![]() But you wouldn’t think twice if you encountered order a rye (“Hi there, I’d like to order a rye”) in daily life-in fact, depending on your interests, you are far more likely to hear it than a perfectly acceptable entry such as APSE. ![]() Some crossword experts argue that green-paint entries irk solvers because they are too rare in ordinary language. Crossword constructors have a name for answers like these: ADAM SANDLER’S EGO, SUPERB PAN, and ORDER A RYE are all “green-paint entries”-as is the answer GREEN PAINT itself. And yet, for reasons that can be hard to articulate, they still aren’t satisfying. Although these rules are particular to crosswords, they rely on more general linguistic intuitions-hard-earned knowledge about language that’s in your brain despite the fact that you’ve likely never consciously thought about it.Ĭuckoo answers such as ADAM SANDLER’S EGO are perfectly valid English phrases that could easily be substituted for their clues in a sentence, structurally the same as more acceptable entries like PANDORA’S BOX or ACHILLES’ HEEL. In both cases, crossword solvers have learned through experience what makes a given entry acceptable or cuckoo, and also what makes some entries truly great. Whereas entries like SAFE AND would flout the basic precepts of the English language, the cuckoo entries in Cuckoo Crosswords are flouting a more subtle, if no less fundamental, rule in crosswords. One puzzle from 2021 contained the clue “Vanity on the set of ‘Uncut Gems.’” The answer: ADAM SANDLER’S EGO. Those duds hail from the work of Trip Payne, a crossword constructor and speed solver known for his absurdist “Cuckoo Crosswords.” Payne’s Cuckoo Crosswords are (deliberately) filled with entries so comically bizarre that solvers will agree that they have no place in a typical puzzle. These intuitions help you know what makes a good answer, such as OPRAH (“Founder of Harpo Productions,” in a 2019 New York Times puzzle), WHO GOES THERE (“Sentry’s query,” from 2018), and BANANA SPLIT (“Dessert served in a boat,” per a 2022 entry).īut the real sign of crossword solvers’ effortless familiarity with the rules is knowing what makes a bad answer, like SUPERB PAN (“Amazing thing to fry bacon in”) or ORDER A RYE (“What the whiskey lover would do at the bar”). Just as toddlers develop a deep knowledge of different classes of words without being taught what a noun or a verb is, crossword solvers develop strong intuitions about what entries are possible and how they can be clued. The rules of crosswords are part of a rich set of conventions shared by those who solve them-and they are intimately related to the grammar of language in general. ![]() Additionally, simply by filling in enough puzzles, our brains can learn that multi-word crossword answers must form what linguists call a syntactic constituent-a group of words that functions together as a complete unit, the way safe and reliable does but safe and doesn’t. Consider how GALORE could be clued by “aplenty,” but not by “many.” This is because, even though you might call them all adjectives, only galore and aplenty come after the noun they modify (whereas most other English adjectives come before). These unspoken tenets can be deceptively complex. They also come to know-subconsciously-that answers must be interchangeable with their clues in a sentence, even for categories too particular to have a name. ![]() Most crossword enthusiasts could explain that nouns clue nouns, verbs clue verbs, and so on. Although no one ever taught it to you, odds are that if you solve a lot of crossword puzzles, you’re fluent in the grammar of crosswords. Spanish Crossword Puzzle 20 Printable Crossword Puzzles Make Learning Vocabulary Fun Crossword Puzzle Clues That Ll Leave You Stumped Reader S Digest Do Crossword Puzzles Exist In Any Other Languages Quora Download Images Library Photos and Pictures.
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