The Week In Crosswords

The news cycle is beginning its annual hibernation. In the world of light, human-interest stories, you can expect to hear about nothing but Christmas, New Year’s, year-end reviews and the Mayapocalypse, so it’s tempting to conclude that crossword news is 99% done for the year. I mean, the biggest story this week seems to be that The Los Angeles Times accidentally published a puzzle a week early, which led to a typo in one clue, and it wasn’t even a typo that affected solvability.

The Guardian‘s puzzle-tracking team is, in fact, so bored that it’s inviting its readers to complain about the problems with cryptic crosswords, and the last time the British were actually invited to complain about something, they drafted the Magna Carta.

The fill-in-the-crossword-blanks app Clueless Crossword Party is free for a limited time and a mere 99 cents afterwards.

Will Shortz’s latest radio interview provides a look at the world of crosswords through the lens of classical music.

Crossword-based gambling has gotten bigger in North Carolina, but there are still no bets being placed on next year’s ACPT championships. As far as we know.

Amy already mentioned this snarky tweet about crossword rankings. Elsewhere on Twitter, young actress Ariana Grande and her mother Joan celebrated Ariana’s crossword fame, Elayne Boosler dreamed of an even bigger form of recognition, and Tyler Hinman and Rex Parker dared to discuss “the WEAKSAUCE divide in America.”

You can give soon-to-be-12-year-old Railey Connor a birthday present if you like, but make sure it’s a gift she can pass on to seniors at nursing homes. She recommends a crossword book. It probably shouldn’t have WEAKSAUCE as an answer.

If you’re like me, you may view this mostly flattering piece about Amazon.com’s most prolific “author,” who’s developed a book-generating program, with mouth agape in horror. So far his crossword books are only the language-tutorial kind of crossword, but don’t be surprised if some well-meaning soul still buys you one for the holidays. Smile. It’s not like they’ll check your bookshelves for it later. You can burn it after they go.