addicted as I am, you’ll want to save this one as a “favorite.” It’s on the list of links at the right.

The annual crossword puzzle tournament

Lest you think there are not enough crossword addicts to fill a room, you need to know that there are 500 people who show up each year in March/April at the Stamford Marriott to participate in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, created and hosted by Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times Crossword Puzzles.

The 30th annual tournament will be held March 23-25, 2007. If you can’t make it to Stamford CT that weekend, you can also participate online. Just click on the link to the tournament’s website and you’ll be able to get all the details there.

Software for solving on your computer

If you haven’t already discovered AcrossLite, it’s a must-have if you’re going to download and solve puzzles on your computer. It’s a simple, self-explanatory application that you can use immediately to solve crosswords on your computer or print them out to solve the old-fashioned way — with pen or pencil on paper. And it’s FREE too!

I’ve added a link at the right so you can go directly to the Litsoft site, where the download is readily available. 

For crossword addicts only

This blog is going to be the place for crossword “crazies” to share their passion with similarly afflicted addicts. There’s a common bond among people who spend a chunk of their spare time (and time when they should probably be doing other things) filling in letters in little boxes in order to spell interlocking words. This is going to become the meeting spot for those people.

We’ll talk about puzzles, reference lots of places on the web where you can find puzzles by the leading constructors, and suggest links to sites where more crossword discussion is going on 24/7. We’ll focus mostly on standard US-style crosswords — not cryptics or British-style puzzles — and we’ll keep the discussions and posts non-technical, just right for solvers at all levels.