The Fun Side of Crosswordese

Crossword.

Anyone who solves crosswords is familiar with some aspect of crosswordese, even if they don’t know it by that name. Crosswordese consists of words that appear frequently in puzzles, but not nearly as often in conversation or common use. My favorite variation on that definition is “words that crop up a lot in grids but are otherwise pretty useless.”

Part of becoming a better solver is building a personal lexicon of crosswordese and common crossword words so you’re not getting tripped up by the same obscurities, peculiarities, and cruciverbalist celebrities that so often occupy those black-and-white grids we enjoy.

Some of these words seem destined to remain obscure. ETUI will most likely never become commonplace. Most people don’t fence, and couldn’t tell an EPEE from a foil or a saber.

Oona-Chaplin

[Image courtesy of Celebs.Infoseemedia.com.]

Others are cyclical. OONA was Chaplin’s wife, until her granddaughter of the same name become a featured player in the first few seasons of Game of Thrones. Similarly, both ELSAS Lancaster and the movie feline have Frozen to thank for that name gaining new life in puzzles these days.

(Here’s hoping there’s a crop of Eastern-European actresses that will storm TV and film soon and breathe new life into clues for ONA, UNA, UTA, and OSA.)

But, for the most part, crosswordese evokes negative feelings. It’s easy to come up with a list of the words that irk us — the ones we’ve never encountered in the real world, or the ones that we simply cannot remember, even after filling them into a dozen grids or more.

But today I’d like to focus on the ones I do enjoy, the strange words I’ve learned through crossword solving and construction that have broadened my vocabulary and sent my mind down unexpected tangents and pathways I would’ve never otherwise wandered through.

edsel

[Image courtesy of Driving.ca.]

EDSEL

It’s amazing how a convenient letter pattern can keep an infamous failure in the minds of solvers decades and decades later. It was only manufactured for two years, and that was SIXTY years ago. And yet, whenever I see “Ford flop” or something similar as a clue, I always smile. It’s universal at this point.

NE’ER

There’s a lot of poetic license — see what I did there? — taken with poetry terms in crosswords, and most of them are well-and-truly overused. But for some reason, NEER ne’er bothers me. In fact, I enjoy seeing it. It probably has to do with “ne’er-do-well,” which is an incredibly fun term to throw around. It’s right up there with “deipnosophist” and “raconteur” as far as descriptive terms that need to make a comeback.

iago

[Image courtesy of Digital Spy.]

IAGO

He was first clued as a master manipulator from the works of Shakespeare, then as a conniving Disney sidekick who slowly turns toward the light over the course of the franchise. In either case, he’s a fascinating character whose handy combination of vowels ensures he’ll be a part of crosswords for years to come.

obiwanobi

[Images courtesy of StarWars.com and Polina Couture.]

OBI

As someone who is both a Star Wars fan and deeply interested in Japanese culture, I always enjoy when OBI makes an appearance in a grid. (More for the former reasons than the latter, if I’m being honest.)

In fact, this blog entry inspired me to search XWordInfo to see when OBI started being clued as part of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s name (twice, which is weird yet lyrical) and not just as a Japanese sash.

Although the character debuted in the first Star Wars film in 1977, his name wasn’t used in The New York Times crossword to clue OBI until 1990!

These are just the first common crossword entries that came to mind. There are a few others, not to mention all of the neat animals — mostly bird-related or African in origin — that crop up in crosswords. KEA and ROC, IBEX and ELAND, OKAPI and RATEL, just to name a few.

But now I turn the subject over to you, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers. What are your favorite common crossword words or bits of crosswordese that appear in grids but don’t irk you? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.


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Hot Puzz(le): The Hashtag Game Returns!

hashtaggameheader

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For years now, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzleQuotes, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles with quotes from famous movies!

Examples include: “Go ahead, make my Daisy” or “You’re a wizard words, Harry!” or “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your Blips together and blow.”

