Crossword

Writing crossword clues is a very exact business. Clues need to be entertaining, factually correct, and phrased so that solvers know what they’re asking for — all in the space of just a few words. 

 So where does one go to learn the rules of writing crossword clues? That question arose years ago on a now-defunct New York Times crossword forum, and nobody had an answer. In an attempt to remedy the situation, I came up with the list of 24 rules below. It’s not the final word on the matter, but it does address most of the main issues.

 If you’re looking for even more info about crossword clues, you’ll find the subject addressed in these publications: 1. Patrick Berry’s Crossword Constructor’s Handbook; 2. Matt Gaffney’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Crossword Puzzles & Word Games; 3. The NYT Crosswords to Boost Your Brainpower (with solving and cluing tips from Will Shortz and Frank Longo); 4. Sage Advice on cruciverb.com (some cluing discussion); and 5. Amy Reynaldo’s How to Conquer the NYT Crossword Puzzle (although that’s more about solving than cluing).

1. NUMBER: If the answer is plural, the clue is plural.

2. PARTS OF SPEECH: If the answer is a noun, the clue is a noun. For verbs, if the answer is intransitive, the clue is intransitive.

3. TENSE: If the answer is in the past tense, the clue is in the past tense.

4. FOREIGN: If the answer is French, the clue is French or has a French reference.

5. SLANG: Generally speaking, a slang answer will have a slang clue (and eras must match). But there are three basic categories of words — standard, informal, and slang — and a clue can often move one category without further hint. This rule might be less strictly applied in more difficult puzzles.

6. ABBR.: If the answer is an abbreviation, a common way of handling the clue is to use an abbreviation somewhere in it (especially a word that is not commonly abbreviated). Another way of cluing an abbreviation (especially in easy puzzles) is to use an “(abbr.)” tag at the end of the clue. Note: Acronyms or initialisms that are more commonly abbreviated than not, such as U.S. or NFL, won’t usually signal an abbreviation in the answer. Likewise, in other than easy puzzles, RSVP as an answer doesn’t need to be signaled as an abbreviation in the clue, since no one spells out RSVP.

7. SHORTENED WORDS: An answer that’s a shortened form of a word will be signaled in the clue. For example: “May race, for short” for INDY. “Briefly” or “familiarly” are similarly used as tags. This rule can sometimes be ignored in more difficult puzzles.

8. SUBSTITUTION TEST: The clue must be able to be used the same way in a sentence as the answer. For example: “Started ahead of time” for JUMPED THE GUN. Substitution test: He started ahead of time in the race; He jumped the gun in the race.

9. DIFFICULTY: An obvious answer for a Monday clue will probably be right. An obvious answer for a Saturday clue will probably be wrong.

10, PARENTHESES: “(up)” at the end of a clue indicates “up” follows both the clue and answer. For example: “Liven (up)” for PERK. A parenthetical word or phrase might also provide additional information, such as a synonym for the answer, “Play to ___ (draw)” for A TIE, or a further explanation, “Lhasa ___ (dog breed)” for APSO.

11. ?: A question mark after a clue indicates wordplay or trickery is afoot.

12. KIND OF/TYPE OF: MEAL might be clued as “Kind of plan.” Even though a meal isn’t a kind of plan, “meal plan” is a common phrase. In effect, the clue is using “kind of” instead of a blank: “___ plan.” Some editors will never use this kind of clue, considering it awkward.

13. MULTIPLE WORDS: In many puzzles, answers that are phrases of two or more words are not signaled in the clue. It’s up to the solver to discover this. In easy puzzles, “(2 wds.)” will be used at the end of the clue.

14. QUOTES: A phrase in quotes signals the answer is a similar, spoken phrase. For example, “Can’t be done!” for NO WAY.

15. QUALIFIERS: Clues often use words or phrases as a tag to indicate the clue wouldn’t always be true for the answer. Examples: sometimes, usually, occasionally, of a sort, perhaps, in a way, for one, etc.

16. e.g.: If the clue is an example of the answer, rather than a description, “e.g.” is used. For example: “Atlantic, e.g.” for OCEAN. Similar tags such as “say,” “for example,” and “perhaps” also signal that the answer is more general than the clue.

