Plagiarism Scandal In The Crossword World

[Kevin Slater]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-plagiarism-scandal-is-unfolding-in-the-crossword-world/

 

Kevin Slater

[LADoug1]

As an AVID crossword puzzle fan I find this article/issue very interesting but not surprising. I did think though that each puzzle was copyrighted so that's news to me. Also surprised that Will Shortz didn't know about the issue. He rocks. As did Merl Reagle whom I so much miss. I wonder what his reaction would have been?

[gp0560]

I see that the Washington Post does not seem to be involved in this brouhaha in any way. Their online daily puzzle is at http://games.washingtonpost.com/games/daily-crossword/ and the Sunday puzzle at http://games.washingtonpost.com/games/sunday-crossword/#. The daily puzzles seem to follow the conventional sequence of increasing difficulty from Monday to Saturday. The Sunday puzzles are not necessarily the most difficult of the week.

[+ nycman]

The USA Today crossword puzzles are a plagiarized pieces of crap?

 

I can't say that I'm exactly "surprised" by this revelation.

[+ Charlie]

My spouse does a couple of newspaper puzzles every day. Luckily, his short term memory is poor, so normally he wouldn't notice the repeats, but occasionally he will say, "Hey! Wait a minute! I think I've done this puzzle before," because there are some puzzles that re-appear in different papers not long after their original publication (this seems to happen especially in the NYTimes and LATimes).

[+ Funguy]

Interesting! Recently I came across a clue that i remembered from many, many years ago, and it is not a very common one:

 

Clue - Detergent with a lisp?

Answer - thoap

 

I don't remember the rest of the puzzle and whether or not it was a repeat but how many other times could that clue/answer be used without plagiarism? Original was NY Times, recent was LA Times!

[+ purplekow]

Love the NY Times Crosswords. I only do Friday, Saturday and Sunday as I have the weekend home delivery. So now I am totally (six letters surprised A_H___) that this kind of (8 letters illegal obtaining T___V___) is taking place.

[+ nycman]

So now I am totally (six letters surprised A_H___) that this kind of (8 letters illegal obtaining T___V___) is taking place.

 

AgHast - bad clue though. Aghast doesn't really mean "surprised"....it means "struck with fear, dread, or consternation"

 

ThieVery - better.....but still an A _ _ _A _ _ ( 7 letters, lacking grace) clue.

[bobchitown]

Now reports of cheating at the Sudoku tournament.

[+ dutchmuch]

There has a been a plagiarism scandal in the male escort world too.

[+ purplekow]

AgHast - bad clue though. Aghast doesn't really mean "surprised"....it means "struck with fear, dread, or consternation"

 

ThieVery - better.....but still an A _ _ _A _ _ ( 7 letters, lacking grace) clue.

Awkward is the kind of word that can make a crossword puzzle _n__m_____ (9 letters inscrutable)