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!


“Son, what we got here is a failure to Make the Connection.” (Cool Hand Luke)

“You’re gonna need a bigger Quotefind.” / “You’re gonna need a bigger Bowl Game.” (Jaws)

“I ate his liver with fava beans and a nice Keyword.” (The Silence of the Lambs)

“Wheels before Zod!” (Superman 2)

“We’ll always have Pairs.” (Casablanca)

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do Word-A-Mat.” (2001: A Space Odyssey)

“All work and no Word Play makes Jack a dull boy.” / “All work and no play makes Crackerjacks a dull boy.” (The Shining)

“I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m just gonna bash your Brain Boosters in.” (The Shining)

“Here and There‘s Johnny!” (The Shining)

“Don’t you worry! Never fear! Robin Hood will soon be Here and There!” (Looney Tunes: Rabbit Hood)

“E.T Text Message home.” (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial)

“Nobody puts Baby in the Four Corners!” (Dirty Dancing)

“Don’t Kriss Kross the streams” (Ghostbusters)

“You’re a daisy if you do” / “You’re no daisy. No daisy at all.” (Tombstone)

“Crackers and Frameworks! That’s what Penny does!” (Wedding Crashers)

“Whatever. Make me a Blockbuilders, clown.” (Wedding Crashers)

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t Give and Take a damn.” (Gone With the Wind)

“Seek thee out, the Diamond Mine in the rough.” (Aladdin)

“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna Take It from There anymore!” (Network)

“If you Build-a-Quote, he will come.” (Field of Dreams)

“Fredo, you’re my brother and I love you. But don’t ever takes sides with anyone against the Crypto-Family again. Ever.” (The Godfather)

“Leave the gun, take the Chips.” (The Godfather)

“I’m not sure that I agree with you a hundred percent on your Framework there, Lou.” (Fargo)

“Places, Please sir, may I have another?” (Animal House)

“I’m a friend of Sarah Connor. I was told she was here. Could I see her Places, Please?” (The Terminator)

Morpheus believes he is The One and Only. (The Matrix)

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my One and Only hope. (Star Wars)

“May the Foursomes be with you.” (Star Wars)

“I find your lack of Frameworks disturbing.” (Star Wars)

“I love puzzles.”
“I know.” (The Empire Strikes Back)

“Follow the yellow Brick By Brick road.” (The Wizard of Oz)

“There’s no place like Home Runs, there’s no place like Home Runs.” (The Wizard of Oz)

“Nothing goes over my Headings! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.” (Guardians of the Galaxy)

“I am Groot.” (Guardians of the Galaxy)

“‘We gotta do somethin’.’ I don’t know why ‘we’ always has to be me every damn time. We, we, we. What do I look like, an expert in Bookworms?” (Tremors)

“There’s no crying in Bingo.” (A League of Their Own)

“Love means never having to Say That Again?” (Love Story)

“Go Fish, make my day.” (Sudden Impact)

“That’s a lot of Go Fish.” (Godzilla)

“Right Angles turn, Clyde.” (Any Which Way But Loose)

“Me and Jenny was like Places, Please and carrots.” (Forrest Gump)

“One time Abacus said you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them…” (To Kill a Mockingbird)

“I am big, it’s the Picture Pairs that got small.” (Sunset Boulevard)

“Now, go away, or I shall taunt you a second Halftime!” (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)


Several intrepid puzzlers went above and beyond in their efforts as well!

The first recreated a classic conversation from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

“Stoplines! Guess Who would Crisscross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions Three from Nine, ere the other side he see!”
“Ask me the questions, Bridge-Keep On Moving-er. I’m not afraid!”
“What is your By Any Other Name?”
”My Crypto-Name is Sir Lancelot of Camelot!”
”What is your Word Quest?”
”To Triangle Seek the Holy Grail!”
”What is your favorite Color By Numbers?”
“Blue!”
”Fine! Pair Off you go!”

