A word is an entry in the grid, which may be more than one word. For example the answer to 1 across counts as a single word, even though it's actually two words. Constructors often use the word "light" rather than "word," to avoid this confusion.
There are 74 clues, and 74 lights in this puzzle. There are not 69 across clues. Yes, the first across clue is numbered 1, and the last across clue is numbered 69, but not all the numbers in between have across clues - there's no 2 across, 3 across, 4 across, 6 across, etc. There are in fact 37 across clues, and 37 down clues (this is a coincidence, usually the number of across clues & down clues are different).
Usually the highest clue number is pretty close to the total number of clues, because most numbers clue EITHER an across answer or a down answer.In this puzzle only 5 numbers (1, 5, 9, 26, and 53) clue both an across and a down.
no subject
There are 74 clues, and 74 lights in this puzzle. There are not 69 across clues. Yes, the first across clue is numbered 1, and the last across clue is numbered 69, but not all the numbers in between have across clues - there's no 2 across, 3 across, 4 across, 6 across, etc. There are in fact 37 across clues, and 37 down clues (this is a coincidence, usually the number of across clues & down clues are different).
Usually the highest clue number is pretty close to the total number of clues, because most numbers clue EITHER an across answer or a down answer.In this puzzle only 5 numbers (1, 5, 9, 26, and 53) clue both an across and a down.