17. AS: “Use, as an ax” for WIELD gives a bit more context than just “Use.”

18. NAMES: When a clue asks for the name of a person, the answer is the last name (or sometimes the full name). If the person’s first name is being asked for, there must be a signal in the clue, such as including the person’s last name, the first name of a role he/she played, or the first name of a costar.

19. MYTHS: If a clue uses a disputed fact, a tag such as “supposedly” or “they say” is used.

20. VAR.: If you see “Var.” at the end of the clue, prepare for cringing. This is an indication that the constructor and editor couldn’t find a way around using a variant spelling. Luckily, this is rare these days, but the good news is that it’s probably also an indication that there’s really nice stuff nearby in the grid to make up for it.

21. REPETITION: An answer word won’t be used in its own clue. Generally speaking, no answer word from the entire grid will be used in any of the clues, except for common words like THE, OF, AND, and so on. The same answer word won’t appear twice in the same grid, although sometimes small parts of answers, such as ON, might appear more than once. These rules do vary depending on the editor and circumstances.

22. WITH: In a clue such as Become understood, with “in”, the answer needs “in” after it to fit the clue. In this case, the answer is SINK, since sink in = become understood. • A clue such as “Word with tea or ground” is looking for a word that either precedes or follows both words. Possible answers: BALL can follow both; HIGH can precede both. In easier puzzles, the clue will likely use the more definitive “before” or “after” instead of “with.” • A clue tag such as “with 22-Across” means the answer continues and the end of it appears at 22-Across.

23. BRACKETS: A clue contained within brackets indicates a non-verbal answer. For example, [Uh-oh!] could be a clue for GULP, as opposed to “Uh-oh!” (in quotes), which might clue YIKES. Likewise, [What a dreamboat!] is a clue for SIGH. Think of these clues as interpretations of what a sound or gesture might mean.

24. ARTICLES: Although articles are usually not used at the beginning of a clue — such as “Australian bird” for EMU, rather than “An Australian bird” — articles should be used in the middle of a clue. For example, KIWI should be “Fruit with a fuzzy skin,” not “Fruit with fuzzy skin.” An exception to the no-article-at-the-start rule is “A Great Lake” for ERIE, since there are five choices.

Are you thinking of finally starting your crossword puzzle blog? Whether you’re a new constructor or would just like editorial freedom over your puzzles, a blog is a great way to publish in a low-pressure environment.

I’m Nishant, and I recently set up the India Mini crossword blog on WordPress. In the process, I encountered many challenges and discovered interesting things about starting a crossword puzzle blog. In this guide, I’m sharing some learnings from the experience.

Why Start a Crossword Puzzle Blog?

This is the first question you should answer: what am I looking for with a crossword puzzle blog? Starting a crossword puzzle blog can serve multiple purposes. It can be a platform for sharing your passion, a community hub for fellow enthusiasts, and even a source of income through subscriptions, advertising, and partnerships. Every decision henceforth will be based on your goals. For example:

• If it’s a hobby, it would be best to choose free options for a blogging platform and a tool for creating your crosswords. Design and statistics also won’t matter to you that much. You could set up such a blog relatively quickly.
• If it’s a venture, or could potentially be one in the future, you might want to publish ads or sell subscriptions to your crosswords. This is where the choice of platforms and design decisions end up mattering quite a bit.

So start by deciding what you want out of the project.

Finding Your Niche

The next step in starting your crossword blog is to find your unique angle. The world doesn’t need another generic set of puzzles, and you might have trouble getting traction for your blog without the right niche.

Thankfully, the crossword community is diverse, with interests ranging from casual puzzles to cryptic challenges. Your blog could focus on a particular type of crossword, such as American-style, cryptic, or thematic puzzles. Alternatively, you could cater to a specific skill level, from beginners to advanced solvers.

With the India Mini crosswords, for example, I set up a blog only for solvers who are aware of the Indian context. Find the niche you’d like to cater to and get started.  

Setting Up Your Blog

1. Choose a Crossword Platform

Start by choosing a platform to construct and publish your puzzles. We, of course, recommend PuzzleMe here. (Full disclosure: We are the creators of PuzzleMe). It’s the most powerful crossword puzzle maker and offers a polished experience for your solvers. The best part is that it’s entirely free for non-commercial users. If you’re doing this as a hobby, it’s a great option to consider.

