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A crossword puzzle made up of half baker usernames, real names if known, and idea names. Any of those categories might appear in either clues or answers. Given the lengths of some user & idea names, it may need a very large grid, or maybe done like a NY Times Sunday edition where a phrase is spread
out over several clues and answers.
Regarding real names, I think most bakers try to stay sort of anonymous. But a few give their names out freely, others drop hints on purpose (or maybe by accident). Before composing a puzzle, the editor should contact any baker and ask for permission to include a real name, so as not to out someone against their will.
Crossword Generator
https://www.educati...g/crossword-puzzle/
Here's the software help. All you really need is a list of word:hint pairs. [swimswim, Nov 30 2022]
HB_20Word_20Search
[a1, Nov 27 2023]
[link]
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Subset idea: Themed puzzles, as tributes to departed bakers. Example- All the clues might refer to ideas by [8th_of_7] or [MaxwellBuchanan], answers being the idea names. |
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+ you make it and we will play it. |
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Have a hot, buttery curved pastry. |
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A three-letter word that rhymes with "pun". |
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// you make it and we will play it // |
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Tricky. I may need help from software or other humans. I think even 8th would have admitted humans are pretty good at this sort of thing, though he'd have snarked that it's only because we don't know how to write software properly yet. |
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I may try by picking some prolific HB-er's idea list and winnow them out short names, then dump them into a crossword generator program to see what it comes up with. |
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[sinkswim], thanks! Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, |
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I'm game. This would be really awesome. And I love that the memory of our departed friends could become part of the process. (And I think they would as well. Keeping such really cool shit in this way is brilliant.) |
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//All you really need is a list of word:hint pairs.// |
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I was under the impression that was the hard bit. |
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No the hard bit is arranging them in a dense interconnected grid. Most of the online generators create a straggling mess with each word only sharing one letter with each of two other words. |
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// hard bit is arranging them in a dense interconnected grid // |
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Yeah. I'm seeing that on the ones I've tried. Especially with long items. And I can't even come up with a good clue for |
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A profile flagging scheme? |
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//Ooolongftangftangbank//
A surprisingly not-short place to store 2 bits of precious gibberish. |
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// No the hard bit is arranging them in a dense interconnected grid. Most of the online generators create a straggling mess with each word only sharing one letter with each of two other words.// |
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I /think/ that human puzzle-setters do that by having a surfeit of words, and finding a subset which fit together nicely.
I mean, I'd imagine that most arbitrary sets of words are impossible to fit into a compact crossword. For example, consider two pairs of words forming a hashlike ('#') shape. h1,h2,v1,v2.
h1 shares a letter each with v1 and v2, and h2 also shares a letter each with v1 and v2. And the separation of these shared letters have pair-wise constraints. Four randomly chosen words are unlikely to have these characteristics. But one could search for words which did, then make up clues to suit. |
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So if the online generators are fitting every word you supply, they're working towards a different goal. |
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[+] Build it, and they will crumb. |
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"A kind of tea, but not really." |
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//do that by having a surfeit of words// Yes and since the HalfBakery is so terse and minimalist in its content that will be the major stumbling block I would say. |
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I haven’t given up, but I’ve changed direction several times. I might have something presentable in a week or so. Maybe in time for Hogmanay, maybe not. |
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Current approach won’t be a tribute puzzle, but all (or most) of the answers will be usernames of top contributing bakers. Clues will mostly be reworded descriptions of specific inventions, but may also include tidbits about the baker gleaned from their profiles or posted ideas. Multiword user names and those with numbers (e.g. “8 of 7”) will be spelled out and possibly spread over multiple clues, NY Times Sunday style. |
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If you want the puzzle to include you and your favorite idea, please email me privately. Likewise if you want to opt out, tell me so I won’t include you, your ideas, or anything about you in the puzzle. |
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I appreciate your laborious efforts |
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It’s the thought that counts, right? I do mean to get this done but it’s a lot harder than I expected it to be. And I thought I’d have a lot more downtime in December. |
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Don’t thank me unless / until I actually deliver something :) |
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Too late. And merry Christmas. |
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Trivia: Only 91 extant accounts have posted over 100 ideas. |
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I think I can get most of them into a puzzle even if I split some of the longer names into multiple clues. The NY Times Sunday crossword is a 21x21 grid and sometimes has upwards of 100 clues. |
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But where's challenge? If you know the top 100 users you have the entire answer key. I think the fun of the puzzle will be writing the clues, but that's gonna be a lot of effort to find ideas and annotations that point back to the account names. |
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Here's are some examples, to give a sense of the thing I'm going for. These are probably won't appear in the puzzle: |
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"A friend of Bigfoot who always gets short changed at McDonalds" |
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"He proposed quiet, soothing, subtle advertisements of a non-existent product to take away take billboard space from more garish ones" |
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"Voted most likely to be hoist with his own petard, may he rest in pieces" |
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Afterthought - word search would be orders of magnitude easier. Some decent automated generators online and I don't have to be witty with clues. |
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I have a word search - several really - almost ready to post. Just tidying up some details. |
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(goes back to today's newspaper crossword, waits patiently) |
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Good plan, I've heard patience is a virtue. I've set a deadline for myself, but only in a Douglas Adams* sort of way. |
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WordSearchLabs .com is ideal for making the thing, and choosing who to include was easy. The hard part is how to render names with non-alpha characters, and some other details of presentation. |
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I'm dropping spaces, hyphens, underscores, and symbols, running the names together. Some longer names I might split into two words. Some with numbers I'm spelling out. So "EighthOfSeven" will be one entry, but "TwoFriesShy" and "OfAHappyMeal" will be probably be two distinct entries - otherwise I need to make the grid too big. |
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I'll post it with a list of words you're supposed to find, but with a few twists. In some cases I'll list the word itself, others will be a clue instead of the actual word. And there will be some words hidden in the grid that I won't put on the word/clue list - when someone spots them they can smile for finding the joke. |
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Expecting it to be a 60x60 grid with between 130 - 150 entries. I've already done a couple of versions but not satisfied yet. No work of art is ever finished, only abandoned - and I'll post it when I get to that point. |
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* "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." -Douglas Adams |
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And - linked in a separate idea. |
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The three dots give it away... |
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