![]() ![]() The idea of one of the widest-syndicated puzzle distributors lifting other cruciverbalists’ hard work is understandably upsetting to those in the community. 8, 2001, The New York Times published a puzzle with three long theme answers (“DRIVEUPTHEWALL,” “GETONONESNERVES” and “RUBTHEWRONGWAY”) that all had clues containing the world “exasperate.” On June 4, 2010, USA Today published a puzzle with the same theme and the same theme answers in the same order, with the same placement and clues that all included the word “exasperate.” ![]() In FiveThirtyEight ’s report, writer Oliver Roeder describes these cases as “shady” duplications by Parker. 65 of Parker’s puzzles were found to replicate themes previously used in The New York Times, among others. It’s the practice of “theming” that has led to trouble for Mr. Puzzles usually have a set theme (for example, “Criminal Acts”) that helps guide word selection, and modern cruciverbalists have software available to help suggest words to fit specific spaces. The New York Times explains that cruciverbalists appreciate the constraints, as constructors must be clever in their attempts to work within the set boundaries. Words must have at least three letters and each square should be “keyed”-that is, each square must be part of both an Across and Down answer. There’s a standard set of grid sizes-15 x 15 is the most common, with 21 x 21 grids used in Sunday editions-and grids should be diagonally symmetrical. ![]() who developed the crossword construction software Crossdown, explains the standard Simon & Schuster rules on the Crossdown website. Seedy business indeed /MwIe70YIs6Ĭrossword puzzle construction is governed by established rules set by organizations like Simon & Schuster and the New York Times. The discovery has sparked outrage across the crossword community, and for good reason: constructing a crossword puzzle can be as difficult as solving one. Pwanson then wrote a script to uncover any puzzles in the database that were at least 25 percent similar in doing so, he revealed that Universal Crossword editor Timothy Parker may have plagiarized dozens of other cruciverbalists’ work and recycled even more of his own puzzles under pseudonyms. Using a database of tens of thousands of crossword puzzles created by Saul Pwanson, cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle maker) Ben Tausig discovered in late February that Universal Uclick-a company that distributes the syndicated Universal Crossword to numerous newspapers and websites-re-ran a 2004 crossword he wrote for them in 2008 under a pseudonymous byline. What’s a seven-letter word for an action causing a general public outcry? The answer (“scandal”) is on the minds of many in the crossword community this weekend, as FiveThirtyEight reported a substantial case of puzzle plagiarism last night. A line art drawing of a crossword puzzle grid (Illustration: Wikimedia Commons/Pearson Scott Foresman ). ![]()
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