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wglass 2 days ago [-]
Interesting article. Note that many of the clues in the article are mis numbered.
Not sure why. Refer to the original puzzles linked for the correct clues.
quuxplusone 1 days ago [-]
Oops! Should be fixed now.
unholiness 2 days ago [-]
> if it actually wrapped around on itself with a half-twist, wouldn’t the letters wind up backwards too? Then 6-Down wouldn’t be MESSENGER but rather MESSENGER, and so on.
This premise is assuming the Mobius strip is transparent, which the header image clearly isn't. No letter-reversals or any symmetry is needed. On normal, opaque paper, you can just make a crossword as a normal long loop. (proof: Write GGGGGGG on one side of a paper, and write it upside-down on the other side. With a twist, you'll get one long GGGGGGGGGGGGGG... looping as if it were one boring single-sided loop).
arijun 1 days ago [-]
A true Mobius strip doesn't have "sides" like the paper model of one does. You can see that in the quote from Martin Gardner where he talks about a creature completing a loop becoming a mirror image with respect to it's friends. I assume the author wanted the paper model to mimic that property.
Incidentally, the author's choice makes for a much more interesting puzzle than the one you would have them use (IMO)--yours would be indistinguishable from a puzzle written on a cylinder.
unholiness 1 hours ago [-]
I agree it's an interesting puzzle! Just thought he made the jump to transparent paper without introduction in a way that confused me. It seemed instead like a non-transparent Mobius strip would join itself upside-down after a full loop, which wasn't obviously untrue.
srean 2 days ago [-]
A long long time ago I had a fun time making Mobius strip structure out of link list(s).
Each edge of the ribbon was a linked list, connected to each other by rungs. It looped back on itself but connected crosswise .
Then if you nuked all the rungs it was clear you still got a connected piece that you could traverse over.
wxw 2 days ago [-]
My partner publishes crosswords and it's always fun to see how much artistry goes into authoring a puzzle. You can play with the structure/grid, the theme of course, every minute detail of the fill, etc.
Never would have thought of a Mobius-strip though, insane.
rockostrich 2 days ago [-]
It's crazy how good puzzle creators are. I've watched a bunch of videos on it and I'm still in awe of how effortless they make it seem.
zem 2 days ago [-]
qxw [https://www.quinapalus.com/qxw.html] is a wonderful open source app that lets you make crosswords with interesting topologies, complete with grid filler support, if anyone wants to experiment with them.
edwcross 2 days ago [-]
For anyone trying to solve the examples, the toroidal crosswords example image has a copy-paste error from the post author (not present in the original): the numbers for Down are 1, 3, 5 and 6 (and not 1, 2, 4, 7).
quuxplusone 1 days ago [-]
(Author here.) Oops! and thank you. Should be fixed now.
Happily I used SVG for those images, or it'd have been harder. :)
Not sure why. Refer to the original puzzles linked for the correct clues.
This premise is assuming the Mobius strip is transparent, which the header image clearly isn't. No letter-reversals or any symmetry is needed. On normal, opaque paper, you can just make a crossword as a normal long loop. (proof: Write GGGGGGG on one side of a paper, and write it upside-down on the other side. With a twist, you'll get one long GGGGGGGGGGGGGG... looping as if it were one boring single-sided loop).
Incidentally, the author's choice makes for a much more interesting puzzle than the one you would have them use (IMO)--yours would be indistinguishable from a puzzle written on a cylinder.
Each edge of the ribbon was a linked list, connected to each other by rungs. It looped back on itself but connected crosswise .
Then if you nuked all the rungs it was clear you still got a connected piece that you could traverse over.
Never would have thought of a Mobius-strip though, insane.