The second contributor went more contemporary, reworking one of Liam Neeson’s most chilling moments from the film Taken:

I don’t know “Who’s Calling.” I don’t know “What’s Next.” If you’re looking for “A Perfect Ten,” I can tell you I don’t have “Buried Treasure” but what I do have are a very particular set of “Split Personalities.” “Split Personalities” I have acquired over a very long career. “Split Personalities” that make me a “Dilemma” for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the “End of the Line.” I will not “Crossblock” you, I will not “Pathfinder” you. But if you don’t, I will “Crossblock” you, I will “Pathfinder” you and I will “Samurai Sudoku” you.


Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzle Quotes entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: The Wonderful World of Wordplay edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellPuzzleDisney hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzleDisney, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and anything and everything having to do with characters, songs, theme parks, and all things Disney!

Examples include: The Jungle Bookworms, A Whole New Word Seek, or Lilo & Stretch Letters!

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!


Disney Puzzle Films, Shows, and Characters!

Crypto-Family Robinson / Swiss Family Ties Robinson

Beauty and the Beat the Clock / Beauty and the Word Seek

Zoo-Doku-topia

Abacus in Wonderland

The Throwbacks of Notre Dame

The Little Puzzler Mermaid / The Little MerMaze

Buried Treasure Island

101 Associations / A 101 Quotations

The Sword in the Stepping Stones

Mary Stoplines

Escape to Which Way Words Mountain

The Windowbox and the Hound

White Fan’ Words

These Three Musketeers / The Three of a Kind Musketeers

Oliver and Three’s Company

The Lotto King

Crackerella

Al-add-one / AladdIn the Middle

Crisscross-topher Robin

Crackerjacks Sparrow

Pollyanagrams

Peter Panagrams

National Treasure Hunt

Monsters, Incognito

Cruella De-V-Words

Monkeys Go Home Runs

The Lucky Star to the Right

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey-comb Tree

The Three Little Piggybacks

Off with her Heads & Tails

Cross Aristocats

The Jumble Book

Disney’s Into the Tanglewoods

Sheriff Callie’s Wild Window Boxes

Mickey Mouse Cryptohouse

Minnie’s Mixed Bag of Tricks!

Pluto in the Round

Snow Whitelines and The Shadow Dwarfs


Disney Theme Park Puzzles!

The Wonderful Codeword of Disney

Anagram Magic Kingdom / Animal Crackers Kingdom

Epcot In the Middle (or is it center???…)

The Carousel of Progress-ions

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spinwheel


Disney Song Puzzles!

“When You Wish Upon a Starspell”

“Whistle While You Framework”

“Be Our Guest Star Framework”

“The Pairs Necessities”

“Some Day My Printout Will Come”

“Under the ABC’s”

“It’s a Small Change (After All)”

“Can You Paint with All the Color by Numbers of the Wind?” / “Color of the Wind-ow Boxes”

“Circles in the Square of Life” / “The Full Circle of Life”

“Do You Want to Build-A-Pyramid?”

“Let It Go Fish”

“Heigh Ho HeigHocus Pocus”

“A Whole New Whirlybird”

“Song of the North South”

“You’ll Fill-In My Heart”

“Little Puzzler Showers”

“Step by Step in Time”

“Kakuro Matata”

“Be True To Your Hearts and Flowers”

“Bibbidi Bobbidi Boomerang” / “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Book” / “Bippity-Boppity-Bookworms”

“Zip-It Dee Doo Dah, Zip-It Dee Ay!
My oh my what a Number-Jumble day!
Plenty of Sunrays Headings my way!
Zip-It Dee Doo Dah, Zip-It Dee Ay!”


Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzle Disney entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Movie Quote Puzzle edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellMovieQuotes hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’re been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny/Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was Penny/Dell Movie Quotes, mashing up Penny/Dell puzzles and favorite quotes from the world of film!

