ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ GOING THROUGH HOOPS]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ GOING THROUGH HOOPS]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Now these puzzles are fun to make, I’m just kind of curious if this theme type has been played out to beyond death. If you haven’t figured out by now, I’ll be going into the making of this puzzle, so if you want it to be a completely fresh experience please turn away now, there’s nothing to see here. Really there’s nothing to see here. Come back later.
Not a shocker that I’d base the theme on what I did. Avid followers of the blog have noted my appreciation/fascination with the hoops. Did a couple two three b-ball related themes already for other places, but I felt the need to draw upon basketball again so I went with the whole rebus thing. Now, I could have gone to town with phrases that have the letters NBA in there (way too many to list here, I’ll leave the proof up to the reader), so this probably could have been a Sunday if I was so inclined. I know Will’s inundated with rebus themes so even if it was the greatest rebus puzzle ever made, the waiting would be years plus. Put it this way, I have a rebus that’s been in Will’s hopper now for over two and a half years now, that’s how many rebus puzzles he’s got. Also, I don’t think anybody else runs rebus puzzles. (Pleasee correct me if I’m wrong.)
Now like I said in the first paragraph, these things are a hoot to make. It’s like the how-many-guys-can-ya-fit-in-a-telephone-booth contest, except it’s letters. Okay, this one’s a boring three extra letters, but, hey, they’re still fun to make.
The grids can go one of two ways. You can have the kind where theres many of the rebus squares and their answers are short lengths in grids that don’t really look like themed puzzles. Thing is, those are the grids that telegraph in capital letters: HERE COMES A REBUS! We know when the themed puzzles run, and if the theme answers aren’t totally obvious just by looking at the grid, chances are it’s a rebus.
So thats why when I make a rebus puzzle, I use a grid style like the one like I’ve posted here. It’s well-disguised, methinks, as the grid looks like a “normal” crossword with standard length theme entries (two 14s and a 15). Aside from the bait and switch, here’s an opportunity to have longer entries that we can’t fit in a normal 15x (in this instance, two 16s and a 17). Newer entries = freshness = happy solvers. Also, I love the fact that we’ve lengthened a couple of the “fill” entries as well (5-Down is now 8 letters, 29-Down 7, and 37-Down stetches out to 11). Again, longer entries = snappier fill = happy solvers.
So, is the additional NBA in the SE corner a fair addition? I put it there for a couple reasons. Like I said in the second paragraph, I could have gone to town with the NBA rebus, there’s a bajillion possibilities. Frankly, I was trying to fit a couple in the NE and SW areas, but it wasn’t happening. So, I saw I could put on in the SE. Is it a fair move? I duno. I mean, part of me feels I had to do something with that otherwise boring 3×4 corner. The other part of me feels I should have removed it as I couldn’t get one to fit in the NE. If there are any game constructors who wish to redo the NE corner and put another NBA up there, be my guest. I’ll change this puzzle post and give you any book I’ve written, or something from my apartment I don’t want to move into the new condo. It’s your call.
Anyway, hope y’all enjoyed this. New puzzle on Monday.
Weirdly, my favorite thing about this puzzle: A clue for ETTA I haven’t seen before! whew, nice to get a new one for that old standby
For every ROCKET MAN/ONE MAN BAND/RENE RUSSO/EVAN BAYH combo, you get a free pass for one AMOLE, but you can’t use that AMOLE more than once a decade.
I knew the first long answer had to be exactly what it was, but it was too long—then I espied the “Hoops” in the title and glommed onto the rebus. Fun!
I’m trying man. It’s tough to get something fresh for the ole’ repeaters, but I’m trying.
Agreed. AMOLE sucks … maybe I should rewrite the clue to read: {Whac-___}… In fact, I’m going to do that now!
How far are you willing to go into foreign words for this? If you accept 2D) “Italian wiggler” (UNBACO), you can get 1A) “Loon” NUT, 14A)”Let back in” UNBAR, 17A) “Long-distance company” MCI, giving 1D)NUMB, 3D)”Cycle starters”. Or, 1D) DUMB and 3D)GRIS. Probably lots of other alternates there if you accept UNBAR/UNBACO.
