Welcome to the Infamous Blue Room Crossword page, the only collection
of crosswords on the Web where knowledge of roleplaying games, cooking,
and giant Japanese monsters are your keys to success! Be warned - these
aren't ordinary puzzles! Read How the Crossword
Works to get a feel for what you're in store for.
- Crossword #1:
The first of the puzzles was created using Excel 5 to make the grid, a
painstaking process made a lot easier by the fact that I was doing it at
work (I had a desk job working reception and records for a toxic waste
disposal outfit for a while). It's small, simple and primitive, and probably
a good way for beginners to get their feet wet, too. It was solved by Josh
Talley.
- Crossword #2:
I got ambitious with the second puzzle, moving to a 15x15 grid and what
seemed to be the right mix of clue difficulty, since I got nearly-complete
responses from a large handful of players, and participation was enthusiastic
from all corners. Jonathan Woodward took the prize, the first of many triumphs
for the king of the Crossword.
- Crossword #3:
This was my first break from using Excel. Instead, I used the shareware
version of Crossword Compiler, easily
the best crossword-making software there is. Since the shareware version
supports nothing larger than a 10x10 grid, I opted to use bars instead
of blocks, but the heavily-interlocking nature of the format made the puzzle
the most-rapidly solved of them all, with Shawn & Marsha Lockard beating
the howling pack of complete solutions by a matter of hours.
- Crossword #4:
I definitely wanted to get back to 15x15, but those things are a lot of
work in Excel, so this one had to last a whole summer while Sandra and
I were busy with work, life, and moving to Texas. As a result, I built
it hard, and there's no question that it's one of the most difficult puzzles
currently in the archive. It was finally cracked by the ace team of Tim
Driscoll & Colby Perkins.
- Crossword #5:
I finally plunked down the dough for a registered copy of Crossword Compiler,
which made constructing this new "revival" crossword a breeze.
Solving it was another story, however. The July 99 puzzle is the
only puzzle to go the distance without anybody getting a 100% complete
solution, but again the team of Driscoll & Perkins proved to be masters
of the obscure, and were awarded a special note of effort for getting closest.
Tackle this one at your own risk!
- Crossword #6:
Another tricky one, but a better balance, I think. The lessons learned
in designing all the previous puzzles were actively applied, here, and
the trickiest clues turned out to be those referring to the Blue Room itself!
A few spirited souls took up the gauntlet and plugged away at solutions,
but finally the Godlinghood was handed to John "Tucker" Taylor.
- Crossword #7:
This puzzle was a small one again at 11x11, because I woke up one morning
with a little extra zip and decided to race myself: Can I make a crossword
in an hour? As it happens, it took me an hour and a half, but I'm happy
with that! I'm happy with the puzzle itself, too - a couple of solutions
came in quickly, but they were the exceptional few, so I think it has just
the right amount of potential stumpage to entertain. Stuart Faulds took
the mantle of Godlinghood.
WordFills!
There are times when you want the thinking to be a little less strenuous.
WordFills are a great way to relax with a challenge to your noggin that
has nothing to do with trivia or cryptic clues:
- The Star Trek WordFill: It's short
and sweet and simple, and any Trek fan can solve it if they think
about it for a minute.
- A Gamer's Bookshelf is a more traditional
wordfill (the list of words is actually provided, this time!) built from
a random sampling of roleplaying game titles. Fun and easy!
- A Cumberland Game is traditional,
too, but it's trickier: all the words are exactly seven letters long, and
they all have a common "ancestor," so to speak.
- Canned Soup applies the "Andy
Warhol" principle to the art of the wordfill. Now if I can just get
my hair to behave again . . .
Tiny Terrors!
The full-length crosswords are for long, lazy afternoons (or, in some
cases, gruelling, frustrating weeks), so there are also Tiny Terrors -
crosswords quick enough to satisfy in an ordinary lunch-break!
Assorted Diversions
I enjoy all kinds of pencil-puzzles and word games, so crosswords aren't
the only thing that appear on the Blue Room. Here's a handful of ways to
get your pencil dull and your mind sharp:
- The GURPS Title Word
Search: Lots and lots of GURPS titles, all in
a grid. Of course, I don't specify which, exactly. How many can
you find?
- A GURPS Anagram
Puzzle: Okay, I promise not to make any more puzzles about GURPS titles,
but this was my first. Besides, it's funny.
- The
Dallas Maze (53k ZIPped Acrobat file) is the simplest puzzle
here; a hand-doodled labyrinth resembling an alien brain or a pile of spaghetti.
For when you're in the mood to discard logic and memory and just follow
a pencil for a bit!
What's all this about solutions and Godlings? Once in a while, a new
crossword is added to the site. When that happens, the readers are often
invited to try to solve the puzzle before I post the solution. The first
one to do so is enshrined on the Grand List of Blue
Room Crossword Puzzle Godlings Worthy Of Cash and Sexual Favors. Keep
an eye on the Blue Room Mailing List for
new-puzzle announcements!
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