I wanted to indulge myself and support my budding crossword puzzle hobby. I wanted to solve puzzles in the hopes of getting better at making them. I wanted a breezy collection of puzzles to solve while I watched mindless reality TV.
I thought I was buying a book that would fill those wants. Instead, I rushed Alex Eaton-Salners’ Diagramless Crosswords into my cart without reading the description or thinking for more than an instant about what the title implied. ‘Twas a mistake.
What a delightful mistake it was!
My crossword journey began a few years ago when I discovered the New York Times daily mini and joined a league of fellow puzzlers competing for the fastest solves. It was but a flake that would eventually become a snowball and, later, a massive snow boulder, unstoppable in its inexorable descent.
In mid-2023, following years on the solving side, I decided to try my hand at constructing a crossword puzzle. It was like something clicked. Words, humor, puzzles, and writing all mixed into one mega-hobby through which I could express my interests. I was hooked.
Here’s the thing—making crossword puzzles is hard. Fun, yes, but difficult indeed. So I did a quick search for crossword books and purchased the first one I found: Diagramless Crosswords by celebrated constructor Alex Eaton-Salners. I unwrapped the package and opened the book, eager to solve some crosswords and maybe learn something along the way.
Imagine my surprise when I saw a collection of blank grids—white squares only. I thumbed to the front page and discovered far too late that I bought a book about solving puzzles with no black squares. That is, you not only have to work out the answers, but also where they go.
Eaton-Salners prepared for people like me. Rather than returning the book, I dove right in and read his detailed and helpful instructions on how to solve such puzzles. How to work out the grid’s symmetry. How to determine where black squares should or might go. How to solve the puzzle in chunks that eventually coalesce into a whole.
If you’re a puzzle fan thinking, “This sounds fun,” you’re right! On the other hand, anyone thinking, “This is my hell,” is also right. Diagramless Crosswords will be delightful (and frustrating) to those enmeshed in the grid-filled world of crossword puzzles. It’s a journey of discovery and of long bouts of stumpedness followed by satisfying “AHA!” moments. Eaton-Salners weaves plenty of safety nets into the experience, including hints for the starting square of each puzzle and an index of the symmetry for each grid. The answer key can be useful too, of course.
Eaton-Salners also uses this space to revel in themed puzzles. Every grid, when filled, results in an image that relates to a handful of the puzzle’s clues. Those clues are italicized to give you hints along the way.
When I turned the final page on Diagramless Crosswords, I was joyous and exhausted. It was akin to placing the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Gratitude for the journey and happiness it’s over.
As a crossword puzzle constructor, though, Diagramless Crosswords proved an invaluable resource. It taught me about common crossword conventions and construction tips. Eaton-Salners deftly explained the different types of symmetry and how they could be deployed for a good theme. The act of solving the puzzles gave me a better sense of a good “clean fill,” lingo in the cruciverbalist community that means a puzzle full of identifiable clues without too many weird or esoteric answers.
Through it all, I learned a lot, hurt a little bit, and had a helluva lot of fun. I parlayed my journey into a weekly newsletter, The New Dork Times, which sends puzzles directly to your inbox every Monday (more puzzles for paid subscribers).
My final verdict on Diagramless Crosswords? I loved it. I was predisposed to loving it. For budding cruciverbalists or puzzle fans, it’s a must-have.
-Cole
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