Support the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project

All donations to XWord Info made during the month of August will go to David Steinberg and the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project.

With help from Barry Haldiman and several others, David Steinberg is on a mission to amass digitized versions of published NYT puzzles from before Will Shortz became editor. XWord Info will host these puzzles as each full year becomes available so they can be analyzed or even solved online. You can see 1993 grids now and 1992 is coming soon with many more years arriving later.

Mr. Steinberg has just finished ninth grade but he already has five published NYT puzzles as well as crosswords in several other venues. Somehow he has enough time to be a cruciverbal archeologist too.

Opinions about pre-Shortz puzzles seem to fall into two buckets. Either you long for the days before all those recent shenanigans like circles and Rap singers and wacky wordplay, or you make fun of all the archaic restrictions that prevented, for example, OREO from being clued as anything other than “Mountain: Comb.form.”

The truth is more complicated, of course. Yes, the infamous Celebes ox raises his head from time to time, J, Q, X and Z are rare, and there are enough complex Roman Numeral math problems to make Peter Gordon blush (I actually like those clues) but there is an amazing amount of creative ingenuity as well. I was going to write a long blog post about some of my favorites but it turns out there already is a blog dedicated to these older puzzles. It’s written by (you’ll never guess) David Steinberg. I highly recommend it: www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com. Check out the various tabs.

Remember, every penny donated in August goes to David and his project. How will he spend this windfall? He’s too young for college so I guess it goes to collecting comic books or hustling pool or whatever 15-year-olds do these days. New XWord Info accounts get you full access to the site for a year. If you already have an account, you can still donate. I don’t have “renew” wired up yet so send me mail and I’ll extend your subscription for a year. For now, all the pre-Shortz puzzles are outside the paywall (i.e., they’re free) and, as always, direct links to any XWord Info page from crossword blogs pass through unchecked.

Click here to donate now.

Comments

[Jim Horne]

Interesting 1988 article from David's blog called "Puzzle Makers Exchange Cross Words" http://nyti.ms/T2iviI

[Rajiv]

have just come across this and am in an autslboe state of rapture! thank you so very much! someone has even provided the date to the harry potter crossword i was looking for- how thoughtful! your website was mentioned at the DA talk at the wheeler centre last night- i wanted to ask if there was an archive of his crosswords, but it seemed like such a mundane question am stoked to have been able to find it. p.s. i don't suppose anyone has managed to find the cloudstreet crossword, have they? i seem to recall it was around the same time as harry potter- will have a dig through and post the date. from one very happy gal!

[Mansi]

Thanks Julie! I love crosswords and am glad to have the links to all of these. I do the one on yahoo games evedyray. They have a regular and master level too. The regular lets you know when the letter is incorrect. I also do a Sudoku and Word Search (Word Roundup) from there. There are two different crosswords: The Daily Crossword and The Daily Crossword with Hints.I don't The Daily Crossword with Hints as well as the first, but that's just my opinion. I either do these first thing in the morning or in the afternoon when I need a break. I think doing the different types keeps my brain active and gets rid of any sluggishness I'm feeling.

[Bahar]

Found it! The Premiers Crossword (2004/05/14)Also The First Palindromes Crossword (04/06/2004); The Latham vs Howard Crossword (08/10/2004); The If You Want to Make an Omelette Crossword (17/06/2005); The Canine Crossword (16/09/2005); The Card Game Crossword (21/10/2005); The Harry Potter Crossword (21/01/2006); The Dinosaur Crossword (19/05/2006); The Animated Feature Crossword ( 06/10/2006); The Peter Allen Crossword (17/11/2006); and The Snooker Crossword (08/12/2006).Mr Zimmerman still eluding me.