american crosswords: an origin story

Around the beginning of November 2023 I solved my first American-style crosswords. I had been vaguely aware of this style of puzzle¹ previously, via images (including YouTube thumbnails) of NYT grids and the like, but my own crossword experience had all been with UK-style crosswords, the only kind I've seen run by Australian newspapers. I loved (and love!) cryptics in that style, but the "quick" or non-cryptic ones I encountered all paled in comparison, functioning as fairly bland vocabulary tests where if you got stuck, you were just stuck. I had always subconsciously assumed that the American-style puzzles would feel more or less the same, only with even fewer long/interesting words.

When I started solving them it was because I had signed up for Puzzmo, where a midi-sized crossword was one of the daily puzzles. Actually solving these, instead of pre-judging them, made me realise how very unboring these crosswords could be. Every letter having two clues pointing to it meant terms I had never heard before didn't have to prevent me from completing a solve - which also means I can learn all kinds of interesting things along the way. The absence of enumerations by the clues or word boundary indications in the grid opens up a new dimension of ambiguity, as unlikely-seeming letter combinations could be part of an unusual long word ... or multiple smaller words, or an abbreviation.²; Best of all, the line between cryptic and non-cryptic clues is nowhere near as rigid as in UK-style crosswords. Some harder clues verge on what might be seen as an &lit clue in a UK cryptic; many make use of some form of wordplay or misdirection. All these things together make American-style crosswords a space with a lot of room for ambiguity and exploration, and a solving experience that, it turns out, I can't get enough of.

I feel very fortunate to have had Puzzmo crosswords as my introduction to the form. They reflect a diverse range of constructors' experiences, often in very personal, playful, and joyous ways, and felt like a very open and very welcoming door to this segment of the crossworld. I've since branched out to solving many³ other crosswords as well, but I still do Puzzmo's every day - 210 days in a row and counting.

(N.B. I still love UK cryptics, and find them more meaty and satisfying than the American-made ones I've encountered so far. They are two very different solving experiences and there is room in my heart for both 💚)

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1 You can tell that I've gotten into this, because calling them "puzzles" or even "crossword puzzles" was completely bizarre to me six months ago, and now here I am.^↩
2 Puzzmo has an optional setting to enable "pipes" in the grid to assist the solver by indicating word boundaries, I just prefer to have them turned off. ^↩
3Too many.^↩