ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ SUPERCHUNK]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ SUPERCHUNK]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
So the big rock news in Boston is we’re in the midst of the 31st WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble. WBCN is the big rock station in town, and this is their annual “reach around”/battle of the bands for the local scene. Yeah, battle of the bands contests are wicked stupid. And typically in these local things, the scene veterans tend to march through the “competition,” so it seems more like a “lifetime achievement award” then an actual “rumble.” And it must be told that with the single exception of ’til tuesday, nobody who’s won it has gone on to do anything. But, hey WBCN’s been doing it for decades now, so as lame as it is, it’s kind of amazing to think than an Infinity-owned radio station would even dedicate any energy to the local scene.
I usually head out to at least one of those shows every year. (Hell, even I won this dumb beauty pageant back in 2006.) This year is no exception as I’ve cheered my buddies Destruct-A-Thon on to the semifinals. Anyway, at the show, it got me thinking what might be elements of a “battle of the bands” amongst crossworders?
I guess we’d have to invite all the big guns (no names required, we all know who they are). We can guarantee that somebody in there would respectfully decline, citing something like “art shouldn’t be about competition.” (I’m guessing David Kahn and/or Paula Gamache would say that). Should we limit to just American-style crosswords? With these dumb rock contests, typically you have the country band going up against the glam band sparring with the Brit pop band facing the death metal band. Perhaps for our crossword contest we should have cryptic writers, (Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon could kill it in the cryptic category. Then again, they might respectfully bow out with the art/competition argument), diagramlesses, (numerous talent out there) variety grids (Patrick Berry and Henry and Emily again)? But it would feel weird if at one “battle” we had one of those almost-robotic-amazing themelesses from Bob Klahn against say an inspired diagramless-puzzle-that’s-shaped-like-its-theme from Patrick Blindauer versus say a rule-breaking puzzle from Joe Krozel, versus a tough-but-fair cryptic from Rich Silvestri. Who wins there?
Then what would be the judging requirements? Obviously freshness in a theme, cleanliness of the fill, and cleverness in the cluing would all be requirements. Could the judges award bonus points for clever rule bending? I say yes. Could judges deduct points for excessive cuteness? I say yes too. But how might one judge a puzzle that say has no entry smaller than four letters but no amazing entries versus a puzzle with 22 three letter words that is just brimming with eye-popping fill? And what about difficulty? Is a difficult puzzle necessarily better than a easy puzzle with a (gasp!) never before seen theme? What if the judges couldn’t actually finish the puzzle? Who are these judges anyway?
The thing is, the competition among crosswords now is at an all time high already we don’t really need some contest to say who’s the best. In a way, we’re in a puzzlemaking renaissance. With the amount of quality work out there now, coupled with the amount of quality blogs tracking said work, everyday is practically like a “battle of the bands” of crosswords. Because at the end of the day, as a puzzlemaker, you want to be the one everyone’s talking about when it’s all said and done. Enjoy this puzzle, new one on Wednesday.
Great themeless, Brendan! Why go with 70 or 72 words when you can have that much good stuff in a 66-worder?
Quigley vs. the World — the ultimate matchup.
The World would eventually win, but it’d be pyrrhic.
well dang. i was hoping for a puzzle full of superchunk lyrics. what a tease! at any rate, “slack motherfucker” will be stuck in my head all day.
Not every 66-worder is going to be that forgiving. Thanks for the love.
(Sorry I’ve been slacking on the comments.)
Been fighting that battle since ’74. It’s not looking good.
Happy to oblige … (or is it bait and switch?)
okay, you got me. i read [Part of “snafu”] and with no crossings to guide me, immediately entered FUCKED. maybe i’m giving you too much credit (of a sort).
loved this one, even if it didn’t end up being NSFW.
I’m always trying to solve your puzzles in “thrifty sub-three-minute stretches,” so I was pleased to see a themeless today. The NW quarter was done in like 20 seconds, but the NE was gnarly enough that I couldn’t quite break 3. Didn’t help that I managed to forget STREGA-as-liqueur, even though it was in Sylvia Bursztyn’s puzzle, which I *just* solved.
Wish you’d saved AHMADINEJAD for 1-Across in a NYT Saturday… (then again, nothing stopping you!)
I was starting to get worried when I saw your times creep up toward the 5 minute mark. I can’t imagine what the other solvers must have thought, difficulty wise.
Can you believe the waiting time for accepted themeless puzzles for the Times is over a year? Jeezum.
Wow on the upper right. That being said, I loved the 12D clue and 18A had me running through NASA and NY, NY among others. It didn’t help that I don’t know anything about basketball.
Great puzzle Brendan. I muscled my way through it, but needed help from my wife to get GALUMPH. I’ve never heard the term. And now I’m wondering where she heard it.
Also had to get AHMADINEJAD the old fashioned way. One letter at a time.
SUPERCHUNK was SUPERFUN!
With all the great constructors out there is still mystifies me how my paper gets some horrible puzzles in it. Example: Slugger Sammy, Answer SOSA_. Umm… did they miss a black square? I never did fill the square in cause it was crossed with some Chinese nut?!
Maybe I am just spoiled with great constructors putting puzzles up online, writing wonderful books, and that I get the NYT free at work 5 days a week. My list of favorites is too big to mention, but an anonymous thanks to all of you constructors working hard. If you have a puzzle out there to be found, I have probably done one of yours one way or another, some days (rare) I do no puzzles, others (more likely) I do like 20, so I always enjoy fresh content!
GALUMPH is one of the terms coined by lewis carroll in “jabberwocky”:
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
Joon… I looked at the SNAFU clue, thought about “fucked” for a second, and confidently wrote normal… didn’t believe that’d crop up even here…
The NW was for me ridiculously easy compared to the rest which felt Saturday level (and better than most Saturdays imho,) especially liked COMETOPAPA and DEATHRAY… Had no clue about AHMADINEJAD (I tried googling AHMAD INEJAD first…)
Oh, Vorpal blade’d be a nice entry 🙂
Oof… that sounds like come crappy crosswording. We need to get the word out to people who are doing those sorts of puzzles to come check out some real puzzles (like here, Gaffney, etc.) Any ideas how to do that?
Let me roll my D20 and see what is says before I make the VORPAL BLADE puzzle.
Brendan,
Thanks for a top-notch tough puzzle. I’d much rather do a challenging themeless with lots of white than just about anything!
Well…almost anything….
April 15, 2009, 1PM EDT
Sorry I don’t twitter…derived at least INFINITESIMAL delight from what I consider your best puzzle to date. Thanks. William Prevor
More themelesses coming up…
Thanks Willaim.
Um, OK, I’ve Googled and I see that “superchunk” is the name of a band and I’ve looked at their titles. Do they have anything to do with this puzzle?
Hey Still: you now see the trouble with titling themeless puzzles… inevitably solvers will try and find a connection with the entries and the title.
Kevin Wald can beat ’em all with elegance in a hard variety cryptic, where Ron Sweet is the only one I know who does a good easy variety cryptic. Cox and Rathvon may do the best medium-difficulty. Henry Hook is a powerhouse in any category.