Revered crossword constructors like Will Nediger, Paolo Pasco and Mangesh Ghogre use PuzzleMe to add crosswords to their blog. Check out a list of popular constructors and links to their blogs here.

2. Set Up a Blog

There are several blogging platforms to choose from, such as WordPress, Blogspot, Wix, and Squarespace. Each offers various customization options and ease of use. Keep in mind, though, that the free WordPress.com plan does not allow iframe embeds. 

For the India Mini, we used a combination of a paid WordPress plan and Elementor to build the site.

If you’d like to create a free blog without much hassle, Blogger is a great option. The benefit of using Blogger is that you could publish your writing, have a nice About page, and add your crosswords to the same website. Will Nediger’s crossword blog runs on Blogger. You can see what that looks like here.

Design and User Experience

Your blog’s design should be clean and navigable, ensuring that visitors can easily find and solve puzzles. Thankfully, PuzzleMe takes care of this to a large extent for you. If you have any trouble embedding your puzzles into your blog, you can get in touch with us at support@amuselabs.com. 

Content Creation

Content is king in the blogging world. For a crossword blog, this means a steady stream of puzzles. You can create puzzles yourself using PuzzleMe. Magic Fill in particular is a feature that’s useful for building mini-puzzles. All you have to do is select the size of your grid and the words you would like included, and Magic Fill will find possible fill options for your puzzle. 

Building an Audience

SEO and Keywords

To attract visitors, your blog needs to be visible on search engines. Research keywords related to crosswords and incorporate them into your blog posts, titles, and meta descriptions.

For the India Mini crossword, the important keywords include ‘small crosswords’ and ‘Indian crosswords’ among others. You can learn how to use Google’s keyword planner to find relevant keywords for your niche. 

Social Media and Community Engagement

Leverage social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn to share your content and engage with the crossword community. Join crossword forums and groups to participate in discussions and promote your blog.

By default, PuzzleMe nudges your solvers to post their results on social media. When they do, you can interact with their posts to boost visibility.

Email Marketing

An email newsletter can be a powerful tool for building a loyal readership. Collect email addresses from your visitors to keep them informed about new puzzles and posts. To make sure your newsletter reaches the right audience and delivers relevant content, it’s essential that the information you collect is accurate and complete. If you are collecting their information through HubSpot CRM, implementing HubSpot form validation will help verify email addresses and other form inputs, ensuring that your subscriber list is reliable and your campaigns are more effective. If you’re using PuzzleMe, it’s easy to collect names and email addresses at the start of your puzzle. See the video guide to set this up here:

Push Notifications

Another great way of reaching your solvers is through push notifications. For this, you can use a service like OneSignal. Follow the instructions on their website to add OneSignal to your website, and it’ll start prompting your solvers to sign up for notifications.

Once you have a significant number of sign-ups, you can send a push notification each time you publish a new puzzle. The best part is that this doesn’t require collecting any information regarding your solvers.

Monetizing Your Blog

Once you have a steady flow of traffic, you can explore monetization options. These can include:

• Advertising: Display ads on your blog through networks like Google AdSense. Keep in mind that this requires scale, as most ad programs require that you have at least 50,000 visitors over the past month to qualify to run ads. 
• Affiliate Marketing: Partner with puzzle book publishers or apps and earn commissions on sales. Mangesh Ghogre, for example, uses the puzzles on his website to promote his crossword book. 
• Subscriptions: Offer premium content or ad-free solving experiences for a subscription fee. Plenty of such options have emerged, like The Puzzle Society. 
• Merchandise: Sell crossword-themed merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts, and books. You can include links to the content you’d like to sell in the end-message of your puzzle. 

Track your analytics

With PuzzleMe, you get a lot of useful data about your solvers. You get to know what percentage of them completed a puzzle, how many times your puzzle was played, and even a heatmap of how difficult solvers found your clues. 

Conclusion

Starting a crossword puzzle blog is an exciting journey that blends creativity, community, and technology. You can turn your love of crosswords into a thriving online hub by offering engaging content, a user-friendly experience, and a personal touch.

Remember, the key to a successful blog is passion. If you love what you’re doing, it will shine through in your content, and your audience will grow. So, set up your domain, create your crossword puzzle, and step into the world of crossword blogging. Happy puzzling!