Weekend Reading: Crosswords and Crossed Swords

While we at Kill Screen love to bring you our own crop of game critique and perspective, there are many articles on games, technology, and art around the web that are worth reading and sharing. So that is why this weekly reading list exists, bringing light to some of the articles that have captured our attention, and should also capture yours.



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A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World, Oliver Roeder, FiveThirtyEight 

A media fiasco is brewing in one of the unlikeliest sections of the paper. Not a Shattered Glass 2 or mere falsifying of information, but plagiarism. Foul foul plagiarism. Revealed is a history of shameless copying since 1999… in the USA Today Crossword. FiveThirtyEight lays out the story of what it even means to copy a puzzle, and how Timothy Parker got busted.

The Quest For The Real-Life Treasures of Atari’s Swordquest, Eric Grundhauser, Atlas Obscura 

Speaking of long, niche pursuits, Atlas Obscura digs into one of retro gaming’s best urban legends: a real—real as in, not virtual—golden sword, found only at the end of the Swordquest series’ dweeby labyrinth.

Hulk Hogan Taught Me Never to Make a Bad Joke on Slack Again, Max Read, New York Magazine

You may know about the concerningly surreal trial underway between politics and gossip mega-site Gawker and professional bandanna mannequin Hulk Hogan. Ex-staffer Max Read reflects on how some of his passing jokes about the Hulkster on Slack, the popular work-esque social media service, might have ended up in the proceedings. Read doesn’t so much as damn Slack as much as mourn the watercooler musings it has replaced.  

Sasaki Maki’s Magical Mystery Tour, Ceiling Gallery

Described by Osamu Tezuka as “a madman not fit for publication,” Sasaki Maki is one of Japan’s deepest-fried satirists, and with the release of Ding Dong Circus, an anthology, Ceiling Gallery has decided to put together a primer on an artist who in many ways defies primer-ing.