WaPo Letter to the Editor Sept 10, 2022

[damefox]

Hi Muggles! Not sure how many of you are WaPo subscribers, but I thought people here might be interested in this Letter to the Editor that appeared on Saturday. (I am actually not a WaPo subscriber, but my grandmother is and she clipped this out and sent it to me. I've been unsuccessful at trying to find a version of it online.) I know many people here are fans of Evan's puzzles, but also certainly the dedicated meta-solvers of the crossworld do not represent all crossword solvers out there. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on this.

[MMe]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... vmi-photo/

Some of this is fair, but much is not: you don't have to do the metas, and Kutlu's idea of "fun" seems to be a knowledge-free crossword, where -- what? -- the clues just spell out the entries?

[Laura M]

If a crossword isn't fun for you, don't do it; if a movie offends you, don't watch it; if a restaurant doesn't serve food you like, don't eat there. I will never understand why people complain about things like this when there are so many readily available alternatives. Check out the USA Today crossword and don't yuck my yum :-)

[Joe Ross]

The text of the complaint:

Crossword puzzles for whom exactly?

It might be time for The Post to reconsider the objectives and the target audience of the Sunday crossword puzzle in The Washington Post Magazine. There is no doubt that Evan Birnholz is a brilliant professional cruciverbalist, who deserves a more focused and sophisticated audience with respect to crossword puzzles. For me at least, however, his puzzles have become incomprehensible and unmanageable. We had more than one letter squeezed into a square; we had words that went over the boundaries of the puzzle; we had words dogleg into words below, above, right or left. On Aug. 28, we had letters in black squares. Why bother?

The topics with which one had to be knowledgeable included, and this is not an exhaustive list: TV, movies, music (classical, pop, jazz, etc.), science, math, sports, geography, history, religion, medicine, French, German, Spanish and, finally, English.

And on Aug. 28, one had to go back to The Post’s website to be able to continue with the puzzle. That everyone does not have internet access was not considered.

The questions that arise for The Post are:

What is the objective of the Sunday crossword puzzle? One would expect that in a glossy magazine one looks for fun and not the frustration of a “mission impossible,” as it was put by Birnholz.

And who is the target audience? As is, it would appear that the target is not the average Post reader but a “meta” puzzle solver with wide skills and knowledge.

Kutlu Somel, Rockville

[Joe Ross]

I'd suggest the Daily JUMBLE, but that might be considered a gateway meta leading to overly challenging & fun wordplay.

[Wendy Walker]

Kutlu certainly doesn't seem to have a real high opinion of the "average" Post reader. We have had a few "dumb-it-down" folks like this on the Forum over the years. I remember one guy complaining that expecting solvers to be familiar with common greetings in foreign languages was simply asking too much. Needless to say, he didn't last. Thanks for sharing, @damefox!

[Inca]

My opinion: This article says much more about the person who wrote it than anything about the puzzles. I would say more, but I was told that if I had nothing nice to say, silence is preferable

[RDaleHall]

I'd suggest the Daily JUMBLE, but that might be considered a gateway meta leading to overly challenging & fun wordplay.

Love it. Kind of like… Yes… crocheting is very hard… so please try this Lite Brite.

[hcbirker]

Hi Muggles! Not sure how many of you are WaPo subscribers, but I thought people here might be interested in this Letter to the Editor that appeared on Saturday. (I am actually not a WaPo subscriber, but my grandmother is and she clipped this out and sent it to me. I've been unsuccessful at trying to find a version of it online.) I know many people here are fans of Evan's puzzles, but also certainly the dedicated meta-solvers of the crossworld do not represent all crossword solvers out there. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on this.

@ebirnholz

I tagged Evan. I think this is ridiculous. The more challenging the better in my view. And Evan’s puzzles are very inclusive and fun.

[Schmeel]

I understand the frustration of the author. If you don't solve metas, you just don't get what's going on in the puzzle. It's true.
That being said, there are far more important things to save your frustration for, at least in my opinion. So I wouldn't write to the editor about crossword puzzles. If I'd see it was a meta, I just wouldn't solve it. Like skipping the cryptics or variety puzzles. But that's me. (And maybe I'll give those a shot one day too.)

