May 13 2011

Creepword

friday-the-13th_jason-voorhees Throw the salt. Dodge the ladder. And don’t even think about opening a brolly indoors. It’s Friday the 13th in case you haven’t checked your iPhone, and forum regular DC has made a crossword to salute the creepy occasion.

Hyper-creepy in fact, as DC has managed to turn all 20 entries running across into a creature or character of horror. Though unless you haunted the drive-in after midnight, you may need a nudge with at least three of these.

So listen up. One entry, a 1985 sci-fi screamer, has all four of its letters drawn from the alphabet’s second half. Another themer is a Greek letter, that also happens to be a Japanese river goblin. While your third is a cosmic force created by HP Lovecraft, and warrants its own lock-up hutch. Oh, and one more unlikely horrorpants, which could warrant his own rebus: HEPAD.

Still game to enter the sinister house that DC built? Don’t go alone. And always accompany a blond cheerleader, as she’ll be the first to go, and not quietly either. Call it solver’s insurance.

Best way to download the grid is to install the free software of Across Lite, as available on DC’s page. (Same web tool for printing most US crosswords, and hopefully the conduit for downloading some DA gear too, soonish.) Anyhow, boo to you. Hooray for DC, and enjoy the challenge. It’s terrific.

PS – For those lost in the throes of DC’s Creepword, your salvation is here. Uncast the spell, if tempted.

Comments

DC — 13 May at 10:11AM

Thanks for that, DA.

If only I could have fit Quetzalcoatl in. It would have been worth more points, if nothing else.

Nib — 13 May at 11:00AM

Tales from beyond the cryptic, eh? Will give it a gander.

Rupert — 13 May at 12:22PM

Nearly identical instructions to today's DA. Coincidence ...

... or something more sinister?

SK — 13 May at 12:48PM

Rupert, are you observing a "direct" comparison with DA's theme??

philth — 15 May at 12:32AM

it's quite a nice puzzle, though did need quite a bit of help from google on the ones DA mentioned above. the top half is down and i've seemed to get most of the bottom left out, while the bottom right is almost completely bare. a few comments

-is 15A meant to be double wordplay?
-i liked the rebus clue, which had me thinking a while until i failed to see the word in the dictionary.
-having all the across answers themed is pretty impressive, but made it pretty hard for me to get started.

but in all, pretty enjoyable. not your first puzzle?

DC — 15 May at 05:53AM

Thanks for the notes, and good luck for the rest. You are right about 15a.

It's not my first puzzle. I did a few some time ago, for the club I was in at the time (the Australian Horror Writers Association). This is a polished version of one of them, hence the theme.

I have worked on a new, unthemed puzzle as well, which should appear on my site at some point.

Boniface — 16 May at 12:47AM

Have solved without Google but only query is with 23A which I don't know. 42A was nice along with the 2 hissy fits. Thanks DC and I will look forward to seeing your solution on Halloween.

Sam — 16 May at 10:19PM

Thanks DC, in Ghana at the moment and looking forward to tackling it on the way to Sierra Leone :)

Boniface — 19 May at 09:14AM

Yep, 23A was my only error, despite DA's hint above - but as I'm working without Google, I don't feel too bad about it.

Good fun!