# Crossword Puzzle Question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661 "2007-01-20T01:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/1 "2007-01-20T01:31:11Z")
I am wondering…do other countries besides the USA and UK have crossword puzzles? I just found it hard to imagine a German or Dutch crossword, or Greek, etc. Anyone know? TIA ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/2 "2007-01-20T01:36:11Z")
Yes, though in Europe they tend to be the kind where the clues are found in the blank squares within the grid, and not to have the same density of words as American-style crosswords. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/3 "2007-01-20T01:51:23Z")
French has crossword puzzles: [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3280,36-139043,0.html](http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3280,36-139043,0.html) The rules are somewhat different from American-style crosswords. In this example, Row I has one clue, and it fits in the 12 squares across – as you’d expect. Row II has one clue. However, there’s one blank square in a row before a black square, so the blank square gets ignored (it’s part of Column 1 only), and the clue fits in the remaining 10 squares across. Row III has two clues – each sentence in the description is a separate clue. The first clue fits in the 5 blank squares before the black square, and the second clue fits in the 6 black squares after the blank square. Row IV has three clues, and you get the drift… So, horizontals and verticles work as you’d expect, and the clue style works more like American-style crosswords than British-style ones. However. there can be more than one clue per row, and a single square by itself in a row/column isn’t part of the row/column. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/4 "2007-01-20T02:21:28Z")
Cryptic crosswords seem to be largely confined to Britain, Ireland, and former British territories. I do know of one supposed French language cryptic clue though, from an earlier thread: **Niche de chien? (9)** ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/5 "2007-01-20T02:24:33Z")
I saw a program today in which an Arabic crossword puzzle with 30,000 clues was made. One word had 47 letters in it. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/6 "2007-01-20T04:46:28Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] I saw a program today in which an Arabic crossword puzzle with 30,000 clues was made. One word had 47 letters in it. [/QUOTE] [This one](http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Sports-Cards-Inc-Crossword/dp/B00001R3WO/sr=8-1/qid=1169268230/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6383921-9575229?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games) is in English and has 28,000 clues. Apparently it’s not that difficult, though, just big. Really big. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/7 "2007-01-20T08:18:57Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] I saw a program today in which an Arabic crossword puzzle with 30,000 clues was made. One word had 47 letters in it. [/QUOTE] I’m stuck. Look, don’t give me the whole word - just tell me what letter it starts with. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/8 "2007-01-22T06:45:02Z")
[QUOTE=Not a Well Woman] I am wondering…do other countries besides the USA and UK have crossword puzzles? I just found it hard to imagine a German or Dutch crossword, or Greek, etc. Anyone know? TIA [/QUOTE] In Canada, we tend towards the American style of crossword puzzles, though British-style cryptics are available in certain publications as well. As a result, most daily puzzles come from one of those sources. We do also see sometimes our own puzzles, with clues and solutions that show a distinctly Canadian bent. Still, they are more American-style than cryptic. [This link](http://www.harbourpublishing.com/author/KathleenHamilton) tells you a little more about them, and introduces one of the constructors. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/9 "2007-01-22T06:52:25Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/10 "2007-01-22T15:57:59Z")
[QUOTE=Not a Well Woman] I just found it hard to imagine a German or Dutch crossword, or Greek, etc. [/QUOTE] Could you tell us what it is about German, Dutch, and Greek, which make it difficult for you to imagine a crossword in those languages? For example, I can see where someone might find it hard to imagine a crossword in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, where each symbol is a word. For such a language, each multi-symbol section of the crossword puzzle would be a logical and grammatical sentence rather than a correctly-spelled word. But for languages which use letters to construct words (such as American English, British English, German, Dutch, or Greek), what’s the problem? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/11 "2007-01-22T16:26:12Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] Cryptic crosswords seem to be largely confined to Britain, Ireland, and former British territories. I do know of one supposed French language cryptic clue though, from an earlier thread: **Niche de chien? (9)** [/QUOTE] I flew Air France to France last August and the in-flight magazine had a clever cryptic crossword. The same puzzle grid was used for either a set of English clues or French clues, whichever one you wanted to solve. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/12 "2007-01-22T16:47:38Z")
Here is one from El Tiempo, newspaper of Colombia in Spanish: [http://tr.eltiempo.terra.com.co/cruc\_eskpe/index.php](http://tr.eltiempo.terra.com.co/cruc_eskpe/index.php) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-question/388661/13 "2007-01-22T19:13:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Could you tell us what it is about German, Dutch, and Greek, which make it difficult for you to imagine a crossword in those languages? Possibly the fact that they’re inflected languages? With a limited number of endings, you’re going to end up with whole diagonal swaths of the puzzle which are the same part of speech and inflection. Which would be boring.