Examples might be “Go ahead, make my Daisy,” or “You’re a wizard words, Harry!” or “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your Blips together and blow.”

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny/Dell Puzzles came up with!


“Su-percalifragilisticexpiali-doku!” — Mary Poppins

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give an Anagram.” / “Frameworks, my dear, I don’t give a Cryptogram!” / “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a diagramless.” / “Frankly, my dear, I don’t Give (and Take) a damn!” — Gone With the Wind

“May the Four Squares be with you.” / “May the Cryptograms be with you.” — Star Wars

“Luke, I am your Matchmaker.” — Star Wars

“I find your lack of Face to Face disturbing.” — Star Wars

“These are not the Drop-Outs you are looking for.” — Star Wars

“Are you a good Which Way Words or a bad Which Way Words?” — The Wizard of Oz

“I’ll get you my pretty. And your Little Puzzler, too!” — The Wizard of Oz

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Cancellations anymore.” — The Wizard of Oz

“Linkwords, and Tie-Ins, and Blips! Oh my!” — The Wizard of Oz

“There’s no Places, Please like home.” — The Wizard of Oz

“Soylent Green is Places, Please!” — Soylent Green

“Release the Kakuro.” — Pirates of the Caribbean 2

“What’s Left ain’t no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What’s Left?” — Pulp Fiction

“Word Play it, Sam.” — Casablanca

“We’ll always have Pair Off.” — Casablanca

“Take your Pair Off me, you damned dirty ape!” — Planet of the Apes

“They’re Here and There!” — Poltergeist

“Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Come on In the Middle!” — Blazing Saddles

“Mongo only pawn in Dart Game of life.” — Blazing Saddles

“You’re gonna need a bigger Framequote.” — Jaws

“I’ll find him for Three from Nine. I’ll catch him, and kill him, for ten.” — Jaws

“Bubbles! Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. My bubbles.” — Finding Nemo

“InconceivaBubbles!” — The Princess Bride

“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to Dice Game.” — The Princess Bride

“Just when I thought I was Takeouts, they pull me back Fill-In!” — The Godfather, Part III

“My father made him an All Fours he couldn’t refuse.” — The Godfather

“I am big! It’s the Picture Pairs that got small!” — Sunset Blvd.

“There’s no crying in Quotefalls.” — A League of Their Own

“Love means never having to Say That Again.” — Love Story

“Every time a Diamond Rings an angel gets his wings.” — It’s a Wonderful Life

“Shall we play a Bowl Game?” — WarGames

“If you Build-A-Pyramid, he will come.” — Field of Dreams

“Hang onto your turban kid, we’re gonna make you a Stars and Arrows!” — Aladdin

“E.T. phone Home Runs.” — E.T.: The Extraterrestrial

“I’m the king of the Word Games!” — Titanic

“You can’t handle the Try-Angles!” — A Few Good Men

“What… is your By Any Other Name? What… is your Word Quest? What… is your favorite Color By Numbers?” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail

“I coulda had Crostics…. I coulda been a contender…. I coulda been somebody.” — On the Waterfront

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question…. Do you feel Logic Problem? Well do ya punk?” — Sudden Impact

“Houston, we have a Logic Problem!” — Apollo 13

“Win just One and Only for the Gipper!” — Knute Rockne, All American

“Who’s on First and Last?” — The Naughty Nineties

“Life was like a Windowbox of chocolates.” — Forrest Gump

“Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masterwords champion.” — Caddyshack


One of our fellow puzzlers even submitted an anecdote:

Little known fact…during the filming of the steamy car scene in Titanic, Leo DiCaprio snuck in a Penny Press puzzle magazine, and was heard passionately shouting to co-star Kate Winslet, “I’m the king of the Word Seek!,” which James Cameron subsequently misquoted for their famous romantic scene on the ship’s deck.

