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The mechanic has two layers: the shared grid, and the connected themes. Each day's two crosswords are thematically paired around a central idea. For example, a previous puzzle was "Same House, Different Kingdoms" - same home, same humans, entirely different worlds. One crossword is the dog's world, the other is the cat's. The themes are chosen to be related but distinct, which creates an extra layer of satisfaction when the connection clicks.
The constraint of forcing two crosswords into one physical space turns out to create genuinely interesting solving decisions - sometimes the two puzzles help each other, sometimes they fight.
Built solo over a few months using React, Python, Supabase, Fly.io and Resend. Three months of daily puzzles pre-loaded. Launched two weeks ago.
Would love feedback from anyone willing to try it.
Discussion (11 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews
It's fun, but I have some pointers.
1. Try to follow NYT's cluing rules, like plural clues always have plural answers. I was tripped up by "Bark pieces soaked before scattering over coals (8)" having the answer WOODCHIP.
2. It's very difficult. I solve NYT pretty handily 7 days a week, and difficult crosswords in Swedish too, but I ended up using 21 hints, and not only because I rushed. The lack of crosses makes it a lot harder to get a lock on the grid.
3. There was some questionable cluing in general, like "Shredded cabbage side at every British barbecue (8)" for COLESLAW, which I would not consider a particularly British side, and "Shallow inflatable pool beside the barbecue (8)" for PADDLING. Omitting the noun for that type of compounded adjective-noun word is fine I guess but felt clunky.
I like the gimmick itself though!
My feedback was it seemed like it was interesting to make, but for me at least not really interesting to solve.
It felt more like solving two crosswords than a single combined one.
Places where lots letters are shared between the two make it interesting, but they're weren't many. Sharing a single vowel 'e' isn't too interesting. Otherwise the just share the length which I already know the length for a crossword clue.
It seems like there is a cool idea in there and keep working on it, it just isn't there for me yet.
This would be a perfect entry for https://hnarcade.com