"I can't say I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't about to let all that hard work go to waste, either," points out Bellotto. A few modifications could turn Crossdown from a puzzle-development application into a computer-based game. If puzzle makers didn't want it yet, maybe there would be better reception from puzzle solvers.
Crossdown Version 1 was released in 1992 as a shareware game with 50 crosswords. It wasn't an overnight success, but sales slowly grew. Then a strange thing happened. Relates Bellotto: "I began to get eager letters from people asking if there was a way they could construct their own crosswords with my software!" Obviously, there was.
Bellotto revisited all the puzzle authoring code he was still using for his own constructions and shortly had ready for distribution Crossdown Version 2—construct and solve professional-quality crossword puzzles on your computer.
Ultimately even the established puzzle constructors who had stubbornly resisted the inevitable reign of the computer cried uncle. Gene Maleska expressed an interest himself in Crossdown but, sadly, a few months later he died. Maleska's co-editor, John M. Samson, currently crossword editor for Simon & Schuster, became Crossdown's biggest booster and was hugely instrumental in the development of Crossdown Version 3.
After more than a decade, Crossdown, now in its sixth revision, remains the development software of choice for serious professionals and amateurs alike. q
Sam Bellotto Jr. sold his first crossword in 1979 to Eugene T. Maleska for the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Since then, he has published over 1,000 puzzles. Currently he is a regular contributor to the Simon & Schuster Crossword books, has weekly crosswords in "The Nantucket Independent" newspaper, "Back Stage," and contributes to all of the other major crossword puzzle markets.
Petra joined Crossdown in February of 2003 as Vice President in charge of Recreation and Security.
