Are you an inveterate crossword solver?  Have you noticed the same words appearing again and again in puzzle after puzzle? Have you found yourself often adding aria to your crossword, or maybe epee or aloe?  Have you found yourself needing to be ever on the alert to the inventiveness of the crossword composers as they strive to stump us with new and diverting clues for these frequently used words?

My own enthusiasm for crossword puzzles has resulted in a crossword column about these words which are so numerous that it is possible to categorize them. There are a great many often-used words in crossword puzzles about birds, dogs and cats, art and artists, movie stars, etc., and you will find the columns categorized in this way.

By composing the columns on the internet, I have stumbled across a wonderfully informative and entertaining additional way to enjoy the puzzles.  By way of links to other internet pages, it is possible to learn more about the words themselves.  For example, while filling in a puzzle, you may have often inserted the word ela for the clue "Guido's high note," but on the internet you can learn who Guido is, what he did, and when he lived. If you mouseclick the appropriate high-lighted word in my Crossword Column on Classical Music & Musicians, you will find a web page with biographical information about Guido himself.

Each of the columns contains many such links to very interesting websites about people, places and things often referred to in crossword puzzles and their clues.  In this way, you can visit a museum site, learn about an animal, bird or fish, read the biography of a famous person, or check out any other word you've often used in a puzzle.  If you go to the frame to your left, you can scroll down and see the ever-growing list of subjects for columns.  Click on  a subject and you will go to the column.

There you have it. I just hope you have as much fun reading the columns as I had in researching and writing them.

 
 

Copyright 1999 by Chuck Schnebel
Revised 2002
all rights reserved

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