Word Salad | The Nation
Word Salad
Kosman and Picciotto on their Nation puzzle, cryptic crosswords, wordplay and puzzles in general.
Hinter Land: 3229
A new Nation puzzle appears on line every Thursday, and we will be posting several hints here on the following Monday. Today is our first trip to Hinter Land, focusing on Puzzle #3229. We’ll try to provide help on clues for some easier clues to help beginners learn the ropes, as well as guidance to help more experienced solvers get past one or two thorny clues and finish the puzzle.
If you are new to cryptic crosswords, we have two documents to help you get started. First, check out our introduction to cryptics; you might print that and have it by your side as you solve. (It would be even better to have an experienced solver at your side, but alas, that is not possible for everyone.) Second, here is a talk that Henri gave a few years ago to a group of Italian puzzlers.
We will read all your comments, but we may not be able to give more hints in a timely manner. However, we encourage you to post your questions here, and perhaps another solver will help you. When giving hints, the only restriction is to avoid out-and-out giving an answer. Solvers who don’t want hints should not read our Monday posts!
After Words: 3228
Today’s post is about Puzzle 3228, whose solution was posted on the Nation website yesterday. We plan to do this every Friday, on the day after the new puzzle goes live. Of course, we realize that many solvers work on the puzzle when the hard copy reaches them, which can be as much as three weeks after the online version appears. But since the blog is on the website, it seemed to make more sense to be in sync with the online schedule.
If you don’t want to see answers, either because you are still working on the puzzle or because you haven’t started, don’t look at our Friday posts!
We invite your responses and comments; feel free to reveal answers to this puzzle if it will help you make a point or clarify a question. We will read all your comments, but we may not be able to respond immediately, so please feel free to respond to other solvers’ comments and questions
1-Across!
Welcome to Word Salad, where we will be blogging regularly—sometimes jointly and sometimes separately—about our puzzle in The Nation, about cryptic crosswords, about wordplay and word puzzles in general, and about words and language. We enjoy slicing, dicing and tossing words about—hence the name of the blog. If you look this phrase up in an unabridged dictionary, other connotations may present themselves.
Our plan is to maintain a weekly posting schedule, coordinated with the regular Thursday appearance of the magazine online (which will necessarily put us significantly ahead of the paper edition).
• On Friday we'll discuss the previous week's puzzle, and encourage you to do the same. Once the solution has been posted, we can all delve into the workings of particular clues, talk about the decisions that went into the puzzle and bemoan lost opportunities. We're hoping solvers will use this post to leave comments, questions and complaints.
Latest
-
May 2, 2013 - 6:06 PM ET
-
May 2, 2013 - 2:53 PM ET
-
May 2, 2013 - 2:19 PM ET
Blogs
Blog Roll
