Is it cheating?

[zita-green]

if people use advanced search engines to solve prize crosswords?

[kayakamina]

As a devotee of Azed and a solver for 50 years I was interested to read
that it is possible to solve the crosswords via a search engine.

Except for the occasional 'googling' and of course reference to my trusty Chambers, I have
found it possible to complete the puzzles without an 'engine' - if one exists, which I doubt!

[Rollo]

I have now completed Inquisitor 143, but I would not have been able to do that without quite a bit of internet searching.

I don't consider that I have "cheated".

[craft1948]

I am not a crossword devotee but do enjoy attempting the MoS puzzles. I used to think the people who won the £1500.00 prize were amazing until I discovered the joys of google
I then became a Sunday googler and greatly enjoyed myself as it enhanced my knowledge of a variety of subjects I'd never considered previously. I have completed the prize crossword quite a few times now, sent in my entry, but never been lucky enough to win.
I then came across this site and I must admit I was amazed and rather disappointed. If one wanted they could log on here, trawl through the questions, and complete the prize crossword with no mental effort on their part whatsoever.......surely that is cheating.

[poortony]

Rollo I don't think you cheated, you used you brain to get help with the answers - that is being
intelligent - and that is how we learn, by reading and looking up BE it the internet or some other
engine.

So the answer to zita-greens question is NO it is not cheating

Good luck to all on AB

[zita-green]

It came about because my brother was rebuking me for using the answerbank. He disapproves of it, preferring to rely on Chambers and his own brain. Thanks to all for your comments

[Mctavish]

There are numerous links where you can obtain all the answers for many of the Xwords in the papers. It would be too easy to look at those sites and then fill in the Xword with all the answers - that in my opinion is cheating if you send in the completed item in the hope of winning a prize
Like Craft I look forward to the weekend and in particular the MoS and really enjoy searching for the answers. If I am absolutely stuck with one I come on to AB to see if anyone has asked for that particular clue and then that is a bonus but still don't class it as cheating.
I do feel that there are some members of AB who just cannot be bothered to do any research for the answers because you can tell if they have bothered to google it as some of the answers are so obvious.
My other whinge is when people do not have the courtesy to acknowledge the help they are given.

[craft1948]

Mctavish that is what slightly annoys me too.....most of the answers can be found with a bit of effort. I never have a problem with people asking for help with cryptic crosswords, and thanks should always be given.

[Cleocima]

No, it is not cheating. It is re-searching. Far better than being lazy and just waiting for the answer.

[Mctavish]

What amuses me is when you have googled a topic and it comes up with relevant answer - there just above it is the post which someone has asked on AB and wonder then if I can see it on google why can't they.

[Tallulah!]

Of course it's cheating but that word is banned on Answerbank. The Editor said so.
Someone has already asked for Colossus Answers to the puzzle that'a only been on sale for a week with a closing date a month ahead in October.
Not much fun just asking for a whole list of answers. Or maybe it is. The worst thing is when you've used all your books, are left with a couple of answers to find using google or yahoo and the first page of links is duplicated questions in the Answerbank, by the usual 5 culprits.
Maybe we can report them for being stupid or some other category? What does the AB ed mean by stupid?

[Mysterons]

It's clearly a matter of opinion, but I view these advanced search engines as time and labour saving devices. 10 years ago I struggled to complete advanced cryptic crosswords such as The Listener on a regular basis because I didn't have the time to devote to them. They are so diverse in nature that it isn't as simple as 'learning to do the DT crossword' (which my parents taught me in the 1970s). If I know the answer to a clue is an anagram of 'bbbbinooorrssy' and is a famous person, it might spring out at me if I know the middle word starts with a 'b'. On the other hand I could plug the letters into The Advanced Anagram solver to save some valuable time. Or I could wait until I had some more cross checking letters to help, if time wasn't an issue that day. There are occasions when I have completed Azed or Mephisto without even referring to Chambers, but I defy anyone to do this on a regular basis ! Dictionaries, search engines and AnswerBanks are only cheating if they break the written rules of the competition in question, which of course they don't. You might be cheating yourself if you copied someone else's answers and sent them in under your own name, but you wouldn't be breaking any rules that I know of. I'm sure that with experience we will all become less reliant on external help and as a result 'better' solvers.

[Tallulah!]

Well Well! Mysterons the serial asker is replying. All I can say is that at 67 I do have the 'experience' to answer using my own knowledge and the know how of using facilities that do NOT include asking on a PUBLIC domain like AB yahoo or AbletoKnow.