Sarah Lolley
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Gridlocked

3/14/2015

12 Comments

 
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It's rare but every now and again the Globe and Mail messes up the Saturday cryptic crossword puzzle and mismatches the clues and the grid. We love Fraser Simpson's Saturday morning cryptic over here, as I've said previously, so it's a bummer when we're forced to miss out.

This morning was one of those mornings: the grid started with 1 Across but the clues started with 7 Across. We mourned the lack of puzzle, then moved on to other things. Until my husband said: "I wonder if we could figure it out for ourselves."

Normally, I wouldn't even bother trying to reverse engineer a puzzle from the clues but these clues were special: there were six "Down" clues before a single "Across" clue appeared. Given that Fraser Simpson always uses 15x15 grids and never spaces his answers more than a single blank apart, I immediately had a good sense of what the puzzle would look like. I solved the clues to 1, 2 and 3 Down, then solved the first Across clue (labelled "7") and checked out how they might overlap. Bingo: the overlap was obvious. Going on the length of the answers, the typical Fraser Simpson construction style, and a few additional solved clues, I had the full puzzle in no time.
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When you're learning a new skill, you move slowly, figuring things out in small increments. There are "Eureka!" moments but mostly you are quietly absorbing. You don't even realize how much you have learned, or even what, exactly, you've learned, until your skills are called upon.

And then you realize that you do know a fair bit after all.

Were you bummed about missing the cryptic this morning?
Download my corrected grid here:

saturday_cryptic_grid.pdf
File Size: 896 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

12 Comments
Peter
3/15/2015 03:17:28 am

Sarah, thanks for posting the corrected grid. I was considering reverse engineering it on my own, but Google led me to your site. Looks like I've also stumbled upon a site to revisit!! But first, off to finish the mystery puzzle.

Reply
Sarah Lolley
3/15/2015 07:07:02 am

Looking forward to having you visit more in the future, Peter! If you have friends who are interested in learning how to solve cryptics, I have a free tutorial on this site complete with practice puzzles of varying difficulty levels. If you'd like a challenge, try my 2014 Christmas puzzle (it's available at the blog post directly underneath this one). I'd love to know what you think of it.

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Ted Quinlan
3/16/2015 06:23:19 am

Thanks for this, Sarah. I'm a big fan of this cryptic and am really impressed that you figured out the grid...time to solve it now!

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Sarah Lolley
3/16/2015 10:52:34 am

Thanks for writing, Ted! I'm glad I could help.

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Penny Esse
3/16/2015 06:43:49 am

Thanks Sarah. I tried to do it myself but gave up. Then I tried to solve the clues without the grid. Managed most but not all, so will draw your grid and get back at it.

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Sarah Lolley
3/16/2015 10:53:31 am

Penny, I'm glad to hear you managed most of the clues. Now that you've got the grid, I'm sure the rest will fill in easily. If you want some hints, just let me know!

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John Morland
3/16/2015 07:41:04 am

Thanks Sarah. I was feeling very lost without the Saturday Cryptic.

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Sarah Lolley
3/16/2015 10:58:14 am

Glad I could help, John! If you'd like some bonus puzzles, I've got three on my site under "practice puzzles" and another one right under this blog post, which has a Christmas theme. Enjoy!

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Larry Kline
3/17/2015 01:08:45 pm

Glad to find your site, Sarah - I'll share it with people who ask me about cryptics. This is the second time I've solved the Globe's Saturday cryptic sans grid. The exact same thing happened a couple of years ago. I think if you're used to Fraser's puzzles and the type of grid then it's not too difficult to "reverse engineer" - just an extra little challenge to keep things fresh! I got to meet Fraser Simpson recently when I took part in a trivia night that he hosted. As you might expect, he has a great sense of humour!

Reply
Sarah Lolley
3/17/2015 11:45:07 pm

It's true, Larry: knowing the Fraser Simpson construction style make it much easier to figure out the grid. The fact that he always uses a 15x15 grid, his rule of never having more than one blank line between horizontal or vertical words, and the symmetry of the grids all helped me. I've been hoping to meet Fraser Simpson for some time now. I'm glad you enjoyed his company!

Please do share my tutorial and the site at large with anyone who might be interested! The more the merrier.

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Dan Shea
3/20/2015 04:33:35 am

I tried for about 5 minutes to figure out what the grid might be, then gave up and took the kids to swim lessons. Count me among those impressed with your resourcefulness.

If you didn't already know, the Globe's 'mea culpa' post links to your site: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/community/inside-the-globe/sorry-but-this-brain-teaser-was-impossible-to-solve/article23476416/

Reply
Sarah Lolley
3/20/2015 07:42:58 am

Thanks for your comments and for the link, Dan! My husband happened to see the Public Editor's note when it was briefly on the Globe and Mail homepage, which is lucky because the newspaper didn't tell me they were directing people to my site! I hope you got to enjoy the puzzle during the week.

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    About Sarah

    I'm a writer, adventurer, amateur setter of cryptic crosswords, lover of "ah-ha!" moments, and exhausted mom.

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