News2 mins ago
Plagiarism Scandal In The Crossword World
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I'm sure you've all seen this:
http://
The worlds "most syndicated puzzle compiler" has been caught plagiarizing...
Is this a big deal in the cruciverbalist community?
http://
The worlds "most syndicated puzzle compiler" has been caught plagiarizing...
Is this a big deal in the cruciverbalist community?
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A few years ago, I spent a couple of months in Nairobi on business and noticed that the Quick and Cryptic crosswords in one of the national newspapers the Daily Nation?) were from the (UK) Daily Telegraph. I noticed the Quick one first - the pun in the first few clues - then some of the clues started to look familiar...
It is a very big deal in the US but not here. In themed American puzzles the theme and its answers are the entertainment backbone, so plagiarism is definitely a bad thing. That said, the largest part of the solving experience is the clues and, while the various articles about Parker have casually mentioned plagiarised clues, no examples have been given, which kind of points towards the clues having a minor role (to the extent that plagiarism of them doesn't really bother people).
In the UK we don't plagiarise, especially in cryptic crosswords. Ideas are inadvertently copied from time to time, but it's inevitable. Setters are finding new ways of expressing things at a far greater rate than new words are being added to the language, so the 'pot' of originality is always decreasing. Repetition has to happen.
As for plagiarism, though, we actually go to opposite extremes. Myself and a number of colleagues use the search function of sites like FifteenSquared to look up answers we want to clue – not for inspiration but to avoid what's been used before.
Clues will get repeated though. They're like good jokes for which a new audience can always be found. Some setters (like Roger Squires) go as far as a manual filing system in which every clue is stored, along with its where/when publication details, so there is a record of prior use. Roger, I think, sets a minimum of 6 months before repetition, others go for shorter/longer. It depends on how many puzzles you have to produce weekly.
Entire crosswords get repeated, of course. That's just syndication – sadly, once setters have been paid their crosswords are owned by the client, so the setter gets nothing if the crossword is syndicated elsewhere.
In the UK we don't plagiarise, especially in cryptic crosswords. Ideas are inadvertently copied from time to time, but it's inevitable. Setters are finding new ways of expressing things at a far greater rate than new words are being added to the language, so the 'pot' of originality is always decreasing. Repetition has to happen.
As for plagiarism, though, we actually go to opposite extremes. Myself and a number of colleagues use the search function of sites like FifteenSquared to look up answers we want to clue – not for inspiration but to avoid what's been used before.
Clues will get repeated though. They're like good jokes for which a new audience can always be found. Some setters (like Roger Squires) go as far as a manual filing system in which every clue is stored, along with its where/when publication details, so there is a record of prior use. Roger, I think, sets a minimum of 6 months before repetition, others go for shorter/longer. It depends on how many puzzles you have to produce weekly.
Entire crosswords get repeated, of course. That's just syndication – sadly, once setters have been paid their crosswords are owned by the client, so the setter gets nothing if the crossword is syndicated elsewhere.
Can't give away confidential info, but when Roger eventually retires his clues are going to live on elsewhere via an agency. Their financial arrangement for the purchase accepts the storage system as it stands – so, yes, it would be a mammoth task to digitise it but there is no reason for Roger to take that on.
First I'd heard about it Ed. As Danny says 1st post, many setters over here work for several publications - our own anaxcrosswords sets puzzles for (I believe) 4 publications under different names & for another anonymously.
*He'd* never knowingly recycle clues, I'm certain, but if a compiler came up with one they were pleased with, I wonder how they might go about checking if it had *ever* been used previously - anywhere, anytime.
The US enjoy crosswords styled differently to those we're used to seeing in the UK, using many more answers per grid. It seems to me that once the bulk of the grid is filled, finding words & phrases to fit the theme & the grid would become increasingly difficult to do.
Outright plagiarism, or inadvertent copying due to laziness or a lack of imagination in being able to come up with an original theme? Hmmm.
I doubt this matter will impact the UK's puzzling community overmuch, but it might be interesting to see what happens nonetheless.
*He'd* never knowingly recycle clues, I'm certain, but if a compiler came up with one they were pleased with, I wonder how they might go about checking if it had *ever* been used previously - anywhere, anytime.
The US enjoy crosswords styled differently to those we're used to seeing in the UK, using many more answers per grid. It seems to me that once the bulk of the grid is filled, finding words & phrases to fit the theme & the grid would become increasingly difficult to do.
Outright plagiarism, or inadvertent copying due to laziness or a lack of imagination in being able to come up with an original theme? Hmmm.
I doubt this matter will impact the UK's puzzling community overmuch, but it might be interesting to see what happens nonetheless.
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