Blog du Wren

My Crossword in the Orange County Register

Recently, I had one of my crosswords published in the Orange County Register family of papers down in Southern California, my 9th-ish puzzle publication to date. While the paper doesn't have the circulation of the NYT or WSJ therefore not quite the prestige (or payday) of having a puzzle published, I still feel proud and honored to have a puzzle featured.

We have all heard how tough the newspaper publishing industry is these days. Perhaps because of that, most papers run only syndicated puzzles from one of a very few syndicates, meaning the market for crossword constructors is rather small. The Orange County Register bucks this trend and publishes its own puzzle weekly. It is a great counterpoint to the highly competitive other venues from a constructor's point of view. Additionally, working with the editor, David Steinberg, was really great. All around, just a great thing they've got going there.

One of my favorite parts of getting a puzzle published is framing it up for my ever-growing crossword wall. Since puzzle creation isn't much of a money maker (making up only 3.3% of my yearly income last year (details here)), it is having these reminders of my accomplishment that helps keep me cranking at the rather tedious process of making puzzles. And while the wall is filling up, I've still got enough space to keep striving to get more puzzles published. I've got my hopes high for the upcoming year. As always, stay tuned here for any developments.

Oh, and if you want to do my latest puzzle and don't live in the OCR distribution area, download a copy here to print at home. It also features a neat bio and picture, a real neat personal touch!.

Saturday February 11 2017

File under: crosswords

Toggle Comments (2)

comment?

on Sun 19th Feb, 2017 03:50 pm EST horge said:
Looking at your growing wall of fame, I just realized something: have you ever noticed how crossword puzzles, viewed from afar, look like those QR-codes? Maybe you make a meta-puzzle that the theme is online marketing or something, and that it actually functions as a QR-code bringing crossnerds (or whatever you call yourselves?) to BdW? It could double your readership at least!
************************
on Sun 19th Feb, 2017 09:25 pm EST Andrea said:
Finished the puzzle, Wren. I did have to look up the performer of Human Behavior because I was stumped. The rest fell into place. Good job and congratulations!
************************

<<2017 Valentines Day Act

A Breakdown of Earnings>>

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace