Crossword

The crossword is the most common variety of word puzzle in the world. Modern crosswords take the form of a square grid of black and white squares; the aim is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words (or word phrases) reading across and down, by solving clues which yield the words. The black squares (commonly called "blanks") have no letters, and are used to separate words (all contiguous blocks of white squares spell words or phrases). Squares in which answers begin are numbered, left to right, top to bottom. The clues are then referred to by these numbers (ambiguities are resolved by the common practice of referring to clues by both number and direction – for example, "1-Across" or "17-Down"); at the end of the clue the total number of letters is sometimes given for the convenience of the solver, although in many widely distributed American crosswords such as the New York Times and Dell Magazines this is often omitted.

Crosswords in non-English languages

Although the crossword is an English-language invention and predominately an English-language exercise, crosswords are not uncommon in other countries, with clues and entries in other languages. It is common for diacritical markings in such languages to be ignored when placing entries into the solution grid.

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French language crosswords are smaller and not necessarily square: usually 8–13 rows and columns, totalling 81–130 squares. They need not be symmetric and two-letter words are allowed, unlike in most English-language puzzles. Compilers strive to minimize use of black squares. 10% is typical; Georges Perec compiled many 9×9 grids for Le Point with 4 or even 3. http://homepage.urbanet.ch/cruci.com/textes/histoire6.htm Answers are printed in upper case letters. This ensures a proper name can have its initial capital letter checked with a non-capitalizable letter in the intersecting clue. In French-language puzzles, diacritics are omitted for similar reasons (e.g. the initial Ê of answer ÊTRE could double as the final É of CONGÉ when written ETRE and CONGE).

Related Topics:
French language - Georges Perec - Le Point - Upper case - Proper name - Capital - Diacritic

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German language crosswords usually don't number the clues, instead they are found in small print in boxes embedded within the puzzle itself, with a little arrow indicating in which direction from that box the answer is to be written. Those "clue boxes" are usually the only or almost the only "black squares" in German crosswords. When filling in the puzzle, only capital letters are used, the umlauts ä, ö, ü, are dissolved into ae, oe, ue, and ß is dissolved into ss.

Related Topics:
German language - Umlaut - ß

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Particularly curious is the Japanese language crossword; due to the writing system of that nation's language, one syllable (typically katakana) is entered into each white cell of the grid rather than one letter, resulting in the typical solving grid seeming rather small in comparison to those of other languages. Even cipher crosswords have a Japanese equivalent, although pangrammaticity does not apply.

Related Topics:
Japanese language - Katakana

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