Crosswords for kids

[daughter]

My son has been having fun today designing crosswords, which he's going to print out and give to various folks as Christmas presents.

Thought this site might be interesting to other people... I'll post a link to my son's first designed crossword, because it has my favourite clue in it. Let me know if any of you finish it, and if any of you guess what my favourite clue was!

http://www.variety-games.com/CW/Puzz...344-puzzle.htm

The next one is a bit longer... I think he's getting into it. He likes thinking up clues more than anything. http://www.variety-games.com/CW/Puzz...342-puzzle.htm

[Bethany67]

I got stuck on '65th square' so I didn't finish it. I also took a wrong turn when 'metal police man' couldn't fit Robocop

[daughter]

Humm... when I asked him for a clue on "metal police man" he told me to think of Cu in the periodic table.

65th square is my favourite... it references "thinking outside the box" and is a chess joke.

[Bethany67]

Yeah I got Cu eventually. I'm not a good chess player so can't answer that one.

A Discworld quotation

Vimes hated chess. He hated the way the pawns edged out onto the field and slaughtered one another while the king hung in the back. If the pawns got together, had a few meetings, talked around a couple of the rooks, the whole place could be a republic by lunch.

[daughter]

The answer is chessboard. Maybe it was a bit too tricky.

I must say, I like that description of chess though. I taught Séamus to play chess by telling stories... about how the queen is a psychotic matriarch who dominates her husband, but really loves him, how the bishops hate each other, because they are different denominations. (That's why one will only stay on white squares, and the others on black.) And yes, how the whole set up is mightily unfair on the poor little pawns.

He ended up a lot better than me though... but he can still describe a game of chess as a story, which is fun. We get dialogue, sound effects, and politics... tragic endings, and heroic sacrifice.

And comedy comments when mother makes a mistake.