My quest with crosswords
Thoroughly inspired by Merv Griffin's crosswords on tv and playing scrabble with husband, I decided to try some myself.
On an American magazine i picked a crossword puzzle to solve during my flight. Out of 10 words I find 2. Husband encourages saying " these are American crosswords, you may not be aware of slangs, stars or terms here, I ll get you Hndu crosswords". Hope still left
Two days later - 7:00 PM - Try solving hindu crosswords from internet, and come across this "14 down - Staggers, due to ill-fitting satin shoes (10)" Break my head for half n hour. Husband appears in the scene, and writes "ASTONISHES". That was an anagram....Grrrrrrrr....
7: 30 PM - I do not leave hope. Try the next one " 23 across - Dome shaped hut for storage (5)" . again sit and break my head, this time for 15 mins. See all synonyms for hut...come across three 5 letter words, nothing fits..Turn around and see the answer. That is "IGLOO".
7:45 Pm - Again " 26 down, Capital consists loose change (4)... Try to fit in words like " coin", "yens" etc etc....Answer is "OSLO"....Encouragement comes "do not worry, it takes time to get a hang of it"
8:00 PM- Throw the paper and go out shopping.
That was the Hindu crossword no. 9113. Google it if you want ...
Today - No luck with the number 9113, lemme try 9114....
On an American magazine i picked a crossword puzzle to solve during my flight. Out of 10 words I find 2. Husband encourages saying " these are American crosswords, you may not be aware of slangs, stars or terms here, I ll get you Hndu crosswords". Hope still left
Two days later - 7:00 PM - Try solving hindu crosswords from internet, and come across this "14 down - Staggers, due to ill-fitting satin shoes (10)" Break my head for half n hour. Husband appears in the scene, and writes "ASTONISHES". That was an anagram....Grrrrrrrr....
7: 30 PM - I do not leave hope. Try the next one " 23 across - Dome shaped hut for storage (5)" . again sit and break my head, this time for 15 mins. See all synonyms for hut...come across three 5 letter words, nothing fits..Turn around and see the answer. That is "IGLOO".
7:45 Pm - Again " 26 down, Capital consists loose change (4)... Try to fit in words like " coin", "yens" etc etc....Answer is "OSLO"....Encouragement comes "do not worry, it takes time to get a hang of it"
8:00 PM- Throw the paper and go out shopping.
That was the Hindu crossword no. 9113. Google it if you want ...
Today - No luck with the number 9113, lemme try 9114
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Total Comments 10
Comments
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This is a really good one dear Meets.. I too tried all this.. you need a knack so to speak.. there are so many guide books out there.. once you get the hang of its not all that hard.. so I then moved on to sudoko..keep posting updates on how this is going..Posted 8th January 2008 at 12:14 PM by Anandchitra
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Guide books is my next hope. The KNACK is ezzactly what I want.
Thanks dearPosted 8th January 2008 at 02:28 PM by MeenLoch -
Vidya,
Happy new year. crosswords and puzzles, they can keep me buzzing...and thinking.... i like to solve the crosswords that come with a theme, so i know what i am already dealing with. you can start with using a crossward compiler, or softwares....
my kids are now playing the text twisters and simple thematic crosswords...
Once you get the hang of it...it will become a breeze solving them..but anagrams they really make me mad sometimes.bonkbonk..but still love the flow of adrenalin when i try racking
Posted 8th January 2008 at 05:59 PM by Shanvy -
I too m hooked to the crosswords and sudokus....
But the "The Hindu" crosswords need so much of racking ur brains bonk...Initially I used to be able to get just 2 or 3 right....then somewhat improved.
Of late I m addicted to sudoku.....in India I used to wait for the paper in the morning ...first solve it and then move to the news section....I think I m good at it now..
Last week , in the "gulf news" daily, I came across a new game "kakuro" ..it was mentioned that its a new addictive game for the japanese...I read the rules and format but
..understood nothing....will have to try again...does anyone know abt it....Posted 8th January 2008 at 10:32 PM by Saraswathipv - Good one. I have been attempting (!) hindu crosswords whenever I get a chance from my hostel days - highly inspired by some of my friends who used to solve them as a matter-of-factly. Here are my two cents if they help you motivated. cross-c's in each magazine are different from in terms of style. I am used to the "Hindu" way now, I cannot think in "Express" style. Though it helps, it is not all that necessary to know all the words in the dic. Infact most of the words in cross-c (atleast hindu's) are simple ones.. There are basically two type of clues - direct and cryptic. Direct ones are easier to solve if you know the meaning of the word and the Cryptic ones are more fun and assure you that the word you have cracked is right as soon as you get a hang of it. I like the cryptic ones - normally there is one part in the clue that says it means something and the others say the cryptic part of it.. If we take the approach to crack the cryptic part, we can cross-check with the other part and confirm our answer.. For instance,
"Locates variety of sugar found in milk (7)" in 9116 edition, is "Lactose" which is more of a direct clue though it also finds an anagram in locates.
"The one mat ruined by insect infestation(4,5)" - The word "ruined" hints that there is an anagram in some part . "The one mat" when juggled gives "Moth eaten"..
Also, by experience I found that it gets better the more you keep following them and cross-checking with previous-day answers.. Needless to say, solving together in a group also helps :) Happy solving..
Regards,
GayuPosted 9th January 2008 at 08:52 AM by gayu_r
