When I’m done paring the list down, my theme entries look like this:ĪLABA MA SHAKES hiding “M*A*S*H”(13 letters) The only exception is an entry going across the middle of the grid, which provides its own symmetry. So if I'm going to use the 11-letter MENTAL FLOSS in the top left, I'll also need an 11-letter entry in the bottom right as its mirror image. The phrases I settle on need to be symmetrical in length so they can offset each other in the grid. Three-letter shows like ALF or CSI (in "TRAFFI C SIGNS," say) are fine, but it’d be much cooler to use four-, five-, or even a six-letter show if I can find some that work. After 30 minutes of list-scouring, I’ve scribbled down the best few dozen candidate shows, so it’s time to look for the ones that can hide in a two-word phrase. Google and Wikipedia are my friends here, but my BFF today is IMDb, specifically this page.
CREATE CROSS WORD PUZZLE TV
Time to make a list of all the one-word TV shows I can find. And I’ll put circles in the grid to highlight the shows, since it’d be tough to understand the theme without them. Hidden words are a common theme gimmick, and if I can come up with a fitting title that explains the wordplay involved-something like “We Interrupt This Broadcast,” playing on how the show is “interrupted” by the break between the two words-then we’ll be golden. I decide that this puzzle’s theme will feature two-word phrases bridged by a one-word TV show title. A few minutes of theme-storming later and I spot the TV show ALF bridging the two words in "MENT AL FLOSS." That’s kind of amusing, and my spidey-sense tells me there could be something theme-worthy here. With an eye toward impressing the client, I decide right off the bat that MENTAL FLOSS should be one of this puzzle’s theme entries, and therefore search for a way to incorporate that phrase into a wider, hopefully amusing pattern. For this puzzle we’ll stick to the former. Crossword themes range from vaguely comprehensible to hellishly complex.
The first thing you do is come up with your puzzle’s theme.Ī crossword puzzle’s theme is some unifying motif among certain answers in the grid, generally the longest answers.
OK, the real first question they ask at parties is, “Which do you write first, the clues or the grid?” Answer: neither. When I tell people at parties that I write crossword puzzles for a living, by far the most common question they ask is, “Would you excuse me for a moment?” If that level of social esteem sounds like something to which you might aspire, follow along as I construct a crossword puzzle from start to finish. If you’d like to solve the puzzle discussed in this article before reading further, click here.
CREATE CROSS WORD PUZZLE HOW TO
WORD-WEAVING 101: HOW TO LOVINGLY AND SKILLFULLY CREATE A CROSSWORD PUZZLE Matt currently creates crosswords for The Week, New York Magazine, and Washingtonian, and he also wrote our book of crosswords.
CREATE CROSS WORD PUZZLE PROFESSIONAL
So today we've enlisted the help of professional crossword puzzle writer Matt Gaffney. As many, many readers pointed out, we didn't have our facts straight. Editor's Note: Last week, we published an item on how crossword puzzles are made.
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