The shame here is not so much that the clue was published, but that in all the discussion, practically no one mentioned that the rest of the puzzle happened to be terrific, a lively and sparkling way to pass the time.ĭeb Amlen writes the “Wordplay” crossword blog for The New York Times and is the author of “It’s Not P.M.S., It’s You: A Totally Non-hormonal Analysis of Male Behavior” (Sterling Innovation, 2010).The following text is in Valai-Sri Tamil font. There will always be differences in people’s views. also a Jew, would not use it in a puzzle. Play an unlimited number of tailor-made crossword puzzles This app contains a database of many thousands of straight and general knowledge clues and answers, so that it can. So Barocas, though a Jew, would not be offended by the “Shylock” clue, and Deb Amlen. We try to review as many of these votes as possible to make sure we have the right answers. Another published constructor put it this way: “I wouldn’t be too thrilled to see ‘Catholic’ clued as ‘Torquemada,’ for example, even though it is undoubtedly factual.” Regards, The Crossword Solver Team If you have a moment, please use the voting buttons (green and red arrows) near the top of the page to let us know if were helping with this clue. The bottom line for any product is whether it will sell, and I personally would not clue the entry “Jew” as “Shylock” in one of my puzzles, not just because I believe it to be off-putting, but also for fear of getting my employer into trouble (a good way to put a damper on my relationships with the few crossword venues that are left). Factual cluing gets you only so far, in my opinion, and it’s important to write with an ear for not only what is entertaining, but also what will not offend. Reynaldo went on to say that if the word is offensive to Jewish people, then crossword editors and constructors would be well advised to steer clear of ever allowing anything that can be interpreted as the lowercase “shylock.” But as the first word in the clue, there is no way to distinguish it from little-S shylock.” Capital-S Shylock is the Shakespeare character, and I think that’s fair game for a clue.
This leaves it open to (mis)interpretation. If Barocas meant to clue the entry “Jew” as the character in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” whether a solver believes that to be tasteful or not, then that might have been one reason that it escaped the red pen, simply because it’s factual: Shylock the dramatic character was a Jew.Ĭrossword blogger Amy Reynaldo, head writer of “Diary of a Crossword Fiend,” made this distinction: “When the word in question appears at the beginning of a clue, it’s capitalized. What might fly with one demographic might be verboten in another. I say this as someone who has built puzzles for vastly different markets. Constructors work closely with editors to make sure not only that their entries and clues are well written, but also that they fit the audience for which the puzzle is intended. Obviously, though, I offended people, and I am sorry for that.”Ĭonstructing a crossword puzzle is an interesting combination of art and marketing.
#I DO NOT USE CRACK CROSSWORD CLUE FULL#
Barocas, reached via e-mail, bore full responsibility for the clue, saying: “When I wrote the clue, I had no idea that it would offend anyone as a Jew, I would not have been bothered by it had I encountered that clue in a puzzle. Change a woman servant to what is delivered by the postal service. With another loop, repeat the same zig-zag step. With your palm facing you, take a loop and form a zig-zag from one finger to another using three, four or five fingers. You do not have to choose a pattern if you dont want to. Times crossword to more than 1,000 newspapers, promptly apologized. Change the top or summit of a mountain to a fruit. For a finger looping braid you take your loops and decide what color pattern you want to use.
To make a long story short, the Anti-Defamation League demanded an apology for the use of a racial slur, and the Tribune Media Services, which distributes the L.A. Times appearance different was that Barocas, who is Jewish himself, decided to use the clue “Shylock” to hint at the answer.
(Full disclosure: I have constructed crossword puzzles for both publications, and I write the crossword blog “Wordplay” for The New York Times.) What made the L.A. The New York Times crossword puzzle, edited by Will Shortz, has featured the word “Jew” a total of 18 times since 1996. There are 225 squares in the average daily crossword puzzle, and on Friday, June 28, three of them in the Los Angeles Times crossword by Victor Barocas spelled out “Jew.” It’s not an unusual entry on its own.
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