Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
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Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#2What a fine writer. Posts like this are why I follow Hacker News.
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#3It seems like a certain type of mind would be great at this. I wonder what else being good at cryptic crosswords correlates with.
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#4It seems like a certain type of mind would be great at this. I wonder what else being good at cryptic crosswords correlates with.
Cryptic crosswords were supposedly used to recruiter codebreakers to work at Bletchley park
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#5Cryptic crosswords make me feel very stupid. Even when I give up and look at the answers, some of the time I don’t even understand how the clue suggests the answer, despite practising for several years. That’s when I know the word at all. It’s a humbling experience, but still very addictive!
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#6This article is a nerd snipe. Be forewarned.
I had some hallucinations of spending the next decades solving crossword puzzles as I read that, but they seem so arbitry I would go crazy, I'll stick to mathematics puzzles.
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#7The British penchant for cryptic crosswords is the equivalent of the Russian enthusiasm for chess.
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#8my parents solve these and tried to get me interested. I looked at them and said they would be a good test for AGI.
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#9What a fine writer. Posts like this are why I follow Hacker News.
you might want to see some of his other work, including West Side Story (retelling of Romeo and Juliet itself a retelling of another story) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum....
Re: Stephen Sondheim on How to Do a Crossword Puzzle (1968)
#10I’ve been trying to get into cryptic after getting really good at American crosswords but it’s just so hard to find enough success to keep coming back. A number of constructors do offer hint versions now if you’re a better person/ more stubborn that me. https://squarepursuit.com/