I STARTED COMPILING CROSSWORDS ABOUT 25 YEARS AGO AND AROUND TEN YEARS AGO I FINALLY GOT SOME PUBLISHED : AFTER A FALSE START IN 2014 WITH A PURPORTED GRASSROOTS POST-INDYREF NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS MEDIA PUBLICATION CALLING ITSELF "THE SCOTTISH INDEPENDENT" I EVENTUALLY GOT SOME GRIDS PUBLISHED IN 2016 THROUGH iSCOT MAGAZINE : BUT MY SPOT IN THE NEWLY FORMED iSCOT MAGAZINE ENDED BEFORE I REALLY GOT GOING WITH IT AND I WAS LEFT WITH A STACK OF 18 GRIDS I HAD ALMOST COMPLETED BEFORE THEY DECIDED TO RENEGE ON OUR "VERBAL CONTRACT"
THE FIRST FEW GRIDS I HAD PUBLISHED WERE SLIGHTLY RUSHED DUE TO POOR COMMUNICATION ON THEIR PART INITIALLY AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE TAKING ME ON : I LIKE TO GIVE MYSELF A GOOD WINDOW OF TIME TO ENSURE 1. NO ERRORS AND 2. THE CLUES I WRITE ARE INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING : TO THAT END I GAVE MYSELF A THREE MONTH WINDOW TO COMPLETE EACH GRID AND THAT WAS STARTING TO WORK WELL AS A SYSTEM UNTIL iSCOT DECIDED TO PRINT ONE OF MY GRIDS WITH THE SOLUTIONS PRINTED ON THE GRID : THIS LED TO RELATIONS TURNING SOUR AND THEN MY WORK BEING REJECTED IN FAVOUR OF COMPUTER GENERATED STOCK CROSSWORDS FOR WHICH THEY ENDED UP PAYING SLIGHTLY MORE FOR THAN THEY HAD PAID ME FOR MY WORK ! GRASSROOTS PUBLICATION ! I'M SURE WE COULD HAVE WORKED THINGS OUT BUT THEY CHOSE TO ACT SO OFFHANDENDLY TOWARDS THE SITUATION AND HASTILY DROPPED ME WITH NO REGARD FOR THE WORK AND EFFORT I HAD PUT IN
I WISH THEM ALL THE BEST BUT GOING FORWARD I THINK I WOULD RATHER MY WORK WAS PUBLISHED BY A MEDIA GROUP THAT APPRECIATES OR HAS AT LEAST A BASIC GRASP OF THE ARTFORM THAT IS "CRYPTIC X-WORDS"
cryptic crosswords
15 X 15 GRID #6 : SEE HERE FOR MORE
: THE PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING THESE FILES FROM THE OLD SOFTWARE TO AFFINITY HAS RESULTED IN THE LAYER STRUCTURE BEING COMPLETELY CORRUPTED SO I'M BUSY TRYING TO FIX THAT AS WELL AS TIDYING UP THESE GRIDS AND PERHAPS REWRITING SOME CLUES :
COMPILING A GOOD CRYPTIC CROSSWORD CAN TAKE SOME TIME : THE HARDEST PART CAN BE COMPLETEING THE GRID SYMMETRICALLY AS THE AVAILABLE WORD BASE TO INSERT WORDS INTO THE REMAINING SPACES BECOMES EXPONENTIALLY MORE LIMITED AS THE GRID IS FILLED IN : THEN THERE IS THE CLUE WRITING
SO I ALLOWED MYSELF ROUGHLY THREE MONTHS FOR EACH GRID AND SO I WAS CONSTANTLY WORKING ON MULTIPLE GRIDS AT ANY ONE TIME : SHOULD I GET STUCK ON A CLUE ON ONE GRID I THEN HAVE THE OPTION TO PUT THAN ONE ASIDE WHILE COMPLETING OTHERS AND IN DOING SO I WORKED OUT A PROCESS THAT GAVE ME SOME FLEXIBILITY AND PROMOTED QUALITY
