Crosswords

how do people make professional crosswords?

the crosswords that appear in the ny times, washington post, etc., are they usually made completely by hand or with computer assistance? if the latter, what software do they use?

Public Comments

1. It shows how they do it in the movie "Wordplay". It's really interesting. I think a computer program would take all the fun out of it. .
2. yes but aint kno
3. Unfortunately, most that fill up the week are produced by computer. These are denigrated as "soulless" by crossword fanatics. The Sunday editions will tend to have the toughest, most interesting, handmade crosswords and credit the person who authored it.
4. Some of us do it by hand, but many use computers. Some use commercial software (like Crossword Compiler -- after crafting our own databases of fill entries from the standard set) or programs we've written ourselves. I mostly do it by computer with word lists I've customized to my venues. The "better" publications like the New York Times and the New York Sun give every constructor a name credit by the puzzle, and after a while, you can tell the difference by the patterns, fill words, and humor therein, like any piece of art.