Two teams of three members each (a contestant and two celebrities) compete to guess words in a crossword puzzle; the words all combining to lead to the identity of a famous person, place, thing, etc. The contestant chooses a word ("I'll take 1 down, please") and selects one of his teammates to guess the answer to a clue host Clark read (e.g., "An eight letter word that's a type of foil") ; the point value of the word depended on the round and how many letters were in the clue. If the celebrity correctly guessed the clue (in this case, "aluminum") within a 10 second limit, the contestant got to guess the puzzle's master solution; otherwise, control passed to the opposing side. Either way, the points were deposited into a bank and the word appeared in the appropriate space. Anywhere from five to nine clue words appeared in the puzzle, all combining to lead to the master solution (e.g., aluminum, engine, small, economical, car, General and Motors could lead to the master solution "Chevrolet Vega"), with the contestant guessing the puzzle winning the dollar value of the points. Several rounds were played, with point values increasing by round; the team leading when time ran out (usually three rounds) won the game and moved on to the Cross-Fire bonus round. In the 60-second Cross-Fire round, Clark read, rapid-fire style, clues to crosswords. Each clue was worth $100, but getting 10 of them was worth a new car (usually upscale) or some other fabulous prize (such as a trip or fur). |
