FSCC (Five-Second Crossword Competition, also called Five-Squared Crossword Competition) was started by Darren Izzard in January 2000. Here's how he explained the choice of name, in a post made on 9 December 1999:
It's based on that little crossword I posted to rec.puzzles.crosswords recently, and it got me thinking about how creative people could be with a very small grid. The name "Five Second Crossword" originates from the title of that post I made, but also it can be interpreted as "Five-to-the-Second-power Crossword" (ie. five-squared) as I'm using a 5x5 grid!
In contrast to all the other clue-writing competitions, the moderator prescribes an entire crossword grid, with one light already filled in with an answer. Each entrant must fill the grid, as well as writing clues for all the answers. The grid is usually 5x5 but sometimes strays a little beyond. Some setters use a barred grid, some a grid with black squares.
As in a PCWC, the moderator then posts the entered crosswords, complete with their answers, and invites people to vote on them. Each voter ranks the crosswords in descending order of merit, with ties allowed. (This is how voters ranked PCWCs, up to and including PCWC 23.) Votes are tallied by the Condorcet method. There is more Condorcet info here. Use my web page for deciding the winner, or a CGI script that does the ballot analysis .
Here are the grids used in the FSCCs and some statistics.
Why not have a go at solving the crosswords that won some of the FSCCs?
Here they are in
Crossword Compiler format.
Each web page will load a Java applet, using which you can solve the crossword
interactively.
1
2
3
4 (Luciano Ward)
4 (Mel Hochster)
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 (Bruce McKenzie)
13 (John Tozer)
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33 (Paul Berriman)
33 (Mel Hochster)
34
35 (Mel Hochster)
35 (Paul Coulter)
35 (Paddy Grove)
36 (Mark Iredell)
36 (Danny Kodicek)
36 (Paul Coulter)
37
38
39
40 (Luciano Ward)
40 (Paddy Grove)
41 (Luciano Ward)
41 (Paul Berriman)
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52 (Paul Cherry)
52 (Mark Iredell)
53 (Roy McLeese)
53 (Davy King)
Here they are in printer-friendly format:
1
2
3
4 (Luciano Ward)
4 (Mel Hochster)
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 (Bruce McKenzie)
13 (John Tozer)
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33 (Paul Berriman)
33 (Mel Hochster)
34
35 (Mel Hochster)
35 (Paul Coulter)
35 (Paddy Grove)
36 (Mark Iredell)
36 (Danny Kodicek)
36 (Paul Coulter)
37
38
39
40 (Luciano Ward)
40 (Paddy Grove)
41 (Luciano Ward)
41 (Paul Berriman)
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52 (Paul Cherry)
52 (Mark Iredell)
53 (Roy McLeese)
53 (Davy King)
Here are the answers:
1
2
3
4 (Luciano Ward)
4 (Mel Hochster)
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 (Bruce McKenzie)
13 (John Tozer)
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33 (Paul Berriman)
33 (Mel Hochster)
34
35 (Mel Hochster)
35 (Paul Coulter)
35 (Paddy Grove)
36 (Mark Iredell)
36 (Danny Kodicek)
36 (Paul Coulter)
37
38
39
40 (Luciano Ward)
40 (Paddy Grove)
41 (Luciano Ward)
41 (Paul Berriman)
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52 (Paul Cherry)
52 (Mark Iredell)
53 (Roy McLeese)
53 (Davy King)
Bruce McKenzie has the entries for FSCC 4 here.
