Follow-up on Gazette Sunday crossword bound to draw responses

I'm following up on a few items about which I've written this year. One is the Sunday crossword puzzle in The Gazette.

A lot of people have commented about the puzzle since I wrote about it earlier this year and the response is close to evenly split. A few more responders disliked the Sunday puzzle than liked it but not to the degree that we would change the puzzle.

 “For at least 45 years, I looked forward to working a larger puzzle on Sunday afternoons. I don't even bother any more with those currently being published in The Gazette,” one e-mailer wrote.

“As far as I am concerned, their (e-mailer included Suduko in criticism) printing is wasted space, as I and many other ‘former' puzzle enthusiasts agree,” another wrote.

And, just recently, which I'll include my Sunday, April 18, Gazette column in a portion about the puzzle: “Your Sunday crosswords are for the Mensa group. As I am sure they are not doing your crosswords, why don't you have some the average person can do?”

On the other side: “Like many of the persons who did not reply to the initial survey, I had NO PROBLEMS completing the crossword in the latest Sunday Gazette. A good crossword should challenge our intellect and stimulate our gray matter.”

And finally, with the original punctuation intact so that you do not think the e-mail was altered: “Please don't consider changing the Sunday crossword puzzle to make it any easier…it is just right the way it is. Those who want easier ones need only look in the daily Gazette….they are usually lots easier.”

With a split decision coming from readers, the easier weekday puzzles and more difficult Sunday puzzle seem to be, at this point in time, a compromise to keep.

By the way, I'm also writing in my Sunday, April 18, column about Gazette comics. People love to comment on the comics and I look forward to this round because we are going to launch a new comics survey. I'll have a separate blog post on that, too, plus a link to the survey, on Sunday.

Something a little more sedate

As long as I am writing about the crossword puzzle and comics I should update you the House of the Week feature we stopped running in February in The Gazette.

We looked for an alternative to the house plans feature and came close on one idea, but could not pull together something more complete with potential sources for an acceptable replacement.

I haven't heard from many people expressing dismay that it is gone. I can be precise about the total number of complaints crossing my desk. It was two.

We like what we've seen, so far, from a new feature that replaced the house plans: columnist Sean Conway, who writes about home and outdoor projects.

If you are interested in House of the Week it is available online at

www.houseoftheweek.com