The Cross-Wits

1975-1980 OPENING:

"From Hollywood, it's The Cross-Wits, with #2 Down (insert celebrity #1), #1 Across (insert celebrity #2), #4 Down (insert celebrity #3), and #6 Across (insert celebrity #4)! And now, let's meet the keeper of the Cross-Wits, Jack Clark!"

1986-1987 OPENING:

"It's the first word in television game shows, The All-New Crosswits! Today's special guest stars are (insert celebrity guests). Today one of our contestants can win one of these three fabulous cars plus a vacation of a lifetime to (insert destination) on The All-New Crosswits! Here to help us figure it all out is our host, David Sparks!"

Two contestants with the help of their two celebrity partners played crosswords for cash & prizes.

Main Game
Two teams of three (consisting of two celebrities & one contestant), competed in a game of solving crossword puzzles in which the words in the puzzle were clues to a person, place or thing.

To start, the subject of the master puzzle was given in each round. The contestant in control choose which position in the puzzle to play. Then the host would announce the clue to that hidden word, and the celebrity would have seven seconds to guess it. If the celeb's time was up, then the contestant captain must then rescue the team by answering the same clue; a miss from the captain, loses control of the puzzle. Each time the team in control guessed the word correctly, the team would earn points times the number of letters in the answer, and kept control.

If at anytime the contestant knew the solution to the master puzzle, he/she can choose to solve it. Solving the master puzzle earned bonus points (ten times the letter value), and won the round. The team with the most points after three puzzles or when time was called won the game, and moved on to the Crossfire round.

70s Version
In the 1970s version with Jack Clark since this was taped before the era of advanced computerized graphics, the game board was manually-operated. The game board was a 10x10 grid save for the bottom two where the timer is located. It had light boxes that displayed the letters. Since the numbers were too small for the viewers to see, the positions were pointed out by the show's hostess Jerri Fiala with the use of a pointer similar to what a teacher uses in school.

On a player's first turn at a puzzle after choosing which position in the puzzle to solve, he/she also chose which star partner to guess it first. After that the celebs took turns.

In all rounds each correct answer was worth 10 points a letter (ex. the word "scientist" is nine letters long, so this word would be worth 90 points), and solving the puzzle was worth 100 points more.

In subsequent seasons, contestants also won a prize for solving the puzzle, and solving the puzzle on the first clue (first two rounds during seasons 2, 3 & 4, only round two for the final season) won a new car. The subject of the master puzzle was not revealed at the time.

When solving the master puzzle, the team in control was allowed to first take a seven second conference before the contestant can guess (no conference but five seconds of thinking time for the contestant if a car was involved).

The team who solved the puzzle in the first round also began the second round when the rules changed to only offer a car in the second round; this change was made so that a team did not intentionally lose the first round in order to have a better shot at the car. Prior to & after this, trailing teams started the next round.

In the final season exceeding 1000 points won $1,000.

80s Version
David Sparks hosted this version because Jack Clark was busy announcing for the mega hit Wheel of Fortune.

Unlike the 1975 version, this version's game board was completely computer generated, and therefore required no model to point out the letters. The puzzles & current scores were shown on an off-camera, off-stage TV monitor. Classic Concentration would use the same method the following year.

The subjects & puzzles were now indicated by color:

Red = Person

Blue = Place

Gold = Thing

In the first two rounds each correct answer was worth 5 points a letter, and solving the puzzle was worth 50 points more, while the last round had correct answers & the master puzzle be the same value as the original. At some point in the series the second round offered 10 points a letter and 100 points for solving the puzzle; and in the third puzzle, the points increased to 20 points a letter and 200 points for solving the puzzle. At another point in the series all rounds offered 5 points a letter and 50 points for solving the puzzle.

There was also a "Mystery Word" in one round; and correctly guessing that word won a prize in addition to the points.

The winner of the game gets $250.

Crossfire
In the Crossfire round, the winning contestant & the celebrity of his/her choosing had 60 seconds to solve 10 clues. None of the words in the Crossfire puzzle were clues to the master puzzle. Solving less than 10 clues won modest prizes, but solving all 10 won a grand prize.

70's Version
In the Cross-Fire round, the winning contestant had a choice of one of the two celebrities he/she was partnered with to play this round. During this round, the winning contestant won increasingly valuable prizes for each word guessed, and completing the entire Cross-Fire puzzle was worth a grand prize.

80's Version
In the Cross-Fire round, the winning contestant had a choice of all four celebrities to play this round with. The Cross-Fire puzzle appeared in a purple grid. In this round, the winning contestant won a consolation prize if he/she didn't complete the puzzle, and completing the entire Cross-Fire puzzle won a trip, and the right to win a car.

The Car Round
In the Car Round, the three remaining celebrities each held box containing the names of three cars, one in each box. The winning contestant selected which car to play for, then chose the celebrity he/she thought had that chosen car. If the player was right, the car was his/hers. The trip was not at risk, win or lose. For a time, all four celebrities played the car round, and a corresponding fourth box was added to the mix; if chosen, it was worth $1,000 to the contestant.

For the first two taped episodes, the car round was staged differently: rather than holding boxes containing the names of the three cars offered, the celebrities held the keys to each of the three cars. After choosing a celebrity, that celebrity attempted to open the chosen car with his/her key.

International Versions
In Poland, Kryzowka Szczescia ("Crossword Luck") ran on PTV Echo, Regional TVP, TVP Wroclaw, TVP Polonia and TVP2 from 1995 until 2003, the host were: Agata Mlynarska, Magda Molek, Marek Obszarny, Krysztof Holowczyc, Kryzsztof Mielanczuk, Krysztof Rogala, Rafal Kubacki, Tomasz Stockinger and Zdzislaw Smektala. This version used a live band to play music cues during the show, including the main theme.

In the U.K., Crosswits ran on ITV from 1985 until 1998, originally hosted by Barry Cryer followed by Tom O'Conner later in its run.

Trivia

 * Before Crosswits, David Sparks' first game show as host was the failed 1986 pilot called On a Roll.


 * Two back-to-back episodes of the short-lived 1986-87 version (featuring Rosie O'Donnell and Arsenio Hall respectively) has been aired on GSN on October 26, 2014.

Music
1975 - Ron Kaye, Buddy Kaye, Phillip Springer (according to "The Encyclopedia Of TV Game Shows, 3rd Edition" (1998), by David Schwartz, Steve Ryan, & Fred Wostbrock)

1986 - Andrew Belling

Inventor
Jerry Payne

Links
Rules for Crosswits @ Loogslair.net

Josh Rebich's Crosswits Rule Page

James Vipond's The All-New Crosswits Page

YouTube Video
Clips of an episode of The Cross-Wits