WSJ .puz glitch

[DrBB]

Recently I keep getting this weird thing with the WSJ that it gives me a DNF, and when I do "All letters check" it gives me an X in every square. If I do a "reveal correct answer," the "correct" answer it puts in is an X. Using Across Lite on a MacBook Pro. Anyone else getting this glitch, and if so what's the fix?

[phil262]

Same thing happened to me with the 6 October WSJ puzzle. Turns out the .puz file was not formatted correctly, causing the solution to be all Xs.

[Glenn9999]

Turns out the .puz file was not formatted correctly, causing the solution to be all Xs.

No, actually the WSJ has started removing answers out of the Friday puzzles for the last three weeks.  To make PUZ files work given this, the X's are inserted into the PUZ files as the answers.  So it's not a glitch, it's not "not formatted correctly", it's a FEATURE.  So, if you don't like that the WSJ doesn't provide answers to Friday puzzles, complain very loudly to them.  Given track record, they won't listen, but I thought I'd explain actually why this is happening.  Expect it to continue for every Friday in the future.

[phil262]

Sorry, I though it was a one-time glitch. 
But now I see that the answers are omitted on purpose because Friday puzzles are now contest puzzles.

Email your answer—in the subject line—to crosswordcontest@wsj.com by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday.... A solver selected at random will win a WSJ mug.... Complete contest rules at WSJ.com/Puzzles. (No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. U.S. residents 18 and over only.)

[Glenn9999]

But now I see that the answers are omitted on purpose because Friday puzzles are now contest puzzles.

The Friday puzzles have always been contest puzzles for years.  They just didn't care about putting answers in the online solver until about 3 weeks ago.

[phil262]

OK, obviously I don't know what I'm talking about. I'll stop posting now.

[Wunderteam]

Does anyone have the address of a website, which has the answers to the Friday puzzle in an easily parsable format? I would like to add the answers back into the .puz file using a program. "Diary of a Crossword Fiend" has the filled grid as a low-resolution .png file, which my OCR cannot transform, while the result of a Google search is greatly obfuscated by cheesy clickbait sites.

[Wunderteam]

Silly me, the WSJ publishes the solution to the Friday puzzle itself on the following Monday (sometimes Tuesday) as a PDF. The letters can then be simply copied and pasted into the .puz file after skipping the blacks squares and recalculating the checksum values.

[skiverwildfowl]

It's nice to know
blob opera

[horroraround]

It's a FEATURE, not a bug or anything that's "not formatted correctly". Therefore, voice your dissatisfaction to WSJ if you find that they don't provide answers for Friday's quizzes.

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