Kaidoku #71 & Inspiration

Kaidoku #71 (PDF) | Java applet | JPZ (get Crossword Solver)

Getting inspired to write crosswords is hard. I get inspired to write a crossword about … oh … every month or so. Usually less. And of course, not every crossword I write gets published. Not even close. So you can see why my puzzle output is so low. (Meanwhile there are people like Brendan Quigley and Matt Gaffney who are essentially constantly writing crosswords. How do these people do it?)

Anyway, getting inspired to write Kaidoku is much easier. Just start with a word you really like! At work these days we’re working on a system called PORCUPiNE. So I thought, hey, that would be a good seed for a Kaidoku! (No, not PORCUPINE. You’ll see what word it is when working through today’s puzzle). By the way, I’m pretty happy with the way this one turned out. I think you’ll like it too!

Enjoy the puzzle, and have a great weekend! We’ll see you Monday.
February 4th, 2010 by Alex | tags:

Comments (4)

joonFebruary 9th, 2010 at 11:07 am

yeah, this was one of your best ones. i thought about BEDDED/WEDDED, then POWWOW when i realized that the 3 didn’t appear anywhere else, and finally hit on HUBBUB. that didn’t actually lead very far but RADAR did, even though it turned out to be wrong! once again i switched up the vowels due to the tricky RADII. lots of great words here.

what does PORCUPiNE stand for? is it really a backronym?

AlexFebruary 9th, 2010 at 11:29 am

I’m certain you’re not really interested in what PORCUPiNE stands for. I’ll refer you to a paper once one comes out, if the suspense starts to eat away at you.

I like having palindromes in Kaidokus. Like you say, even if you make a wrong guess, the right one isn’t far behind.

annaFebruary 11th, 2010 at 5:12 pm

I loved this one!! I tried working with BEDDED/WEDDED like joon, and then took a stab at TOOTH and got nowhere — then I did a Q hunt and put it where the F in HOPEFUL turned out to be — I was wrong with the Q but the Us helped me get HUBBUB and I wenty on from there for a while (HO??QUE seemed right for a lobng time, for some reason)

Lots of excellent 1-down moments in this.

AlexFebruary 11th, 2010 at 5:47 pm

Thanks, Anna! Glad you liked it.