Michael
Nov 11th 2009, 02:01 PM
Cryptic crosswords threaten justice
Study shows eye-witnesses fare badly at ID parades after doing cryptic crosswords.
Crossword puzzles are a threat to the criminal justice system. Indeed, they may have been doing damage for decades, causing guilty persons to be set free and innocent ones to become enmeshed in hellish entanglements with the courts and jails. A study by Michael B Lewis, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University, published in 2006 in the journal Perception, reveals that the danger comes mostly from one variety of crossword puzzle.
Lewis has no qualms identifying the culprit. Beware, he warns, of the so-called cryptic crossword puzzle. Accordingly, the study is called Eye-witnesses Should Not Do Cryptic Crosswords Prior to Identity Parades.
Once you know what to look for, cryptic crosswords are easy to recognise. The regular, or "literal" crossword, Lewis writes, "is a task where words must be filled within a grid where the clues to these words are literal definitions". Cryptic crosswords "use a similar grid but the clues involve double meanings and sometimes involve anagrams or uncommon ways of thinking about words".
Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/27/improbable-research-cryptic-crosswords)
Truly, improbable research, but apparently important stuff! Who knew?
Study shows eye-witnesses fare badly at ID parades after doing cryptic crosswords.
Crossword puzzles are a threat to the criminal justice system. Indeed, they may have been doing damage for decades, causing guilty persons to be set free and innocent ones to become enmeshed in hellish entanglements with the courts and jails. A study by Michael B Lewis, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University, published in 2006 in the journal Perception, reveals that the danger comes mostly from one variety of crossword puzzle.
Lewis has no qualms identifying the culprit. Beware, he warns, of the so-called cryptic crossword puzzle. Accordingly, the study is called Eye-witnesses Should Not Do Cryptic Crosswords Prior to Identity Parades.
Once you know what to look for, cryptic crosswords are easy to recognise. The regular, or "literal" crossword, Lewis writes, "is a task where words must be filled within a grid where the clues to these words are literal definitions". Cryptic crosswords "use a similar grid but the clues involve double meanings and sometimes involve anagrams or uncommon ways of thinking about words".
Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/27/improbable-research-cryptic-crosswords)
Truly, improbable research, but apparently important stuff! Who knew?