JUMBLE AGGREVATION



Every morning I work the daily Jumble and Celebrity Cipher puzzles.  I also do the Newsday Crossword which falls below Celebrity Cipher and Sudoku which is situated above the Jumble.  Sometime last spring, the Stamford Advocate, in their infinite 'wisdom,' reorganized their offerings, establishing an "Advice/Games" page.  (I don't consider puzzles games, but that's a whole other issue.)

This rearrangement as you can see above, squishes the Jumble, making squat ovals into which one must squeeze answer letters.  And it is quite obvious that the reason for this is the additional spacing in the Celebrity Cipher area.  I mean it is SO obvious.

I  contacted the editor at that time.  And then again, and yet again - all told, three times in May, once each in June, July, August, and then again today.  I have had token responses with noises about trying to fix it.  Now, usually in a situation like this, what gets messed up can get UNmessed.  The editor says that it is because of how it is being 'pulled' into the newspaper.  Yeah, right.  Perhaps if they looked at the formatting, they would see the problem and be able to correct it.  OR maybe they do not have the background and knowledge.  OR maybe they just don't care.