Crosswordese Assessment

How long have you been following this site? Do you receive the crosswordese word of the day via email everyday? Has this site been helpful? It's time for an assessment. The New York Times posted a short crosswordese quiz this week. I trust those of you who've been following this site regularly will do quite well. Let me know how you do. Take the test here.

Clever Clue Nominees

Please vote for the best clue from November (either by email or comments below). The Clever Clue of the Month will be announced on Monday.

Prayer in the woods.....................MANTIS

Marco Polo's home?......................POOLAREA

Opportunity for people to act badly.....BMOVIE

Sport shoe for hoopsters, e.g. .........ANAGRAM

Good name for a funeral director?.......MORT
Sing like a child?......................TATTLE

Clever Clue of the Month

October 2017
Clue: Pit-y party?........................................BBQ
Constructor: Sam Ezersky; Editor: Will Shortz
NYT, Saturday, October 14, 2017

Clever Clue Nominees

Please vote for the best clue from October (either by email or comments below). The Clever Clue of the Month will be announced on Friday.

State secrets?..........................RAT
Pit-y party?............................BBQ
Joint rooms?............................CELLS
National defense goal?..................OUT
This answer ends in "T," e.g. ..........HINT
Mobile message media....................TEES

Clever Clue of the Month

September 2017
Clue: Components of ranch dressing?........STETSONS
Constructor: 'Marie Kelly'; Editor: Mike Shank
Wall Street Journal, Friday, September 8, 2017

Clever Clue Nominees

Please vote for the best clue from September (either by email or comments below). The Clever Clue of the Month will be announced on Tuesday.

Civic spaces?...........................LOTS
Components of ranch dressing?...........STETSONS
Execute camels, e.g. ...................FIGURESKATE
Go on and on, possibly about flying
robots..................................DRONE
Chamber of commerce?....................SHOP
Flight specialists?.....................COWARDS

24 Years of NYT Crossword Answers

Here's a great article covering crossword data during the Will Shortz era of editing the NYT Crossword Puzzle. 'jtanwk', the author of the article, answers the following questions:

• What are the most common answers?
• Are words getting longer?
• Average length of crossword answers by day

• How does letter density vary by day?
• What words have emerged recently?
• How lexically diverse are crosswords?

Click here for full article