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Software / Technical / Ingrid software
« Last post by Helensue on February 23, 2025, 06:31:23 PM »When you download Ingrid crossword software on a machine, what app do you use to open the file? Thank you.
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Recent Posts
72
General Discussion / Re: Crosstalk: A New Crossword Construction Podcast
« Last post by TheCrosstalkPod on February 19, 2025, 04:34:40 PM »Episode 2 of Crosstalk featuring Rachel Fabi is out now! We touch on topics including mentorship, writing the Wordplay column, cryptics, fundraising for social causes, collaborating with a celebrity, and advice for new constructors. Please give it a listen and hope you enjoy!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BMz7jS1sQB7UXQW7zjF5l?si=HJKhfT-aSR-whVIrJp--Pw
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crosstalk-episode-2-rachel-fabi/id1788798848?i=1000690845655
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f7c94ea6-fc37-4cbf-83e9-91f508229264/episodes/875de276-f73a-4188-bf9d-040d176e1965/episode-2-rachel-fabi
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BMz7jS1sQB7UXQW7zjF5l?si=HJKhfT-aSR-whVIrJp--Pw
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crosstalk-episode-2-rachel-fabi/id1788798848?i=1000690845655
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f7c94ea6-fc37-4cbf-83e9-91f508229264/episodes/875de276-f73a-4188-bf9d-040d176e1965/episode-2-rachel-fabi
73
General Discussion / Misspellings in Theme Answers?
« Last post by cranberry44 on February 15, 2025, 10:40:17 AM »Can anybody think of a published NYT puzzle that has deliberately misspelled words in the theme answers? And those misspellings would, of course, make sense in relation to the clues.
74
General Discussion / Re: Crosstalk: A New Crossword Construction Podcast
« Last post by SkaBro on February 08, 2025, 04:26:13 PM »I really enjoyed the first episode Daniel! Keep up the good work!
75
General Discussion / Re: Deciphering NYT rejection letters
« Last post by Peter Koetters on January 22, 2025, 11:10:18 AM »I've never received the "open-ended wordplay" feedback either. That's a new one. My best guess is that whatever wordplay was used in the theme was not consistent enough in type for them between clues. For example, if one entry used a perfect homophone pun and another one used a vowel substitution to achieve the pun the technique might be described as "open-ended."
Just a guess.
Just a guess.
76
General Discussion / Re: LA Times 101 - first time submissions
« Last post by Hysc on January 22, 2025, 11:06:35 AM »Thanks very much!
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General Discussion / Re: Deciphering NYT rejection letters
« Last post by SkaBro on January 22, 2025, 09:58:03 AM »Thanks Glenn!
78
General Discussion / Re: LA Times 101 - first time submissions
« Last post by HistTchrCT on January 20, 2025, 10:17:35 AM »Hi,
These are the current submission guidelines for LAT:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wGDDHu82YSwtLkIV500CHyr10AmMBDEP/edit?fbclid=IwAR07SpGk6SfZ7pAhfqHOXPRsVgcX80hoLHMfKE82DmxYgugeH3vGdIZXiUY
It looks like the ones on the page you linked are the older guidelines from before Patti Varol was the lead editor.
I hope this helps!
These are the current submission guidelines for LAT:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wGDDHu82YSwtLkIV500CHyr10AmMBDEP/edit?fbclid=IwAR07SpGk6SfZ7pAhfqHOXPRsVgcX80hoLHMfKE82DmxYgugeH3vGdIZXiUY
It looks like the ones on the page you linked are the older guidelines from before Patti Varol was the lead editor.
I hope this helps!
79
General Discussion / Re: Crosstalk: A New Crossword Construction Podcast
« Last post by TheCrosstalkPod on January 18, 2025, 05:05:03 PM »Thank you for listening and sharing! Another episode coming in February.
80
General Discussion / Re: Deciphering NYT rejection letters
« Last post by Glenn9999 on January 16, 2025, 02:27:29 AM »Two said "The theme didn't excite us as much as we would have hoped." I'm guessing this means that there is no way to save them and re-submit.
The NYT editors are saying that the theme as a whole didn't sparkle enough to make the puzzles work for them, so you won't be able to salvage them with the New York Times. For puzzle consideration, the theme is the #1 issue that needs to work well before an editor will consider accepting it. There are other venues you can try to submit these to and see what happens. The New York Times tends to be the apex on this kind of thing, but other places will accept more simple not necessarily as entertaining themes. You may want to pick another source (LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsday - Wed-Fri, Sun, Universal, USA Today, etc) and submit them there if there aren't any other major flaws.
As a tip, broadly solving these venues will help so you can study what they do accept and tailor a place that publishes what seems to be like your themes.
But another one said, "The wordplay felt a little open-ended for us." Does anyone know what exactly this means or how I "close the ends"?
This one confuses me (as a lot of the other "glittering generalities" phrases like I see in submission sheets). But I'm guessing you have some kind of word play going on that isn't exactly inductive towards your intended answers that can't exactly be fixed by rewriting the clues.
And are these boiler plate responses?
I'm sure the NYT editors get a lot of submissions and tend to run through responses to them as quick as possible. I'm curious about the second one, myself, along with what people with more experience might have to say about this one.
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