Triond's top ten search phrases is the theme of this puzzle. Unfortunately, illness delayed my completion of this project. A few of the terms have moved off the list since I constructed the grid. Even so, most of the search terms on the current list are the same as those from ten days ago. Some Triond writers check these terms frequently; this puzzle will contain few surprises for them. For the rest of us, I've included a screenshot of the top ten search terms as they were when I made the puzzle. You can find the solution to the puzzle at the end of the article.
Puzzle
Clues
Across
1. You can get these from chia
5. Long Island or 51
6. Before Pirates of the Caribbean V, we saw POTC _.
8. ___ out means scrape by
9. Where the power of chia is concentrated
10. Acrostico del ___ __ __ madre, Triond's only recent Spanish-language search term in the top 10
12. Kid
14. Social insect
17. Extrasensory Perception
18. High direction
19. Used to attach feathers
20. Disjunctive conjunction
21. Iron ___ Stream
23. Home Box Office
24. This giant bird carried off Sinbad
27. I bring it, and you eat it.
31. Is this gooey stuff good for you?
33. Age
34. Like or __
35. Israel's country code
36. Watch out for this free download
Down
1. Hairstyle named after a teen singer
2. Something indispensable
3. Maradona said this organization "is a big museum."
4. Grab
5. Confederate general
6. Concepts
7. Very special
9. Droop
11. _____ has not yet taken Margaret Thatcher.
13. Purchase
15. Arrest
16. Someone who provokes an argument on the Internet
17. To make a mistake
22. Praise
25. Triond readers are searching for the worst job in this country.
26. Something I do with my little eye
28. A high silk hat
29. Stoner
30. Scottish politician Hardie
31. Scoffing laugh
32. Moray, for one
Notes and Observations
My goal is to crack the crossword market. This crossword is built on a 13 x 13 grid, the minimum saleable size in the U.S. The puzzle also has the 180-degree rotational symmetry required here. The puzzle remains unsaleable in the U.S. for several reasons:
Unchecked squares. In the US each blank square of a crossword puzzle must be checked; that is, the letter for each blank square must be a part of a word from the across list and one from the down list. In the UK, where crossword puzzles have a more lattice-like look, unchecked squares are fine.
Two-letter words. Saleable puzzles have none. Indeed, in the US many editors won't buy puzzles with too many three-letter words.
Too many solid blocks. Ideally, an American crossword should be about 16% solid blocks.
Unchecked squares. In the US each blank square of a crossword puzzle must be checked; that is, the letter for each blank square must be a part of a word from the across list and one from the down list. In the UK, where crossword puzzles have a more lattice-like look, unchecked squares are fine.
Two-letter words. Saleable puzzles have none. Indeed, in the US many editors won't buy puzzles with too many three-letter words.
Too many solid blocks. Ideally, an American crossword should be about 16% solid blocks.
Forbidden topics. Death, drugs, disease and (dare we say it) sex are not acceptable.
Here's a video about making American-style crosswords. Notice the use of software. I use a pencil.
I'll try again soon.
Answer
Top 10 Search Phrases Crossword by Mark Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
On May 22, 2012, a version of this article appeared on Triond's Quazen site:
