A reader shared this video clip with me from the movie Hot Fuzz. I recalled its (quite scathing) mention in the Guardian Crossword blog's entertaining series on crosswords in fiction, and watched it with great curiosity.
This makes for an interesting spot-the-errors exercise, apart from the peculiar Grid.
Joyce Cooper gives out the Clue number for FASCIST as 7 Across but runs her pen over a Down clue while reading it out. FASCIST does fit into the grid slot for 7 Across, but the corresponding clue on screen is too short to match "System of government categorized by extreme dictatorship".
There is another Down clue slot with a leading F already filled in the grid and the checkers A and I in place – it would seem that that's where this answer should go in.
It gets weirder when Sergeant Angel retorts with "Evil old woman, considered frightful or ugly. It's 12 Down." Because, if the grid shown in the movie followed normal crossword numbering, it wouldn't have a 12 Down at all.
What other bloopers do you see?
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- Make Your Own Crossword Grid
- A Puzzling Difference Between Crossword Solvers and Non-Solvers
- Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker
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