About
Mission statement: Crucinova champions creativity and innovation in the art of crossword puzzle construction, with the aim of delivering delightful outside-the-box solving experiences to discerning solvers.
Founder’s Statement:
Hello! My name is Lisa Bunker (she/vo/they). I am or have been, among other things, a word geek, an author, a community radio program director, a state rep, a pianist and bassist, an amateur linguist, a chess and Scrabble player, and a lifelong lover of constructing and solving crossword puzzles.
I created Crucinova because I saw an opportunity to foster a fresh kind of crossword joy for both solvers and constructors, and because while waiting to hear back from book publishers during the pandemic I needed a project I could just dive into and DO.
Manifesto!
(Written in the spring of 2021)
This art we all love has, for the most part, had the same conventions for a long time: 15×15 grids, almost always square, almost always with symmetrical block designs, never any 2-letter words, and so on. Which is fine—there are good reasons for these conventions. They’ve been hammered out over time. As a solver I take comfort in the predictability of the solving experience. It’s like listening to classical music, which I also love. I know what to expect, and I enjoy a sense of participating in a grand tradition.
That said, I still feel a special sort of joy when a particularly quirky grid comes along. I love it when constructors find creative and original ways to bend or break the conventions of the form. Which leads me to wonder: if most of the puzzles I enjoy now feel like classical music, what would feel like avant-garde, or jazz? I bet I’m not the only solver who would like to experience more crossword jazz.
Meanwhile, as a constructor, I have found it difficult to place my own convention-challenging grids. Some of my wilder ideas I don’t even send out, because I assume no editor will go for them, or because the limitations of print and app would make them impossible to publish.
Sometimes I look wistfully through the tools in my constructor program, thinking, what could I come up with if bars were allowed, or if someone was buying non-square shapes? What really off-the-wall things could I do with colors or pictures or circles or rebuses, if there was an outlet for the result? And once again, I have to imagine I’m not the only one. I bet there are lots of constructors sitting on unconventional ideas they assume will never get to find solvers.
Crucinova is an effort to join together solvers who appreciate off-beat and unique solving experiences with constructors eager to get their creative work out into the world, and to get paid for it.
Not that it’s a total free-for-all. There are still some crossword conventions that I find valuable. For example, I care about themes being clear and logical in conception, and consistent in execution. If we’re going to break rules, ideally we should have a compelling reason to do so. Ideally we transgress because, and precisely in the way that, the audacity of the concept demands. Other conventions I still cleave pretty closely to include overall interlock unless you’re playing with that, lively fill with a minimum of “glue,” and entertainingly tricky, amusing, or educational but also fair and accurate cluing.
We also face some technical limitations. You will not see a grid with hexagons instead of squares on this site anytime soon. But what we can do is selectively loosen the usual rules about grid size and shape, symmetry, interlock, word length, and so on. We can also subvert the standard ideas about the uses of blocks, shaded squares, colors, bars, circles, and the rebus function, as well as the conventions of cluing. Within the limits of what our programs can construct and post, we can collectively experiment and play with reinventing the form.
Solvers, if you share my pleasure in excellently constructed, original grids that showcase their constructors’ unique inventiveness and talent, I hope you’ll consider subscribing to the service. Please join me in championing innovation in this art we all love, the art of crossword puzzle construction!
And, constructors, send me your weird ideas! Maybe it’s still a 15×15 grid, but something really out-of-the-ordinary is happening within those bounds. Or maybe you’ve thought of a novel concept that requires one or more modifications in size, shape, etc. In either case, if your idea is original and creative, if it has a good reason to break the rules and does so elegantly, if it’s whimsical or quirky but still can be turned into a solvable grid, I would like to see it. Complete submission guidelines can be found on the Submissions page.
Puzzling love,
~Lisa~
Acknowledgements
Many people helped with the birth of this quirky brainchild. My heartfelt appreciation and thanks go to:
For early enthusiasm and encouragement, Jeff Chen and Sid Sivakumar, and various established editors, including Will Shortz
For patient support while I learned their PuzzleMe program, Sudheendra Hangal and Yash Joshi at AmuseLabs
For invaluable business coaching, Amy Sterndale at the NH Small Business Development Center
For their generous welcoming of the newbie service on the scene, Peter Gordon of Fireball and the Inkubator Team
For many assists with web-design and the bizarre intricacies of WordPress, Russ Helfand and Heidi Bautista, and Remy Brecht
For blog links and mentions and other promotional contributions, Lara Bricker, Amy Reynaldo, Rex Parker, Nate at Queer Qrosswords, Matt Gritzmacher, Will Johnston, and a growing number of other Crossworld influencers
For the amazing resource which is XwordInfo.com (along with Jim Horne) and for helping with contacting constructors, Jeff Chen again
For the generous gift to the Crossworld of the free use of his lovingly curated word list, Peter Broda
For the astonishing creativity of their ideas, the dozens and counting constructors who have contributed grids
For taking over when it was time for me to move on to other projects, Quiara Vasquez and Gavin Byrnes
For being the love of my life and helping in too many ways to count or list, Dawn Huebner
