Comments on: General Crossword Discussion

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:29:38 +0000

Hi Robert,
You could try contacting the Guardian crosswordv editor at crossword.editor@guardian.co.uk

By: Robert Clarida

Robert Clarida — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 23:28:11 +0000

An odd request — as a birthday gift for one of my colleagues here in the US, I am trying to obtain an autograph from Guardian setter Rufus. All suggestions welcome. Happy holidays!

By: Tony Welsh

Tony Welsh — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:36:35 +0000

Hi, Gaufrid.

Was not really complaining. I’m just not used to solving the puzzle before the solution is posted! I live in US too, and do the crossword on the physically delivered paper after having perused the news. But I am retired, which helps!

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:02:41 +0000

Hi Tony
About 2 minutes after your comment was added! Please bear in mind that two of the FT bloggers (Agentzero and smiffy) live in the States so unless they are able to solve the puzzle and write a blog before they go to bed it will be mid-afternoon before a post appears.

By: Tony Welsh

Tony Welsh — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:53:35 +0000

Have solved today’s FT (13576, FLIMSY) but do not see a posting for it. When will posting appear?

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:24:12 +0000

Sylvia: I sometimes use the “Google type to search the web” box to complete clues from a couple of initial letters. For example, if I had j_k_f__, I would try typing jak, then jik etc in the box which then suggests some alternatives, until I found a solution.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:43:07 +0000

I hardly ever use general engines for crosswords. I have crap recall of synonyms etc, so I use sundry word list generators to compensate, mainly the Chambers Word Wizard. If I need more general info then being creative with Wikipedia searches is all I usually need. I use that for the simple reason that if you use a general search engine, then most of the time a Wikipedia entry is high on the list of matches. So why bother? Just go straight to Wikipedia.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:20:48 +0000

What you say is true, some sites do get indexed more quickly than others. I suppose what I’m really trying to say to Sylvia is that Googling a clue soon after it appears will probably just bring her back to 15² again anyway.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:10:49 +0000

PeeDee
“It takes a while for new web pages to be catalogued by Google, usually days or weeks.”

You would be surprised at how quickly Google updates itself for sites such as 15². I cannot now remember what my search term was a few weeks ago but the first hit returned by Google was a 15² post that had been published less than an hour earlier.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:02:03 +0000

Google is like a card index in a library, will only ‘find’ the answer if someone has previously included both question and answer on a website page somewhere (such as this one). It takes a while for new web pages to be catalogued by Google, usually days or weeks.

As the likelihood is that a Google search will only redirect you back here anyway, if you want to know an answer its quicker to just come here first!