Going Viral

Comments

• Sendhil Revuluri 🤓4:29 · 2024-12-06T21:20:43.082Z

  Wow, this takes me back. Nice theme and fill though!

  Report
  • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-06T22:47:38.109Z

    Thanks! Yeah, watching that video again definitely takes me back too. I also have NO idea why I was wearing BOTH a fedora AND a headset. Ha! Not my usual look at all. I blame the pandemic. Cheers1

    Report
• FrankieHeck 🤓13:07 · 2024-12-06T22:43:48.823Z

  Glad I decided to try one of your non-metas. Great puzzle, and I really enjoyed the video! Constructing a crossword puzzle is on my bucket list, but so far it's like folding a fitted sheet. No matter how many tutorials I read or videos I watch, there just seems to be some magic involved that I haven't mastered.

  Report
  • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-07T00:19:12.435Z

    For what it's worth, I spent years on and off (trying to learn about) constructing them. A lot of trial and error, and a lot of submission and rejections from NYT (that's a whole other story!) But I just kept trying, and at one point had a puzzle of mine (which for complex reasons likely won't ever appear on Crosshare, ha) accepted to appear in the (now defunct?) puzzles section of the online version of Wired Magazine. I worked closely with the editor, who has had multiple contest Sunday puzzles published in the NYT. So he gave a lot of pointers.

    And then 6 years ago, a friend of mine started an arts and entertainment mag in my hometown, and he was looking for a regular feature. And i felt at that point I was probably just OK enough (for a non-hardcore-puzzle type publication) for my puzzles to appear. And I've basically just had years and years of practice, and over time it's gotten easier. I think the biggest think is knowing what to avoid rather than what to do, if that makes sense? Anyway, that's my attempt at explaining my "puzzling career" (not a career) in a nutshell!

    Report