How crossword constructors use ambiguity
“I notice on occasion that there’s a brilliant misdirection that almost seems unintentional, as if the grid was designed with that ambiguity in mind. It might be something like, a space that could accommodate AVOW or AVER, and the crossing for the third letter is equally ambiguous — say, a song title that could either start with WHO or SHE, and you don’t know. Sometimes it’s even longer words that, for whatever reason, could be X or Y, even with a few letters filled in. Is that kind of trickery ever intentional? Or only ever a happy accident?” — Sam, New York From Christina: As an editor, I would generally consider this a bug, not a feature! One of the goals of an editor is to make sure that the solution is clearly defined and feels fair. If an answer could be ambiguous, we’d like for all of the entries crossing it to be clear enough that it doesn’t feel like an unfair square. When we have our puzzles test-solved, one question we ask is whether there were any crossings that gave testers trouble. If we discover at this stage that there’s an accidental ambiguity, we might ease up a clue to make sure the puzzle has one clear solution. There is an exception, though: We occasionally run Schrödinger puzzles, which intentionally have more than one solution. The name comes from the idea of Schrödinger’s cat, but instead of a cat being both dead and alive, a Schrödinger puzzle allows for two solutions to work equally well. The most famous example was the puzzle that correctly “predicted” the results of the 1996 presidential election. BOB DOLE ELECTED and CLINTON ELECTED both fit in the central slot of the grid, with answers running through it where the clue worked for two different answers. For instance, [Black Halloween animal] could be BAT or CAT, and [Sewing shop purchase] could be YARD or YARN. We’ve run a decent number of Schrödinger puzzles since then, including a STAR WARS/STAR TREK showdown and a puzzle about U.S. landmarks where NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST, SOUTHEAST and SOUTHWEST all worked as solutions to the same central entry in the grid. Schrödinger puzzles are hard to pull off well, partly because it’s hard to ensure that solvers notice the gimmick. It’s easy for a solver to write in one answer and not even notice that another answer could have worked! It would be a shame to have a constructor work so hard to pull off a feat that goes unnoticed by the solvers.
Solve Friday’s Crossword on Easy Mode!
In today’s Wordplay column, Deb Amlen writes about why a constructor may prefer to construct themed or themeless grids. For expert hints on today’s puzzle, read her column here. Were you able to solve the Friday puzzle with Easy Mode? We want your input! Share your experience with us on the X platform, on Threads or by email. A Quick Cool-DownHow fast can you solve today’s Mini?
Get a ClueMy favorite clue from last week is 9-Down from Saturday, June 21. Think: a flight, for fancy people! 9-Down: Flight of fancy?
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here. P.S. The answer to Get a Clue is PRIVATE JET.
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