The chances of a constructor seeing his or her New York Times debut appearing on a Saturday has got to be petty slim. But Don Willing managed it on Nov. 1, 2008. What a way to start! Congrats to Don and let's hope we see more of his work. The link to his debut puzzle is here.

Merl and Will in Simpsons episode

As many of you know, Will Shortz and Merl Reagle will be featured in an episode of The Simpsons, to be aired this Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008. Merl was recently interviewed about appearing in the episode, and about crosswords in general. You can read the article here: Simpsons Article

Last week, on October 20, Daniel (Dani) Raymon enjoyed seeing his first regular crossword in the New York Times. And a nice puzzle it was. Dani also had a cryptic in The Times magazine back on Sep. 23, 2007. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

Hello everyone.

I had been planning to move the cruciverb.com website to a new platform - one that would support a good forums system, private messaging and a few other goodies - but it wasn't supposed to happen until I had more time on my hands. Then I agreed to host a subscription-based Sun Crossword puzzle, and, for technical reasons, that forced me to make the move immediately. I simply could not support the Sun Crossword with the old system.

So ... we have a few new features:

• the Sun Crossword puzzle
• an excellent forum system to discuss constructing and solving
• a personal messaging system to allow members to communicate without email
  
• a faster system (I hope)

The "look and feel" of the site is not great at the moment (I'm using the default  "skin" of the forum system). The immediate concern was getting everything working properly. I'll worry about aesthetics later.

If there are problems I would like you to go to the Support Board in the forums and see if your issue is covered there. Post a note in the forums if your concern is not covered. If you really need to contact me, send a message to kmccann AT cruciverb.com

These added features are just the beginning. Enjoy!

- Kevin

Thanks for supporting the Sun puzzle

As many of you know, the New York Sun will no longer publish. This is significant for crossword constructors and solvers alike. Puzzle editor Peter Gordon boldly challenged the New York Times, the de facto creme of puzzledom, by raising the rates paid to constructors and by demanding the very best in return. Many have said that the Sun puzzle is just as good as the Times. Indeed, it seems unfathomable that the Sun puzzle would simply disappear. Not fair to solvers, not fair to constructors. Certainly not fair to Peter who has put his heart and soul into the Sun Puzzle. Over the next few days the Sun puzzle will be made available for free here at cruciverb.com. Beginning next week, the puzzle will be available exclusively to Sun Subcribers (details to follow). The fee will be low and certainly well worth it. I hope all of you who have enjoyed the Sun crossword puzzle will provide support by subscribing.

- Kevin