I continue to have a
interest in cryptic crosswords, but now that I have settled into the USA, I
have a strong urge to be involved in the North American crossword community.
American puzzles turn out to be a great way of discovering the local culture;
I'm also finding that my increased knowledge of American puzzle construction is
feeding into improvements in my
crossword software.
I started the Crossword Man
Blog at the beginning of 2009 to write about my experiences of two specific
puzzles: the New York Times crossword and
the NPR
Sunday Puzzle. These posts record the clues and answers I don't understand,
as well as any cultural differences between Britain and America that may be
highlighted. Plus they include "Crucimetrics", an analysis of the
grid construction.
I also competed in the
American Crossword Puzzle
Tournament in February 2009 (coming 479th out of 674 competitors) and in
February 2010 (309th out of 643) a showing I hope to improve on again
next year!
Another ambition is to get puzzles published in the American press, and I
have already begun submitting ideas to the editors of the
New York Times and
Los Angeles Times puzzles.