I PRESENTED iSCOT WITH AN OFFER OF SOME KIND OF VERBAL AGREEMENT TO HONOUR THREE MONTHS IN ADVANCE IF THEY SHOULD WISH TO END OUR COLLABORATION FOR ANY REASON SO THE TIME I'D ALREADY SPENT WORKING ON CONTENT FOR THEIR MAGAZINE WOULD NOT BE UNNECESSARILLY WASTED : I THOUGHT THIS WAS A FAIR DEAL BUT IT SEEMS THE EDITOR DIDN'T QUITE UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEANT BY "THREE MONTHS ROLLING" : IN FACT NOBODY I WORKED WITH AT iSCOT APPEARED TO HAVE ANY APPRECIATION OR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ART FORM THAT IS CRYPTIC CROSSWORD COMPILING
SADLY THOUGH THE PROJECT ENDED NOT LONG AFTER MY FIFTH PAGE WAS PUBLISHED IN MAY 2016 WHEN THEY ERRONOUSLY PUBLISHED ONE OF MY CROSSWORD GRIDS WITH THE SOLUTIONS PRINTED IN THE GRID ALONG WITH THE NUMBERS AND WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN EMPTY SPACES
Wee Minger
13 X 13 GRID #6 : SEE HERE FOR MORE
ASIDES FROM THE 15 X 15 STANDARD CRYPTIC I PRODUCE I ALSO DO A 13 X 13 CRYPTIC I CALLED THE "WEE MINGER" WITH CLUES THAT I SET EXTRA DIFFICULT : PERHAPS TOO DIFFICULT ? I DON'T KNOW AS I NEVER GOT ANY FEEDBACK FROM THE iSCOT READERSHIP ON THE ONES I HAD PUBLISHED : I HAVE HAD THE 18 NEW GRIDS ALL TESTED BY SOMEONE WHO MANAGED TO COMPLETE ALL THE 15 X 15 GRIDS BUT FAILED TO GET ANYWHERE WITH THE 13 X 13 :
ARE YOU UP TO THE CHALLENGE ?
I IMMEDIATELY RAISED THIS WITH THEM TO WHICH THEY RETURNED MY EMAILS WITH NOT MUCH TRACE OF AN APOLOGY THAT I COULD SENSE AND INSTEAD PLACED THE BLAME ON ME FOR THE FORMAT IN WHICH I UPLOADED THE FILES FOR THAT MONTH : I WAS NOT WISHING TO MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF IT BUT OF COURSE I WAS NOT PLEASED TO HAVE MY WORK BASICALLY RUINED : APPARENTLY THE ERROR WAS MINE FOR NOT FLATTENING THE FILE BEFORE SENDING DESPITE THE FACT THE CONTENT FOR THE ADJACENT PAGE TO MINE (WHICH I VOLUNTEERED TO ILLUSTRATE AS WELL) WAS SENT TO ME LESS THAN TWO DAYS TO GO UNTIL THE FINAL DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION FOR CONTENT : THERE WAS NO REASON TO SEND IT THAT LATE AS THE CONTENT FOR THAT PAGE WAS ALREADY THERE AND RELATED TO A PUZZLE FORMAT THAT IS INHERENTLY MUCH EASIER TO CREATE : BUT THE BLAME WAS PASSED ON TO ME FOR UPLOADING THE FILE IN THE SAME FORMAT I HAD THE FOUR TIMES PREVIOUSLY WITH DIFFERENT LAYERS TO BE TURNED ON AND OFF SO THEY COULD SEE THE SOLUTIONS FOR THEMSELVES AND PRINT THEM ON ANOTHER PAGE
