January 14, 2008

A thoughtful rant

There's a newish crossword blogger in the neighborhood by the name of JimH. I liked his latest post, which touches on the blandness of the average newspaper crossword that must avoid offending the tastes of aging subscribers. Jim also calls for the standard-bearer NYT crossword to embrace a little more hipness, to attract the younger solvers whose sensibilities may be more in line with those of the Onion A.V. Club crossword. I heartily concur!

(Jim has also crafted his own database of NYT crosswords with nifty features like a listing of the most common answers from 3 to 15 letters in length. LEONARDODAVINCI is the most popular 15. Who knew?)