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.

Notation

A notation has evolved to allow crosswords to be rendered compactly, and enjoyed by the blind or partially sighted.

Related Topics:
Blind - Partially sighted

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It consists of giving the locations of the black squares in each row as letters (A=1,B=2, etc.), e.g. for the example crossword above:

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• D E
• B D E
•  
• A B D
• A B

Although the numbering scheme could be consistently applied from this information, it is customary to quote the starting square of each clue in (number-letter) format to assist the solver.

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