Chromium-doped beryl…in seven letters

Bob Pike is the Garrett-Robb-Guy Professor of Chemistry. He also writes a wicked crossword. (I recommend a pencil.)

Bob Pike’s research includes using X-ray crystallography to figure out the three-dimensional structure of molecules, so it’s no big surprise that he also does crossword puzzles. “Does” as in creates them. (What’s the proper verb to describe authorship of a crossword puzzle? Are they written, drawn, sketched, plotted? I don’t know.)

Pike has even submitted a baseball-themed puzzle to The New York Times, but it wasn’t accepted. “I’ll probably try again some time in the future,” he says. In the meantime, William & Mary’s chemistry alumni don’t have to wait for the puzzle editors of The New York Times to come to their senses—Pike contributes a crossword each year to the Department of Chemistry’s newsletter.
Like any self-respecting crossword, Pike’s puzzles have themes. Last year’s puzzle theme was Nobel laureates in chemistry and physics. This year’s theme is glassware.

You may not have to be a chemist to solve this puzzle, but it would help if you have logged some serious lab time. It starts with 1 across: “Glassware type.” There are a bunch of those maddening self-referential clues, such as “With 81 across, glassware.” Experience helps: If you have ever—hypothetically, now—gotten your thumb stuck in a piece of laboratory glassware, you likely will remember exactly what kind it was and exactly how much you were assessed for it after it shattered. (Don’t ask.)

The puzzle extends far beyond glassware. Consider 63 down: “FTIR method for solids.” And 41 down, “An alkyl group.” Don’t feel too smug if you know that alkyl group, Pike is not going to let you off that easy—60 down asks for A “Form of 41 down.”

Not all the clues are of the “Spin polarization transfer in NMR” variety. The humanities are represented, as befits a chemistry puzzle from a liberal arts university. Successful puzzlers will have to know the “heavy” in Othello, the Greek goddess of discord and what Romans called their mothers. Other clues stem from pop culture and general information. Pike points out that the puzzles are aimed at department alumni, not all of whom became professional chemists.

“For example, we have numerous alumni who are physicians, dentists, teachers, attorneys, etc. I know of one alumna who bakes bread for a living. We had one alumnus report this year about his travels in a rock band,” he explained. “So it seems only fair that most of the clues in the puzzle deal with the kind of random knowledge found in other puzzles.”

When Pike makes a puzzle, he sits down with a pile of graph paper and a pencil. (He told me that all valid crossword puzzles are symmetrical, something I never knew.) He has a list of “theme” words and works them into the puzzle, adding black squares at the end.

Once the theme words are in, he fills in the rest of the answers. He is careful to preserve symmetry and abides by the other rules of crossword creation:

• No letter square may be a dead end. (In other words, each letter must connect to two words)
• No words may be shorter than three letters
• The words have to make sense.

“It takes a lot of trial and error and a lot of erasing,” Pike said. “When you hit a dead end and have to make a change, a whole section of the puzzle often comes unraveled.”

Once he has a valid puzzle plotted out on graph paper, he begins to write the clues. “That’s the fun part,” he says. “I’ve solved a lot of crosswords in my time and you learn how to makes clues fair, but slightly deceptive.”

He uses a freeware program, AcrossLite, to put the puzzle in its final form and then he generates a pdf for the newsletter. The solution for this year’s puzzle will be unveiled at the chemistry department’s homecoming reception on Friday, Oct. 22 at 5:30 p.m. in the Integrated Science Center. The solution will go up on the department’s website next week, as will the puzzle itself if you didn’t get a copy of the newsletter.