Have you come up with any Penny/Dell Movie Quotes of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Broadway Puzzles edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellBroadwayPuzzles hashtag game!

[Sir Ian McKellen, exhausted from coming up with puns all night.]

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’re been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny/Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was Penny/Dell Broadway Puzzles!

Examples of shows might be “Oooooooooooooklahoma Runs!” and examples of songs might be “(I Am) Sixteen Going on Seven-Ups” or “Give and Take My Regards to Broadway.”

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny/Dell Puzzles came up with!


Shows!

Figgerits on the Roof / Fiddler’s Frame on the Roof (featuring the smash song Matchmaker)

Keep On Movin’ Out

Les MiséraBubbles

The Bookworms of Mormon / The Book of Bricks and Mortar

La Cage aux Fill-Ins

Lucky Starlight Express

Jesus Christ Superstarspell / Jesus Christ Superscore

The Mystery Word of Edwin Drood / The Mystery Person of Edwin Drood

A Chorus Line ‘em Up / Draw the Chorus Line / End of the Chorus Line / A Crostic Line

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Foursomes / Four(-um) Corners / Four Square

How to Succeed in Boxes Without Really Trying

A Little Puzzler Night Music

The Fan Words of the Opera / The Shadow of the Opera

Sunrays Boulevard

Oh! (Quote) Cal-cu(la)ta!

Hair-A-Letter

The Best Little Scoreboard in Texas / The Best Little “Score”house in T(ripl)ex-as

Annie-gram

Annie-gram Get Your Gun

Fill-Into the Woods / Drop-In to the Woods

Avenue (Q)uotagrams

Kiss Me, Kate-gories

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Timed Framework

Godspell(down) / Godspellbound / God Spell it out

Can-Can Cancellations

Les Miz(sing Vowels)

The WIZard Words

Wizard Words of Oz, featuring the song “Follow the Yellow Brick By Brick Road”

Bowl Mame

The Pajama Bowl Game

Cactus Flower Power

The 25th Annual Putnam County Starspelling Bee

Odds and Evens Couple by Neil Simon Says

The Merry Window Boxes

A Balancing Act of God

Kiss of the Spider’s Web

Drummerman of La Mancha


Songs!

“Ya Got Double Trouble” (The Music Man)

“Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Quick Quote” (Guys and Dolls)

“There’s a Places, Please for Us” (West Side Story)

“The Circle Sums of Life” (The Lion King)

“Dance: Ten, Looks: Three from Nine” / “Dance a Perfect Ten, Looks Three of a Kind” (A Chorus Line)

“I Don’t Need Anything But You Know the Odds” (Annie)

“Scoremaster of the House” (Les Miserables)

“Getting to Know You Know the Odds” (The King & I)

Mamma Mia needs some Alphabet Soup!!” (Mamma Mia)

“Surrey with the Fringe On Top to Bottom” (Oklahoma!)

“Ease on Down the Crossroads” (The Wiz)

“Cell Blockbuilders Tango” (Chicago)

“I Don’t Know How To Solve This” (and I’ve solved so many puzzles before…) (Jesus Christ Superstar)

“No Places, Please Like London” (Sweeney Todd)

“No Good Deal” (Wicked)

“Grease Is the Codeword” (Grease)

“A Whole New Word Trails” (Aladdin)

“I’m Still Here & There” (Follies)


Some of our Twitter followers also got in on the fun, with @MicMcCracken tweeting “Les Misery Loves Company!”

And, naturally, it wouldn’t be a PuzzleNation game unless someone went above and beyond the call of duty. This time around, fellow PuzzleNationer Debra created a puzzly version of the opening stanza of “My Favorite Things”!

Crosswords and Word Seeks and Sudoku
Fill-Ins and Ken-Kens and Logic Problems too
Codewords and Crostics and Diamond Rings
These are a few of my favorite things!


All in all, the game was great fun!

Have you come up with any Penny/Dell Broadway Puzzles of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!