EVEN THOUGH I WAS EXPECTED TO RUSH THE FINAL DRAFT AT THE LAST MINUTE BECAUSE THEY CHOSE TO SEND ME THE DETAILS NEEDED AT THE LAST MINUTE AND UPLOADED THE CONTENT TO THEM WITH NO ERRORS I WAS BLAMED FOR THEM FORGETTING TO TURN OFF A LAYER THAT WAS COMPLETELY OBVIOUS HAD TO BE TURNED OFF
THEY THEN DROPPED ME : REFUSED TO PAY ME FOR THE WORK I HAD ALREADY WORKED ON FOR SEVERAL WEEKS PRIOR TO THAT ON THE STRENGTH OF THEIR WORD AND LEFT ME WITH EIGHTEEN UNPUBLISHED GRIDS : SIX OF WHICH I HAD ASSUMED WOULD BE HONOURED AS PART OF OUR VERBAL AGREEMENT BUT THEY DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND THE REASON WHY I ASKED FOR "THREE MONTHS ROLLING" AND INTERPRETED IT AS THREE MONTHS : END : THEN ANOTHER THREE MONTHS : AS OPPOSED TO IT RESETING AFTER EACH MONTH PUBLISHED
THEY HAD NO APPRECIATION OF CROSSWORDS AT ALL OR HOW MUCH EFFORT AND THOUGHT HAS TO GO INTO CREATING ONE AND JUST CANCELLED MY VERBAL CONTRACT WITH THEM AND THEREAFTER JUST BOUGHT THEIR CROSSWORD GRIDS FROM AN ONLINE STOCK WAREHOUSE OF CROSSWORD GRIDS AND PUBLISHED THEM ON THE PAGE I HAD ILLUSTRATED FOR THEM : THEY DROPPED MY WORK IN FAVOUR OF COMPUTER GENERATED GRIDS FROM AN INTERNET COMPANY AND PAID MORE THAN THEY HAD PAID ME FOR THE CONTENT I PROVIDED : I BROUGHT THIS CONTENT TO THIE MAGAZINE AND IT SEEMED LIKE THEIR READERSHIP WAS PLEASED THAT THERE WAS NOW A CROSSWORD IN THE MAGAZINE NOW
I WAS REALLY PLEASED WITH THE QUALITY OF THE WORK I WAS CREATING FOR THEM NOW THAT I HAD A SYSTEM IN PLACE : SADLY THOUGH THEIR READERSHIP NEVER GOT TO SEE MY CONTINUING WORK OR INDEED WHAT I MIGHT HAVE CREATED FOLLOWING THAT AND WERE LEFT WITH THE STANDARD OF CROSSWORD CLUE WRITING YOU'D LIKELY FIND IN THE DAILY RECORD
I HOPE THAT SOME DAY I CAN GET THESE GRIDS PUBLISHED AND MORE BUT IT'S SO HARD TO FIND A PUBLISHER AS MOST OF THE PAPERS ALREADY HAVE THEIR GRID SETTERS AND THERE RARELY SEEMS TO BE A VACANCY
ST:S::T:N.:RT
FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE SOME OF MY PUBLISHED WORK AND NEW : PLEASE BEAR WITH ME WHILE I FINISH SETTING UP THIS WEBSITE AND REBOOTING SOME OF THESE OLD AS YET UNPUBLISHED GRIDS : IN THE MEANTIME YOU CAN SEE MY PUBLISHED GRIDS FOR FREE AND A BONUS CLUE FOR THE REST
: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BUYING SOME OF MY X-WORD GRIDS PLEASE EMAIL ME AT :
STUART @ WHITEADDER.ROCKS
15X15 CRYPTIC #6 TO #14
2A. BONUS CLUE HERE BONUS CLUE HERE BONUS CLUE HERE BONUS CLUE HERE (1,2,3)
13X13 HYPER CRYPTIC #6 TO #14
HARD AS F CK - WRITE A CLUE FOR HARD AS F CK? OR JUST A DESCRITION OR BONUS CLUE?
ISCOT GRIDS #1 TO #5
FIVE 15X15 CRYPTIC : FIVE 13X13 HYPER CRYPTIC PUBLISHED IN ISCOT IN 2015