Hi, and thanks for this excellent post. I'm glad you got some enjoyment from the puzzles. I find them fascinating, mostly because I like old things. Old newspapers. Old books. Old photos. I collect and cherish old stuff.

There will be several more puzzles coming soon. I'll finish off the Minneapolis Journal collection and then move on to something else. I'll see what I can dig up.

-Kevin

Post edited above on account of all the new ones posted.  If people want to hear/discuss, I can put impressions of those in another comment here. 

I just find the character of these things to be different, as hinted.  I have 6 books of puzzles from this era (4 of them fully converted to PUZ) and a ton of others I've picked up over the years. Like I said up above, I probably could dig up a ton of these myself if people really want to play with these.

I find it interesting to see the evolution of these things, even if like the first and fourth above, they can get painful to solve.  A lot of people dictionary-trawled, so some of that was okay with them.  It's also a reminder of how crossword creation software ended up benefiting things as they didn't have to find odd words to fill out a grid.

If anyone didn't notice, our @admin posted some PUZ files from the Minneapolis Journal from October 1934.  I wanted to start a thread for discussion, as I enjoy having a look at these things, and collect them (I could post a ton of them I moved to PUZ, though not sure about copyright on some of it, especially some of the Simon & Schuster efforts.  You'll find three of their crossword books on the Project Gutenberg site so you'll have those to play with, though no answers provided as you were supposed to send a letter to them to get those and evidently they didn't have those preserved).

First off, thank you @admin for sharing these (and would love to see more).

Overall, you'll find differing characters for a lot of older puzzles, depending on the editor.  Sadly a lot of puzzles these days have tried to echo what Will Shortz does, so you don't find a lot of difference in editing, character, and outlook across venues as you did back then.  It's almost a different experience to get acquainted with a puzzle that takes things on in a lot different way than another one. 

Then, you'll see a different outlook given the cultural time, plus scientific differences.  (My favorite one of those is a clue [Individisible part of matter] with answer of ATOM.  Of course, a more recent example is a reference to nine planets as opposed to eight.)  Plus there will be geographical naming differences depending on the time (Prussia or Siam).

And, I got to have an attempt at solving all of them now (they remind me a lot of early Simon & Schuster):
mj19341001.puz: This one will be near impossible for most of us.  It qualifies as a "stunt construction", and uses a lot of esoteric words.  It's a challenge, but if you aren't up on those, you'll be throwing in the towel quick enough.
mj19341002.puz: Very thoughtful, you'll get reminded a lot of the Newsday Saturday Stumpers.  It'll be a lot harder than what you're used to, generally, but reasonably solveable.  Only had trouble with the points that crossed with terms I didn't know.  Lower right will be the worst section on that point.
mj19341008.puz: Like #2, weird words abound but mostly solvable.  I got reminded of the other things to watch on these older puzzles.  Two-letter entries are common and it gets obvious pretty quickly doing these puzzles as to why they got abolished in most circles today.  Also, there's often duh obvious things that will stump you if you get too far afield in thinking.  Expect repetition as well in the clues and sometimes the entries.
mj19341009.puz: Solution not provided on this one in the PUZ.  I'm thinking, though, it's probably going to be near impossible for most for certain sections.  I spent a fair amount of time Googling to try to answer the parts I didn't just because of some of the words and arcane stuff.  Got my answers I can provide if people want 'em.
mj19341026.puz: Probably the easiest of the set and the one I'd recommend to try if you did just one.  A couple of sections are going to go weird, especially on the left side, but nothing 100% unmanageable.

Anyway, hopefully this turns into a bit of "wayback" fun for everyone.

I use the Crossword Scraper browser extension to save it in .puz format. From there I can print it.

-km

Good afternoon all -

I have some remedial questions about submitting to the LA Times.  I've only ever submitted to the NYT (5 rejections and counting!).  My most recent rejection is a Sunday puzzle that I feel is strong enough to submit out again. 

 -- When reading the submission guidelines, I noted the instruction of including citations/references for answers, which I've never done before.  (https://www.cruciverb.com/index.php?action=ezportal;sa=page;p=71 ). Has anyone posted an example of the format for submitting to the LAT with references included?

-- Relatedly, I use Crossfire for construction.  Which of the offered file formats should I use for my submission to the LAT ("puzzle image" "solution image" (in the save as menu) vs "NYT submission" (in the print as menu).

-- My submission is tied to a particular holiday, but given turnaround times I am probably too late for 2025.  Should I hold off on the submission to 4 months in advance next year or simply note the timing in the cover email and ask for the submission to be considered for the next time the holiday rolls around?

Thanks in advance for any advice. And if there's a good thread elsewhere in this excellent forum I should consult please let me know (my clumsy searching didn't turn up anything on point)

Has anyone had problems with getting a response from Beekeeper labs about Crossfire?
I bought it initially in 2021. I remember it took a few emails to get the registration code then. Last week I had to reimage my computer so I needed to reload it and need a new registration code. I have sent daily emails for about 7 days now and haven't heard a boo. Does anyone know the creator, have another way to contact them, or have any other suggestions how to proceed?