There's no place like home...
I’ve been a crossword solver for a long time (my Mom got me started) but recently I started getting more serious about it. Frustrated with how poor my solving skills still were, I decided to research how to be a better solver, and the first suggestion was “try constructing.” So I did, and I found that I like creating puzzles as much as I enjoy solving them. Nice mix of creative wordy stuff and nerdy computer stuff...
I use a computer program (Crossword Compiler) that is used by most constructors, and this makes things a lot easier, but it still takes a surprising amount of work. I normally spend about a week (ie 20-40 work hours) on a puzzle. This includes coming up with a theme, building a grid, filling the grid with words, and writing the clues. Many more experienced constructors are much faster I’m sure.
Constructors have to deal with all sorts of rules and conventions that are not obvious to the casual solver. You can’t put “bad” stuff in puzzles – death, disease, sex, drugs etc are all forbidden; you have to have a certain number of words and a certain number of black spaces; certain grids (word and black space combinations) are forbidden; most puzzles need a theme; the theme entries must be a certain length and must be symmetrical in the grid; some editors require a puzzle title, some don’t allow a title; and so on.
Apparently there are quite a few people doing this, and only a few choice puzzle markets (pretty much all listed above by the way). So, crossword buyers (editors) are in an enviable position. I've heard that some editors get 100 puzzle submissions per week (or more), and of course they can only run 7 puzzles a week, so they are both quite busy and quite choosy. It can be months before an editor accepts a puzzle, and many more months before the puzzle is published.
As the saying goes, if you have to ask you can’t afford it. In other words, it doesn’t pay well. Typically $50-$100 for a “daily” puzzle, $300 for a Sunday.
Nope. Will can write a fine puzzle, but he is pretty busy nowadays, so he buys most (all?) of the NYT puzzles. Will is what we call an editor, which means he accepts or rejects submissions and changes the puzzles and clues as he sees fit. I am what we call a constructor; apparently there are hundreds of us. If you look closely at most puzzles you will see that they include both the name of the editor and the name of the constructor.
Yes. Start with early week puzzles. Monday is the easiest, Saturday is the hardest, Sunday is the biggest but not much harder than a Thursday. Also, you may find it easier to start online; the online apps tell you when you make a mistake, let you “reveal” answers, and so on. Also the online puzzles are usually easier than the printed ones. Most portals and newspapers offer an online crossword now; if you don’t know where to start, give mine a try.
Yes, thats definitely true. Its because of the way the words abut (hey, there's a common crossword word!) When you stack words you need to use common letters like A, E, I, R, S, & T. As a result, words that use those letters tend to show up over and over again in crosswords. In addition, because 3 and 4 letter words occur in puzzles most frequently, the repeated words tend to be 3 and 4 letters. According to at least one source I've seen, the following words are used most often: ERA, AREA, ALE, ERE, ORE, ERIE, ATE, ONE, ELI, and OLE!
After initial newspaper publication, most puzzles are recycled and republished in book form. Some books are organized sequentially; for example my Sept. 2003 NY Sun puzzle appears in the book "72 Puzzles From the Daily Paper #5" which includes all puzzles published in the Sun between June 4, 2003 and Sept. 15, 2003. Other books are themed; so, for example, my NY Times puzzle from July 2003 appears in a 2005 book called "NYT Crosswords to Soothe Your Soul." I'm not going to try to list all puzzle use here (in fact I am not aware of all use as editors own the puzzles after initial publication and they make any further profits from republication), I just wanted to let you know that most of my puzzles are probably available in bookstores if you are interested.