Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any.
Orson Scott

Comment preview: Also a published NYT crossword constructor here, though not nearly as much as BEQ, and I'll answer these questions because he did a pretty quick job of it. > What tools do you use to create the puzzles? Software, etc. There are several programs for cons ....


Comment preview: A similar story, only I was the mad girlfriend: My ex-boyfriend and I were flying back home from somewhere and we got in a big fight in the airport just before boarding. I had gone to sit by myself in the lounge, but was stuck with him when it came time to ....


Comment preview: The grandiose ones could fill a novel, which I'll write someday when I transcribe it off all the bar napkins and register tape that I have the notes scribbled on. The most successful (well, my favorite of the most successful) was between a guy and a girl w ....


Comment preview: The wan light shines upon the gritty paper of Sudoku puzzles, and John's face grows more perplexed by the second. Two gentlemen in uniform stand on each side of him, and wails (most likely coming from his wife) could be heard through the door. "I'm confuse ....


Comment preview: Crosswords often have bad clues because the clues aren't supposed to be the only thing you solve it with. You fill a crossword so that you can complete it, but a crossword gets easier to complete the further along you get (technically, disregard the fact t ....


Comment preview: Here is a reformatted version, for as much as it is worth: >>What tools do you use to create the puzzles? Software, etc. >A cocktail of software, pencil and paper and books >>Do crossword creators or aficionados have favorite creators? >y ....


Comment preview: 1) Everyone thinks they are right about everything. If you didn't think you were right you would hold a different belief and then think you were right about that. The fact that you think you are right, alone, is meaningless. 2) Cognitive biases effect us a ....


Comment preview: Me too. I'm reminded of some story I heard somewhere.. it was a little old couple talking about how they met for the first time. The man had noticed the girl around campus and followed her to a coffee shop that she attended each day to sit and do the dai ....


Comment preview: Not a lifetime, But a "years' worth of dog food/biscuits/treats my mother won by doing some crossword puzzle prize book and then sending away the winning codes in the mail too. We had one dog, and she was a small Kelpie-cross, And we suddenly had entire pa ....


Comment preview: I exchanged emails with someone in Australia about "hacking" from work - it was a fun project we were doing trying to uncover the secrets behind the book Microcosm by Hal Gashtan... Anyway, I got fired, totally my fault, shouldn't have sent emails containi ....


Comment preview: Okay, I listened to the whole thing, and have interpreted it a different way.. So, this comp was a crossword puzzle where Steve and Liz were given the exact amount of letters needed to fill in the blanks to a crossword puzzle about their season of Big Brot ....


Comment preview: A shy gentleman was preparing to board a plane when he heard that the Pope was on the same flight. "This is exciting," thought the gentleman. I've always been a big fan of the Pope. Perhaps I'll be able to see him in person. Imagine his surprise when the P ....


Comment preview: A man is preparing to board a train when he hears that the Pope is also going to be using that mode of transportation because he apparently wanted to try something different. "This is exciting," the man thinks. "I've always been a big fan of the Pope. Perh ....


Comment preview: An integral part of my morning routine is doing the Washington Post daily crossword. I eat breakfast, have my coffee, and then get cracking. I do a couple crosswords each day because I like word games and getting unreasonably frustrated, but the one on WP ....


Comment preview: This will get buried but I have a perfect story to tell. 4 years ago I was on a flight from AZ to MN and I was seated next to a good looking guy. He was wearing khakis and a white linen shirt. Blonde hair and nice eyes. We smiled at each other as he took h ....


Comment preview: As a young adult, I visited my mom in Tucson. She had me stay in the spare bedroom that basically had a bed, a sewing machine, a nightstand, and a walk-in closet. Middle of the night I wake up with a wave of fear. I know there is something watching me fr ....


Comment preview: When you need to concentrate on something, like a crossword puzzle, you are using the hemisphere of the brain also used for processing motor input. Many biologists believe that by biting your lip or sticking your tongue out, you are suspending motor activi ....


Comment preview: At the bookstore I work at, we sell books of word searches, crossword puzzles, etc. A lady brought a stack up to my register, so I begin to scan them when she stops me. Lady: Oh, no. I don't want to buy them. I was just wondering if I could borrow them. Me ....


Comment preview: Primer was made with a very specific audience in mind. I was never intended for a wide release and is often hard to defend, because most people's criticisms about the movie are unarguably true and understandable. But the love for the film is out of the res ....


Comment preview: To me, reading Ulysses was a lot like trying trying to solve a crossword puzzle. You'd read a sentence like, "In ward wary the watcher hearing come that man mildhearted eft rising with swire ywimpled to him her gate wide undid." And you would have to do ....


Comment preview: As a frequent flyer I feel your pain. Fatties tend to think they are entitled to the space I don't take up. I used to just endure it but I'm way past that point now. They're rude and selfish and they know it. For example the ham in this photo isn't really ....


Comment preview: Calvin Coolidge never used any of the following words: Foliomort, pony, panopticon, parametric, fence, methylhydrazine, coolie^1 , daddy, chaparral, dipthong, francophone, rotunda, and is. The last is by far the most interesting. No historian has a definit ....


Comment preview: As a student that slept through classes and then proceeded to ace my tests, let me say it was never intentional. I fall asleep when certain people talk. I never wanted to be rude, I never wanted to fall asleep, but when I focused on listening to the instru ....


Comment preview: I have a positive one and a negative one. The positive one happened in an accounting class in college. Maybe 50-60 students and the teacher decides she's giving us weekend homework. Groans. She says something to the extend of "It's an accounting crossword ....


Comment preview: Discovering that my father was loved. I never knew my dad, my mother never talked about him, never shared anything about him. I had a single photo of him I discovered when going through my mother's photo negatives. He died in 2007 and I received a notic ....