I'm a relative latecomer to solving puzzles in English, especially US style puzzles. I started solving maybe three years ago. I now solve mostly metas but sometimes solve the occasional regular crossword too. I am not always familiar with all of the so called (usually US based) 'knowledge' needed to fill a grid easily, but I just want to point out that I find @ebirnholz's puzzles to be the kindest in terms of the crosses - even if I don't know enough to fill a particular entry, I can usually get it from the surrounding entries. Evan's puzzles really are a pleasure to fill.

[boharr]

^Agree. @ebirnholz

[Wendy Walker]

This thread brings back a fond memory of my Dad. When we kids would complain about difficult teachers and whine, "How are WE supposed to know that?!" he would sing the theme song from a 1950s game show called "It Pays To Be Ignorant." The panelists would be asked questions like "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" and they would react with outrage about being expected to know such arcane information.

[hoover]

Here's my biggest complaint about the WaPo crosswords:

[burak]

As some of you might know, I'm originally from Turkey and judging by his name this guy also is. Turks can be quite the complainers sometimes and they love writing letters too. If I were Evan I'd just ignore this

[SewYoung]

Thanks to Damefox for sharing this.

[burak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... vmi-photo/

Some of this is fair, but much is not: you don't have to do the metas, and Kutlu's idea of "fun" seems to be a knowledge-free crossword, where -- what? -- the clues just spell out the entries?

Turkish crosswords are kinda like that: They give you the definition/synonym of a word, you put in the word (more often than not from memory if you have enough practice). Zero-to-little thinking involved.

[whimsy]

Thanks for posting this, Emma.

I think it was probably the multi-level Secret Agent puzzle from late August that pushed this poor fellow over the edge.
I did find that one fairly challenging myself, partly because of not quite understanding the instructions about how to approach it.
But, in general, I couldn't even understand the predicament of the writer. When I've been advised by this board or my brother (who lives in the area, does subscribe and does the Sunday religiously, as it were) that "Evan's is a meta this week!" I will do the puzzle and I often think to myself: These are so smooth and reasonable. Just everyday words. Rarely any googling. ---- But creating a puzzle like that is quite an accomplishment! And an appreciated one!

On a totally different aspect, I thought it was so sweet about your grandmother sending you the clipping. When I and my siblings left home, my mom would mail clippings to us; later she sent things to my kids. I guess I continued the tradition and sent my kids things some years back, but then stopped when I realized they were getting the same information online long before I could get it to them!

[ebirnholz]

Thanks, all, for your kind words in my defense.

I mostly just shook my head and laughed when I read that the other week. It's not the first time the Post has printed a letter from a solver who thought the sky was falling because I wrote a challenging crossword. It's often in response to a puzzle with an odd trick, like rebus puzzles or answers that turn or words hiding outside the grid, but metas are frequently the target of these complaints too. This one was still a big step up from a few years ago when the Post printed a letter from a crank that said I should be fired. The less I say about that, the better.

Just know that none of these complaints are going to change my approach to writing puzzles. My own editors back me up on that -- they've been very happy with my work. I'm sure the NYT gets angry letters for running tougher puzzles on Saturdays and the WSJ gets its own share of complaints for running metas. So it goes.

[ebirnholz]

Here's my biggest complaint about the WaPo crosswords:

Greenshot 2022-09-14 11.02.57.png

I may be wrong about this but I think you can still solve my crosswords on the Post's website without needing a subscription. The blog is another matter and I know that gives you a paywall message, but the puzzles themselves should still be available to you.

[hoover]

Here's my biggest complaint about the WaPo crosswords:

Greenshot 2022-09-14 11.02.57.png

I may be wrong about this but I think you can still solve my crosswords on the Post's website without needing a subscription. The blog is another matter and I know that gives you a paywall message, but the puzzles themselves should still be available to you.

Sadness. I was able to get to the main Crossword page, and I was able to get from there to the Sunday Meta page, but I can't click on an individual crossword without a subscription.