Plagiarism Scandal In The Crossword World

[AB Editor]

I'm sure you've all seen this:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-plagiarism-scandal-is-unfolding-in-the-crossword-world/?src=worldsbestever

The worlds "most syndicated puzzle compiler" has been caught plagiarizing...

Is this a big deal in the cruciverbalist community?

[dannyk13]

Also noticed that several Telegraph clues appear verbatim in other papers on the same day.Setter working for more than one paper?

[Togo]

It appears to highlight mainly American publications in the link Ed. Perhaps the 'yanks' are lacking in little imagination or inventiveness.

[AB Editor]

I assumed that there would be a set of "classic clues" which turn up from time to time Danny? Maybe this isn't the case however.

[CrapAtCryptics]

The Mail does it also - there were a couple the other day that we published 3 years ago.

[retrocop]

I only do the Mail crosswords and the clues are often repeated. Nebula yesterday and yahoo a few days back to name just two.

[Togo]

Funnily enough yesterday, one of the answers in the ST. was Poplar, and one of the regular posters commented that the clue was as old as him (or her).

[AB Editor]

Do you feel like you'd want "fresh" clues every week? Or is it okay to see some "old favourites"?

[dannyk13]

Repeats are Ok provided there is a reasonable time between them.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah the teleg told people how to do crosswords a few years ago
not only the form ( erm anagrams and link words )
but also implied that that the really good ones were recycled ....

I suppose if you pay for a crossword then the payer feels cheated if ....

[Togo]

Doesn't make a lot of difference to me. My memory isn't much help when I do the darned things. I would still struggle with last weeks the same as I do with a brand new puzzle.

[retrocop]

Agree with Danny. It must be a hard task to ensure completely fresh clues on a daily basis but I would rather they could do it. At the moment I still have a good memory and can still identify clues from about 3 years back which I know have been used so it is easier to solve them just by memory.

[retrocop]

There are many sites which deal with crossword answers. If you type in uninteresting person (slang) crossword you will get loads of suggestions. They actually say "these are clues we have seen X amount of times used before. Nexus is one site.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah on a more homely note I agree:

I stare at a clue that says ' shlinky shlonky shloo' or something
and my sister in law after a day or so says
the answer is 'antidisestablishment ...... '
and when I say why
sje answers that that is what it was last week

[BabsM]

A few years ago, I spent a couple of months in Nairobi on business and noticed that the Quick and Cryptic crosswords in one of the national newspapers the Daily Nation?) were from the (UK) Daily Telegraph. I noticed the Quick one first - the pun in the first few clues - then some of the clues started to look familiar...

[anaxcrosswords]

It is a very big deal in the US but not here. In themed American puzzles the theme and its answers are the entertainment backbone, so plagiarism is definitely a bad thing. That said, the largest part of the solving experience is the clues and, while the various articles about Parker have casually mentioned plagiarised clues, no examples have been given, which kind of points towards the clues having a minor role (to the extent that plagiarism of them doesn't really bother people).
In the UK we don't plagiarise, especially in cryptic crosswords. Ideas are inadvertently copied from time to time, but it's inevitable. Setters are finding new ways of expressing things at a far greater rate than new words are being added to the language, so the 'pot' of originality is always decreasing. Repetition has to happen.
As for plagiarism, though, we actually go to opposite extremes. Myself and a number of colleagues use the search function of sites like FifteenSquared to look up answers we want to clue – not for inspiration but to avoid what's been used before.
Clues will get repeated though. They're like good jokes for which a new audience can always be found. Some setters (like Roger Squires) go as far as a manual filing system in which every clue is stored, along with its where/when publication details, so there is a record of prior use. Roger, I think, sets a minimum of 6 months before repetition, others go for shorter/longer. It depends on how many puzzles you have to produce weekly.
Entire crosswords get repeated, of course. That's just syndication – sadly, once setters have been paid their crosswords are owned by the client, so the setter gets nothing if the crossword is syndicated elsewhere.

[retrocop]

That is most interesting. Thank you for that. Mr Squires manual filing system must be immense.

[anaxcrosswords]

Certainly is, retrocop - I've seen it. The clues are stored on index cards and part of his office is a bank of filing units for them.

[retrocop]

Would it be too labour intensive for him to have it all on a computer file with back up precautions of course?

[anaxcrosswords]

Can't give away confidential info, but when Roger eventually retires his clues are going to live on elsewhere via an agency. Their financial arrangement for the purchase accepts the storage system as it stands – so, yes, it would be a mammoth task to digitise it but there is no reason for Roger to take that on.

[Lie-in King]

First I'd heard about it Ed. As Danny says 1st post, many setters over here work for several publications - our own anaxcrosswords sets puzzles for (I believe) 4 publications under different names & for another anonymously.

*He'd* never knowingly recycle clues, I'm certain, but if a compiler came up with one they were pleased with, I wonder how they might go about checking if it had *ever* been used previously - anywhere, anytime.

The US enjoy crosswords styled differently to those we're used to seeing in the UK, using many more answers per grid. It seems to me that once the bulk of the grid is filled, finding words & phrases to fit the theme & the grid would become increasingly difficult to do.

Outright plagiarism, or inadvertent copying due to laziness or a lack of imagination in being able to come up with an original theme? Hmmm.

I doubt this matter will impact the UK's puzzling community overmuch, but it might be interesting to see what happens nonetheless.