Minute A Day About Movies
MAD About Movies takes a look at the long history of cinema—one minute at a time. Every week you'll find a film-related theme, and for every theme five posts, one each weekday. If you've got a minute, MAD has a "minute" about movies for you.
MAD Puzzles
MAD Puzzles
Welcome to the MAD Puzzles page. The page now has two sections of puzzles:
Gram Crackers
- Puzzles: Crossword puzzles with a modified (non-square) 11×11 grid; each ”Cracker Pack” includes two crosswords, an A and a B puzzle
- Schedule: New pair of puzzles posted every first Monday of the month (beginning Sept. 2010, through at least the end of 2011)
- Difficulty: Hard; essentially themeless crosswords and clued accordingly
MAD Crosswords
- Puzzles: Standard American crosswords, often 15×15 but grid size may vary
- Schedule: Posted on an irregular basis, less frequently than Gram Crackers; includes puzzles posted since the beginning of the MAD site
- Difficulty: Varies; the DOW (Day of Week) Scale is a guesstimate at how hard, from MON (easy) through SAT (hard)
All puzzles are available in Across Lite (.puz) and Adobe (.pdf) format. Whenever a puzzle is added this page, I’ll post a message on the blog.
Preliminaries:
Software:
If you need software, get it here. It’s free.
Across Lite – Litsoft site (v1.2) or New York Times site (v2.0) (v2.0 recommended)
Adobe Reader — Adobe site
Gram Crackers
Introduction: Here.
Note: Gram Crackers come in a two-puzzle “Cracker Pack.” The PDF version provides both puzzles, A and B, on a single page and displays them as they were intended to be solved. The answer squares for the top and bottom Across entries in each grid are shaded, and clues for the shaded answers are provided in random order. (The connection between the top and bottom Across answer in each puzzle will be clear soon enough but is for you to discover.) The Across Lite version does not display the shaded answer squares (and I’d rather not add circles) and does add three black squares in each corner (aesthetically a distraction, but not something that should affect solving).
Recommendation: If you plan to print the puzzles, use the PDF version. You’ll find both puzzles on a single page, which will save paper (and may even aid in solving if you solve the A and B puzzles simultaneously). If you prefer to solve on your computer using Across Lite, for your first time at least, you may want to look at the PDF version to see how the puzzles are meant to be displayed.
Gram Crackers
Cracker Pack #1
September 2010 (Monday, 9/6/10)
Puzzle Download:
PDF: Puz A&B
or
The first edition of Gram Crackers is ready and waiting. Enjoy!
MAD Crosswords
MAD Puzzle No. 1
1/1/10
John’s First MAD Puz
DOW Scale: THU-
When I set up the site I created this Puzzles page, intending it for future use—that is, for some day when I have the time to make puzzles again. But it seemed rather unsporting to have a Puzzles page without a single puzzle. So after some late scrambling (cluing was in large part done during a drive to San Diego on Wednesday), you have a puzzle! (No telling when the next will arrive.) Hope you like the title–the staff worked round the clock for that one.
MAD Puzzle No. 2
1/13/10
SSA
DOW Scale: WED+
Puzzle No. 2 has arrived. Enjoy!
MAD Puzzle No. 3
3/3/10
Themeless
DOW Scale: FRI+
Puzzle No. 3 is here. Enjoy.
MAD Puzzle No. 4
3/11/10
Themeless
DOW Scale: SAT
Puzzle No. 4 is here. Enjoy.
MAD Puzzle No. 5
3/14/10
Standard Deviation
DOW Scale: WED
Puzzle No. 5 is here. As you can see, it’s a Sunday-sized crossword titled “Standard Deviation.” The preferred format for this one is PDF, since the AL version doesn’t have all the formatting you get with the PDF. That said, a glance at the picture of the grid above will give you an idea of what the PDF looks like. The notepad in the AL version has two additional clues.
Enjoy!
MAD Puzzle No. 6
4/22/10
Themeless
DOW Scale: FRI+
Last time I added a themeless, I was apparently off on my DOW Scale guesstimate of difficulty. This one, I’ll venture to say, is a bit more of a challenge. Hard for me to know, though. You tell me.
MAD Puzzle No. 7
6/30/10
Themeless
DOW Scale: FRI
Thanks, if you’ve been waiting patiently for the next puzzle. Here it is: another themeless (which more often than not will be the type of puzzles I’ll be posting here), though somewhat bigger than normal. Enjoy.
MAD Puzzle No. 8
7/16/10
7/16/10
What the…?!
DOW Scale: THU+
My highly irregular schedule for making puzzles continues. Not to mention, my prediction about making more themeless puzzles may have been off the mark. Time will tell. In any case, MAD Puzzle No. 8 is here. Enjoy! (Or else!)
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