Overfilled Spaces
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Overfilled Spaces, sometimes called rebus squares, are a type of grid gimmick in which multiple characters can be placed in a single cell of a grid. This can apply to both word and logic puzzles, but is more commonly found in word puzzles.
Puzzle Application
Overfilling spaces can be done with logic or word puzzles, stuffing single cells with any number of characters 2 and up.
Packing more than one character into the cells of a grid based puzzle seems like a relatively unintuitive thing to do. However, it can become clear that it's necessary if given the right clues. If a puzzle's clues are too long to fit in their spaces, it's usually an indicator that they either extend past the edges or need multiple letters within a single space to fit.
Overfilling spaces is sometimes used as the core conceit for several crossword variations, such as the 1, 2, 3 Crossword (in which cells can contain anywhere from 1-3 characters), Rebus Crosswords (in which specific squares would have to contain multiple letters with a theme, like state abbreviations or entire animals), and Double or Nothing Crosswords (in which cells contain either exactly 2 character, or none at all).
Examples
- Crushed Petals (MITMH 2016) (web) - A 1, 2, 3 Crossword, with the bonus of being on a flower-shaped grid.
- Stuffing (MITMH 2019) (web) - A Rebus crossword where certain across clues contain Click to revealfruits, but down clues proceed as normal. As a result, each cell will likely contain only one letter going down, but Click to revealan entire fruit packed into one space, Thankfully, these were represented by emoji in the solution.
- Gala Premiere (MITMH 2020) (web) - A relatively normal Diagramless Crossword, except some cells get to have two or three letters jammed into one cell. These don't follow any particular pattern, but go towards the extraction in a special way.
