CROSSWORD #353: PO Boxes

CROSSWORD SOLVER PUZZLE: [ PO BOXES] 
PROGRAM: [Crossword Solver]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ PO BOXES]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]

ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ PO BOXES] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

Got an interesting press release the other day. It was tossed over the transom at BEQ.com headquarters. Yes, there's an actual transom at BEQ.com headquarters. And yes, things are routinely tossed over it, like the occasional unsolicited manuscript and idle threats to kill me because my puzzles are "too hard." More often than not, my neighbor just tosses his trash (empty beer cans, candy wrappers, doggie bags with dog turds, etc.), but, I digress. This latest endeavor by T. Campbell of Norfolk, VA, stood out among the detritus and I felt was worth mentioning to you.

Fans of the webcomic Fans might recognize T's name. Or, perhaps you recall I had posted a crossword themed comic that T published a few weeks back. (Yes, that's me in the fifth row and fifth column.) Well, T's been branching out of the lucrative webcomic market and attempting to put down stakes in the even more lucrative field of independent puzzlemaking. And his latest puzzle venture is an attempt at a record breaking-doozy.

Back in 1949, Robert Stilgenbauer (who?) apparently set the record for the largest American-rules crossword at 111x111. Impressive, but I think it's a pretty dubious record. Crosswords have become demonstratively better in the last 62 years. Hell, they've become demonstratively better in the last 10 years. T seems to think he could top it. He'd like to set the record by making a 120x120, and he needs your help. A quick visit to his Kickstarter page will help him visualize this dream. He's estimating the themeless will have a mind-scrambling 2000 entries. (Over/under for Dan Feyer's time solving this one: 25 minutes). All angels who back the project will receive their own copy to solve.

Just throwing it out there: there ain't no way I could be convinced to write 2000 clues for one puzzle. But, Godspeed, T. I'm rooting for you buddy.

Probably worth mentioning: I seem to recall that some of the editors at Games magazine set the longest American-rules crossword which was something like 25 squares wide and two or three football fields long. It was part of a 24 hour construction contest pitted against other countries, each using their own language and construction rules. I'm not sure this qualifies as the world's biggest per se as the teams were allowed to repeat words every, I'm going to guess, 25-30 rows. Is the repetition aspect the reason this one's not the biggest puzzle? Peter Gordon, I know you were part of this. Chime in in the comments section, please.

Anyway. Share the puzzle. New one tomorrow.

Photo credit: Guardian Safe And Vault