What we collect
1. American-style crosswords, in English
- We collect the kind of dense, fully interlocked puzzles usually termed “American-style”.
- We do not collect: English-style (cryptic) puzzles; European-style puzzles; acrostics
- We collect puzzles written primarily in English and targeted to an English-speaking audience.
(Individual clues or answers may use non-English words).
- We collect puzzles of any size from very small to very large.
- Allowed with reservations: “diagramless” puzzles (with no given blocks) and “criss-cross” puzzles
(sparse grids with unchecked letters), are not specifically targeted for collection,
but allowed as part of a larger series that contains normal American-style crosswords.
2. Made by a person
A person made the puzzle: chose the answers and wrote the clues.
- Puzzles generated by a program or an AI, with no one constructing or editing them, are out.
- Use of construction software is obviously allowed. Word lists, autofill and grid tools are how
most puzzles are made now; what matters is that someone is behind the finished puzzle.
- No byline doesn’t mean no person. Many puzzles, old and new, ran uncredited.
3. Part of a series of at least 10
The puzzle belongs to a publication series with at least 10 puzzles: a regular recurring feature
in a newspaper or magazine, a numbered series on a blog or web site, a book or published
collection, or an app that adds puzzles regularly. Below that, we feel a publication isn’t worth the
effort to add, except in special circumstances.
- Contributions of fewer than 10 puzzles are still encouraged, provided they
are part of a larger series. They form a placeholder until more can be
located, or fill gaps in an existing series.
- A publication that has just started should wait until it has reached 10 puzzles in a series.
- Mass-market puzzle books and magazines (the kind sold in supermarkets)
technically qualify (assuming they meet rules 1 and 2), though they are not a priority for collection.
- Puzzles shown in apps qualify, provided they are part of a numbered or dated series of 10 or more.
4. Likely to have been solved by at least 10 people
To qualify for inclusion the puzzle must have been published, and reached a non-trivial audience:
at least 10 people could plausibly have seen and solved it. This rules out:
- unpublished drafts;
- blogs and apps with few readers or users;
- one-off or novelty puzzles for advertisements, photo shoots, etc
Exception to the above: puzzles that are in some way noteworthy
We will bend the above rules for puzzles deemed “noteworthy” for some reason.
For example we might consider novelty puzzles or unpublished drafts from particularly
well-known constructors. Or a crossword puzzle that appears in a fictional work of note
(eg a novel, or a scene in a TV show or movie).
Deciding
- In general, the rules above apply to the publication/series. Once a series is defined
in
publications.tsv, all of its puzzles are in scope too, unless a particular puzzle fails
rule 1 above.
- A cryptic that’s part of an otherwise American-style series (a numbered blog series, a
newspaper’s yearly cryptic) may stay, so the series has no hole in it. List its xdid in
cryptics.tsv, with a note, so analyses can filter it out. This is a
stop-gap: the puzzles listed there may be removed later. [proposed]
- If you aren’t sure, flag it in the merge request or contact us on Discord before
doing the import.