Crossword Puzzles

EluZions.com Puzzles Crossword : 1, 2, Java

A crossword puzzle is a word game where clues are used to discover words to be filled in on a grid of white and black squares, the letters occupying the white squares to form an interlocking horizontal ('across') and vertical ('down') pattern. A crossword puzzle consists of a diagram divided into blank (white) and cancelled (black, shaded, or crosshatched) squares. The pattern of black squares usually serves to separate each word from adjacent words. The crossword has two sets of clues, one for the across (horizontal) and the other for the down (vertical) words, the numbers corresponding to identical numbers on the diagram. A specific letter of the alphabet is to be inserted into each of the blank squares of the diagram, forming the words fitting the numbered definitions or clues. The words cross each other, or interlock, which gives the puzzle its name.

In a well constructed crossword, as many white squares as possible should be part of both an across and a down word. For this reason, some squares belong to both across and down clues.

According to Peter Biddlecombe, a cryptic clue is a sentence or phrase, appearing to make some kind of sense and putting ideas into the solver's head. These often have little or nothing to do with the answer, which can be derived by interpreting all or part of the clue in ways which are less obvious. Some cryptic clues consist of a definition of the answer, and a separate subsidiary indication which provides a set of instructions for constructing the answer.

Many popular word games, such as Scrabble, are derived from crossword puzzles. Another notable word puzzle is the Double-Crostic, invented by Elizabeth S. Kingsley, which first appeared in 1934 in the Saturday Review. You guess words defined in the puzzle and then write them into numbered squares in a diagram, which will form a quotation when the correct letters are supplied. An added clue is provided by the acrostic formed by the first letters of the words to be guessed, which will spell out the name of the author and the title of the work from which the quotation is taken.

An acrostic is a group of phrases, words, or most often, verses, the first letters of which when taken consecutively form a word, name, phrase, or other predetermined entity. If a series of final or internal letters forms an additional such entity, it is termed a double acrostic. The acrostic was combined with the crossword puzzle to form the modern Double-Crostic.

Online Puzzles

A long list of sites offering free online crosswords. Most of them use Across Lite format from Literate Software Systems. This format is the de facto standard for online crossword puzzles. Many electronic versions of daily newspapers, such as the New York Times, have switched to this format for their puzzles. You can download it from here.

Software, tools, articles, etc

Quizword #1, Quizword #2