Reflections on Puzzmo Open Submission Week 2024

Premise and statistics.

On December 26, 2023 I announced on Discord that from January 2 through January 9, 2024, Puzzmo players who had never previously been paid for a crossword were welcome to submit one fully-clued crossword to be considered for publication at Puzzmo. This announcement was also made in Cross|word editor notes during the submission window. The spec sheet and style guide can be found here. I sent all responses from January 17 through February 5, 2024.

Here are the outcomes:

These numbers seem reasonable to me; it is not surprising to me that the number of girds accepted as-is is relatively low, since I am applying to new constructors the standards I always apply to experienced constructors. If every revision and retry is accepted, the Puzzmo Open Submission Class of ‘24 could comprise 25 puzzles. This would be a 26.3% success rate compared to the 95 submissions.

However, it may be the case that some revisions and redos are not accepted, that constructors opt out of the opportunity to revise or redo, or that constructors do not respond to my emails.

What happens now?

I will now edit the accepted puzzles and work with the remaining 22 constructors/constructing teams to revise or redo their work. I will communicate internal deadlines to them privately, and expect this to extend over several months.

Accepted crosswords will run on Puzzmo on a weekday sometime in 2024 (not earlier than May), and constructors will receive a notable. I have not yet decided the following:

• Will they be sprinkled in randomly or will I run an explicit feature (e.g., every [certain day of the week] for x months)?
• Will the crosswords be denoted as part of the open submission week somehow?

It is important to me that players who solve crosswords do not have or act on the (incorrect) impression that Open Submission Week puzzles are of any reduced quality relative to the puzzles created by experienced constructors that also run at Puzzmo. I will be discussing these considerations with the rest of the Puzzmo team and will announce a plan when I have one.

My reflections.

I was absolutely blown away by the enthusiasm, creativity, and craft of the 101 constructors who had never been paid for a crossword before. The overall quality of submissions was very high and it was clear that people have put a lot of thought and emotion into their work. I enjoyed reading reflections (some of which I will share below) from participants that mentioned how they would now view crosswords differently while solving them, or what they newly appreciated about crossword puzzles and the art of making them.

About one quarter of submissions did not meet the specifications outlined in the style guide; namely, the requirement that every square be part of two answers. I regret that I did not describe this more clearly in the style guide; in the style guide, I wrote “​​no unchecked squares (one-letter words) or two-letter words” and I think this may have been unclear, especially because most constructing softwares do not prompt constructors to clue one-letter words, so they may have gone unnoticed. I regret that some constructors may have put a lot of effort into a submission that they might have architected differently had the spec sheet been clearer.

Because I am very busy with many other aspects of running Puzzmo’s crossword, I did not plan on having an open submission period until the spring or the summer. However, I was so inspired by players’ newly-found interest in crossword puzzles (as I gathered from the Discord) that I chose to do it earlier. I wanted players to feel that I was seeing their enthusiasm and responding to and validating it, and I hope I was successful.

I received a lot of feedback that requiring submitters to have never previously been paid for a crossword meant people who submitted knew Open Submission Week was for them. Hearing this made me really happy, and I’m so glad people just starting out saw this call for submissions and understood I wanted them to be a part of it. This further validated my decision in running an open submission week much earlier than I expected to.

It was important for me to give thorough and encouraging feedback to people who went through the effort to create artwork that might be vulnerable, personal, and/or time-consuming. Every response email I sent contained something I liked about the puzzle, and many included feedback on what could be improved. I always tried to communicate this feedback in the context of Puzzmo (as opposed to objectively), and endeavored to make it clear in revision requests that constructors are always welcome to decline to revise if they want to keep their puzzle as they originally created it. People who submitted crosswords that did not meet specs often received less or no in-depth feedback on how they could improve, largely because it is difficult to apply the same considerations I would to a U.S.-style puzzle to a grid that does not meet specs.

In general it is not sustainable for me to have submissions open at Puzzmo regularly or indefinitely, especially not if I want to give thoughtful and personal feedback as described above. This took a huge amount of my time and energy, and it’s important for me to keep this kind of time/energy investment contained in special open submission periods, instead of reviewing open submissions on an ongoing basis. I do not know yet when I will hold another open submission week; I would expect it to be not sooner than in 6 months and not later than in 1 year.

Reflections from people who submitted crosswords.

In the submission form, I asked the optional question: Has creating and submitting a crossword puzzle changed your perspective/experience as a crossword solver? If so, how?

Here are some selected responses.

On a new, deepened perspective while solving.

My experience as a solver is a bit more personal now. Solving a crossword feels like getting to know the constructor - discovering our common experiences, and learning something new about them as well.

I am looking a LOT closer at grid layouts now than ever before. And I’m also much more aware of the broad spectrum of possible clues/how personalities can shine through in a crossword.

When solving any given crossword now, I’m much more attuned to things like the clues themselves, the grid design, and the overall fill, and am appreciative of the work that goes into them, because it’s hard! I find myself going back over puzzles after finishing them to really digest the design to see if there’s anything I can learn.

It definitely drew my attention to the fact that there are real people with real emotions behind each and every grid.

It now somehow feels like I have inside info when solving puzzles, and it’s fun to put myself in the creator’s shoes to unpack their decisions.

It’s absolutely changed the way I’ll look at puzzles in the future.

On the art of construction and admiration for the people who make crosswords.

I don’t think I fully appreciated the intricacy of a crossword puzzle until I had to actually construct one! How each word you lock in ripples out and narrows down your options throughout the rest of the grid – it takes a lot to wring everything interesting you can out of it, and I admire the skill involved in that even more now.

This has profoundly changed my perspective! I love how construction takes one of the main cognitive tools of solving crosswords – looking at blank spaces to puzzle out what might fit there – and challenges you to apply it at a galaxy-brain level to create something harmonious for a solver who isn’t you. Before taking on construction I saw crossword puzzles in 2D, this practice has pushed me to consider them in more like 4D. Also, this project has driven home how much careful shovel- and scalpel-work goes into filling a grid cleanly, let alone while adhering to a theme, so I submit my puzzle with a much deeper respect for the craft.

Actually going through the process though was really interesting and gave us an appreciation for how difficult it is. It’s one thing to look at a completed grid, it’s another thing entirely to be faced with a blank slate and have to fill it.

It’s harder than it looks for sure! New respect for the people who keep these puzzles fun and clever.

I have a lot more empathy for anyone trying to create a themed crossword!

[It’s] surprisingly difficult and it’s made me admire how hard it is to make these sorts of things

I already appreciated the work of setters but I hadn’t fully understood how hard US setters have it with such constrained gridding. Massive respect to the masters of the form (Brooke’s recent fiendish diagonal ‘stripe’ deserves special mention) and kudos to all previous and future Puzzmo setters.

This was hard as hell, and I was shocked by how much my theme changed from conception (you know, that moment when you’re kicking around a theme in your head and you’re tickled with how clever it is) to execution. It was a brutal process.

We have gained a great deal of respect for grid designers.

It gave me a lot of respect for crossword puzzle builders. Creating a solid puzzle takes a lot of time, care, and effort.

We have both done the NYT crossword for >5 years, and neither of us realized how the process is so intertwined of starting with a good long cross vs. starting with a grid, and how the ideas you start with will change as you begin the fill.