Merv Griffin's Crosswords

In the original format, one word in each of the first two rounds was designated the "Crossword Getaway," placing a trip in the bank of the contestant who solved that particular word. Trips were usually to resort destinations in California, Nevada, and Arizona. If a Getaway-designated word went unsolved, the prize was not awarded and gameplay continued without it.

The Crossword Extra was a bonus word played once in Round 1 and twice in subsequent rounds (originally once in each round, with the second word added following the removal of the Getaways). Similar to the Daily Double in Jeopardy!, the Extra clue was revealed upon correctly guessing another word. The contestant then wagered all or part of his/her score (or up to $500, $1,000, or $2,000—depending on the round—if he/she had less than those amounts). A correct answer added the wager, while an incorrect answer deducted it.

In several episodes (five of which aired in double-run markets in late September 2007), there were alternate "Crossword Extra" rules. The Crossword Extra word was not part of the main puzzle (so it was truly an "extra" word) and announced before certain clues in each round. A correct Crossword Extra answer was worth $300 in Round 1 and $600 in Round 2 with no deduction for a wrong answer or no answer at all. There was no Crossword Extra in Round 3.

Beginning with the episode aired November 1, 2007, the Getaways were eliminated, and additional Extras were added (based on the original format). One Extra appeared in Round 1, but two Extras appeared in Round 2, and one or two appeared in Round 3. The Round 3 wagering maximum was also increased to the higher of $2,000 or the player's total score.

For a short time, the Crossword Extra was known as the "Crossword Xbox 360 Extra" as a promotion for the Crosswords video game released on Xbox Live Arcade, which also added an Xbox 360 console to the bonus prize during episodes with this promotion. Beginning in late December 2007, players were allowed to bet up to $3,000 in Round 3 if they had that amount or less; this was added with the redoubling of the dollar amounts for Round 3.

In the closing round, the winning contestant attempted to fill in the remaining spaces of the show's crossword puzzle within ninety seconds. The champion would begin by calling out a number ("9 Across", "22 Down", etc.) and would listen to the clue for that word. As before, the word had to be correctly guessed and spelled, but the only penalty for an incorrect guess was to have to pick the word again.

If the champion completed the puzzle within the time limit, he/she won $5,000 cash (originally $2,000) and a trip. For a brief period of time, as part of the aforementioned promotional deal with Microsoft, an Xbox 360 was also awarded to the champion if he/she won the bonus game along with a game package.[4] In the "alternate Crossword Extra" episodes, players received $100 for each bonus round word they answered.

The contestant received a Croton watch in the event he/she won the main game with no money and lost the Bonus Round.

The show's earlier episodes, with a top payout of just over $4,000, were on par with Game Show Network's earlier original programs (through 2002) – although these increased to a more respectable $10,000 range by the end of the run; despite the low clue amounts, some contestants won five-figure sums in the main game alone (for example, contestant Bruce Haights, an executive assistant from Indiana, won $11,550 and two trips in his podium).[8] Further, Crosswords did not provide a "house minimum" for winning contestants, causing some to walk away with little to show for their efforts and at least one contestant with a negative total score who was unable to complete the puzzle and thus did not win any money, leaving with only the same Croton watch given to losing contestants.

Initial ratings for Crosswords were a 0.8 share, significantly less than the more established games which have garnered at least 1.5 shares.[9] In November 2007, Crosswords hit the 1.0 mark and was reported to have been picked up for a second season in the November 26, 2007, issue of Broadcasting & Cable magazine,[10] with official confirmation coming on January 28, 2008.[11][12]

Since Crosswords aired two episodes in some markets, the series taped "extras" (most all of which were of the original format) for the purpose of reducing repeats; this resulted in 45 weeks of shows being taped; however, not all double-run (or even single-run) markets aired all 225 episodes.

Because of the format's lack of returning champions, the series was not shown in taping order (i.e., the first taped episode on September 10, the second on September 11, and so on – lacking repeats – through the 225th episode on July 18); this made it impossible for casual viewers to date rerun episodes (much like most original programs broadcast by Game Show Network) and were thus not able to determine whether one episode from a particular format was taped before or after another episode using the same format – indeed, the first episode ever aired was in fact the 27th one taped, with no discernible rhyme or reason as to why certain episodes aired when they did.

The lack of returning champions also caused some odd scheduling in double-run markets – some affiliates aired an episode with the later format, followed by one using the "original" or "alternate" formats. Occasionally, stations aired an episode several times in a two-week span, while other episodes were rerun in the second half-hour after already being shown in the first.

Before production was slated to resume in June 2008, Merv Griffin Entertainment and Program Partners announced that production of the series would be halted until at least early 2009,[13] with the cited reason being high production costs (although the general response to this statement was that nothing done or given away on the show could have caused such a thing).[14] Three-quarters of carrying affiliates had been ready to pick up Season 2.

In the markets that aired Crosswords (plus some that did not carry the series, including West Palm Beach, Florida CBS affiliate WPEC; sister station WFLX had carried Season 1), stations were given a choice of three programs to air as part of a Program Partners "Daytime Plus" package. One was a package of reruns from the first season titled The Best of Crosswords. The other two choices were reruns of Style By Jury, a Canadian makeover series, and Inside the Box, a pop-culture based game show that had run for one season in 2006.[1]

Most of the stations carrying Crosswords immediately dropped the series after the hiatus was announced, including the two largest markets of New York and Los Angeles. Neither of those two markets picked up the rerun package, and most of the rest did not opt for either of the other "Daytime Plus" options (although WNBC in New York, which had aired Crosswords, added both) and instead opted for other new syndicated programming – either game shows (such as Trivial Pursuit: America Plays or a syndicated version of Deal or No Deal) or talk shows (such as The Bonnie Hunt Show). Stations that chose to air the "Best Of" package began with an episode from the "alternate" format, although viewers quickly noticed that nothing was added ("Best Of" logo, production slate, episode number, recording date, original airdate, etc.) to distinguish this set of repeats from Season 1; this had the side effect of causing stations that aired Season 1 to show continuous repeats since the first-run episodes ended.

Crosswords was officially considered cancelled in February 2009, and around the same time the "Daytime Plus" experiment ended when Program Partners pulled Inside the Box from its affiliates. Although the show only lasted one season, reruns have continued to air for over a decade since the show's cancellation. Currently, the show airs on Retro TV. The show previously aired on cable's FamilyNet and American Life Network.[15]