The Copy Culture Cryptic Crossword

from the puzzlebox dept

I don't know if we have any fans of cryptic crosswords in the Techdirt audience, but if so, this one's for you. I've been putting this together slowly on and off over the past few months, and now it's ready: the Copy Culture Cryptic. We're posting it this week in lieu of the standard "favorites" post.

If you're an expert at cryptics and a regular Techdirt reader, this should be a breeze. All the answers relate in some way or another to the worlds of the internet, media, intellectual property and technology in general. Be warned: there are a few acronyms and proper names of organizations, and some clues that are a little more on the playful side.

If you don't know how to do cryptic crosswords, and thus the clues sound like they were written by Homsar or someone with expressive aphasia, now is as good a time as any to learn about these awesome puzzles (you'll never go back to regular crosswords again).

Sadly, I haven't yet found an easy way to create an interactive version, so you'll have to use your imagination or download the printable PDF. And if anyone knows a good online crossword platform that doesn't rely on a Java applet, let me know...







ACROSS

1. Kick start (4)

3. Right after six, America gets infection (5)

6. With acknowledgements, reveals modification (4)

8. Collaborated on and bragged about bad grade at bad church (12)

10. Software publishers initially bemoan slow adoption (3)

11. Television standard is oddly not a sect (4)

13. Terrible prefix and terrific prefix for the obsolete (4)

15. Note measurement for collection society (3)

16. Cultural commons remixed old iambic pun (6,6)

17. Activists cut short, shortly (4)

18. Amended drier amendment (5)

19. Bully sacrifices rights for a fee (4)

DOWN

1. Join in bed, CENSORED (7)

2. The post-singularity internet? (3,3,2,4)

4. Breach in perimeter - deliberate, we heard (12)

5. Without fail, freely feeds 16D (4)

7. PAC is revising bad security bill (5)

9. Short albums earn points slowly at first (3)

12. Means “passage” (7)

14. Communication regulators, internally, hit undo (3)

15. Pursue eBay item and double down, almost (3,2)

16. Endlessly looks to 5D (4)



I'll post the answers in a week or so, assuming nobody's solved it by then!

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Filed Under: crossword, cryptic, puzzle