ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Random musings:
- “Slumdog Millionaire” got a couple Oscar nominations, which as far as I’m concerned is a good thing. Aside from the fact that either that or “Milk” were the best two I saw last year. (Okay, technically I saw “There Will Be Blood” in January and, hoo-boy, that is legitimate film-making. But it really came out in 2007). It’s a good thing that they’re both getting the recognition they deserve as they were great.
So how does this apply to puzzlemaking? Glad you should ask. The song that was played over the fantastic Bollywood dance sequence “Jai Ho” was nominated for Best Song. Don’t you realize the ramifications we’ve got here! This opens up a whole new opportunity to clue the repeater JAI! It’s a crying shame that none of the main characters were named Ali.
- I continue to get quizzical e-mails about the Monday puzzle. I figure it’s time to just point out a couple tiny things about that one. First off, in the odd chance you weren’t aware of the phenomenon, read all about it here. Secondly, there was at least a little bit of “artistry” to the puzzle. The phony clues I wrote in the Acrosses define the first five words of the chorus, and the Downs are the second five.
Inspiration for this puzzle came from an awe-inspiring April Fool’s Day puzzle Will Shortz made for “GAMES” wherein all 62 clues for an insanely wide-open grid defined the answer NOTHING. Literally, you put nothing in the grid and it was correctly solved.
- Last week, Pat Blindauer came over for a visit. It was good to see him and all, talked a little shop, had a couple brews. Actually, check that. We talked a ton of shop. Liz was a good sport and chimed in, but man were the boys nerding it up. Sometimes I get a little lonely while I’m puzzlemaking. There are times I want to grab Liz and show her the latest WTFF tour-de-force construction I’ve made, and she greets it with enthusiasm because she’s supportive. But, to be fair, Liz isn’t a puzzle person, so sometimes the work goes over her head.
Anyway, Pat came up to Boston to meet with other titans of the puzzle solving (including one of my test solvers Tyler Hinman) and creating world (two favorites of mine: Francis Heaney and Trip Payne) to do the MIT Mystery Hunt. For those who don’t know, this is an annual event wherein some of the greatest minds in puzzles convene in Cambridge to solve some of the most diabolical games that somehow line up together to form a bigger puzzle. Okay, so what’s the hitch? They do this in teams and solve round-the-clock for over 48 hours. Wow! I plan on (finally) attending it next year, but I gotta just say I’m in awe of that stamina.
- I know I have used this platform to talk a little bit too much about music lately, but bear with me. Depending on what day of the week, I’m likely to say that either Pavement or Guided By Voices is my favorite band. Okay, big whoop. Pavement, as we’ve already discussed, are well-documented crossword fans. Guided By Voices was a blue-collar drinking club turned rock band from Dayton Ohio. An amazing band lead by a charismatic lead singer-songwriter who had a serious British Invasion/prog rock jones. During their unfuckwithable stage of 1994-1996, they only released three instant classic albums, seven EPs, and one box set with five discs. And that’s just a 24 month stretch in their nearly two decade run.
What’s astonishing to me is that almost all of that material is worth listening to again and again. I can only hope that during this insane stretch of construction that my work is as good. Please chime in on the comments section and let me know how things are going. (And if you like what you see, refer a friend.)
wow, this one was tough. i’m sure it doesn’t help that i’ve never heard of mehmet oz or andrew weil. (i don’t really know who deepak chopra is, either, but i’ve heard his or her name under fantasy-baseball-related circumstances.)
the answer to 8a definitely surprised me.
Okay, I have issues. 1.CYCLERS is apparently a word, in the sense of something that goes through a cycle, but people who ride bikes are cyclists. 2.TEERS–need I say more?
And I am on the fence about SHAG, which I don’t quite get–seems a noun clues a verb, but I expect that’s just me not knowing one definition or another.
And I really hate ISM. I know I can’t lay that one at your door, since it has been accepted fill for some time, but I still hate seeing a noun as a clue for a suffix. Yes, I can find it listed in a dictionary as a stand-alone word, but I just do not see or hear people using it that way outside puzzles. My pet peeve of the day.
Does “Tailed” sometimes mean “marked” or “labeled?” I don’t quite get that, either, nor did I know OZ, but the theme was clear enough and I got them without much trouble.
Now that I’ve got the complaining out of the way, what I like:
1. HARRIET–a favorite book of mine growing up. 2. LEADEROFDEEPAK–nice pun 3. BRALESS–surprising, as joon said 4. BLUDGEON, which I expected to be _____ON (Whale on?) and 5. POPUPAD, which looked like a violation of the rules for a bit as I thought MEMOPAD crossed another kind of PAD (lily? no. Lily? that’s not it. Lily?). I also just think BLUDGEON is a really fine word–feels good in the mouth, if not on the skull. 6. SIXSIDED, which takes me back to my D&D days.
Overall, a fun workout. And no annoying Astley videos popping up. Thanks, as always.
Treedweller and Joon: some great points in there. Thanks for the comments.
Yikes, for me this ended up having too many that seemed possible (and turned out to have a few correct letters) but were wrong. I had TROPIC, NIP AT, ARLEN, ERITREA, SNEAK, ORAL, REROLLED, LOLL, PREDAWN. Painful.
Tree, I think [Fuck birds] is a verb phrase—”birds” being British slang for “girls” to point towards the Britishness of SHAG.
“Popu pads” really confused me for a while! All I could imagine was some sort of African rice-like plantation.
I still don’t get the clue for 57A, either.
That said, I liked it a lot. “Fuck birds” is genius, even though it took me forever to get it. VOIP is really nice; very fresh. Never appeared in the NYT, if the online databases can be believed.
Oh, and (re: Joon’s post), I would love to know how Deepak Chopra came up during your fantasy baseball activities!
I could kick Pollard’s ass.
I suspect that 57A should have been “TailORed for Andrew’s son”.
WOW…rought time for me.
Kept staring at “POPUPAD”…is that a kind of animal?
Took forever to get tongue-tied…never heard of VOIP.
Love the creative freedom that allows BREEDER and SHAG and BRALESS and EROTIC…do I detect a mini-theme?
Steve: I’d like to see that.
Johnson: POPUPAD is POP-UP AD.
In addition to the “tailed/tailored” thing, I had a devil of a time with SCARE, staring at it even after it was 80% filled. If the clue had been “startle” I wouldn’t have had a problem, but I think of “start” as synonymous with “flinch”– a symptom of getting scared, but not the actual feeling itself. Like the difference between SNIFFLING and SADDENING.
And let’s just say I’m very, very embarrassed at how long it took me to get the theme on the latest diagramless. I have no excuse at all on THAT one.
Sorry about the “tailed” typo. Those responsible have been sacked and hopefully that sort of thing won’t happen again.
Loved 22A. Fantastic.
So 57A has “for” in the clue and the answer? Maddening!