Honestly, if you had published it my way, I’d be grumbling about it, and you needn’t feel obligated to give me a prize, but I had to give it a shot. It’s nice to remind myself sometimes that being able to construct a good puzzle is a rare skill.
FWIW, I had a hard time seeing the rebus even after it should have been obvious, so your subterfuge worked in at least one instance. Now I have to go find some music or Elton John will be stuck in my head all day.
Seeing as I already got into deep shit for AMOLE from Amy in the last post (now changed), I’m really not that ready to go into foreign word territory. Nice effort tho, this was the second try so far, neither I feel is one-upping the corner I have. Keep ’em coming.
Brendan, you could always send Sunday-sized rebus puzzles to Mike Shenk at the Wall Street Journal. Seems like the sort of newspaper that’s a perfect fit for your personality, no? And Mike definitely publishes rebus puzzles.
Right, Mike always runs my 21xs that Will doesn’t take.
Wow — that’s a nice grid.
Thanks dude.
That SE NBA drove me CRAZY because I kept thinking it couldn’t possibly be there. Rule of symmetry and all that. I sent you a NW corner that I think works fairly well, if you allow one album connected to a hit film (which is the only ??NBA answer I could find).
Actually, what really drove me up the wall with this puzzle was figuring out how to fill in the rebus squares so that the puzzle recognized my fill as correct. I tried writing in “N” and then “A” before finally stumbling upon the fact that I was supposed to use the “reveal letter” button.
Definitely got the bait-and-switch feel of a rebus puzzle that didn’t look like one. Nice job! No alchemy for symmetry issue, sorry. Can I ask what the clue was before “whac?”
{Plant used as soap}, duh!
Took me a while to realize that there’s no way to put multiple letters into a square in Across Lite. Nice grid.
No chance of me finishing this one. Ah well.
First, 42A I think should say “station” and not “channel,” but maybe that’s just me. I feel like channels are TV, not radio.
And second, dude, if you want to kill me, just drive to my house and stick a knife in my heart. This puzzle was MURDER. I kept thinking for some reason you were just omitting the letters BA for some reason, and I was like, “What the @%$# does BA have to do with basketball?” SIGH.
Whack-A MOLE is awesome, don’t listen to the haters.
Sigh, I feel like I just played a game of basketball. No, I feel like a game of basketball got played ON me.
Great weekends all around!
How hard was this puzzle? It was so hard that ARYE was the easiest answer, and that’s only because I wrote an episode of Wildfire. Talk about obscure connections to an answers.
35 minutes, Meh. about average for one of your puzzles. Drove me crazy wondering where the next rebus would appear! All in All, a fun and very fair solve!
Tricky and delightful. Did a head slap when I finally got the rebus. That said, you got me on the BANNEKER/KIDA cross having heard of neither. Also, had BLT for way too long.
If you have Across Lite 2.0, you can put multiple letters into one space by using the insert key.
Great puzzle! Wasn’t expecting a rebus, even though (because?) I had JUST solved one. BANNEKER was the roughest spot, along with the SE corner, until I remembered KID A. Pleased to see that Amy beat me today…
I see nothing wrong with the rebus non-symmetry… how many rules have you bent or broken in 60 puzzles so far?
You’re wondering if the rebus has been played out, and I don’t think so, but it is fun to think of other ways to play with rebuses.
For instance, you can make a bunch of different but related rebus squares:
http://xwordinfo.com/ShowPuzzle.aspx?date=11/21/1993
or make a phrase from the rebus squares:
http://xwordinfo.com/ShowPuzzle.aspx?date=7/24/1997
or cram a bunch of letters into boxes in visually appealing places:
http://www.nysun.com/crosswords/puzzle_dir/archive_dir/nys071130.puz
or have a different rebus going across and down:
http://www.nysun.com/crosswords/puzzle_dir/archive_dir/nys080815.puz
Also, most rebuses just fit 2+ letters into a box, but Pete Muller had the genius idea of fitting 0 letters in a box:
http://xwordinfo.com/ShowPuzzle.aspx?date=7/6/2006
and Patrick Blindauer once put half a letter in a box:
http://www.nysun.com/crosswords/puzzle_dir/archive_dir/nys071220.puz
And who can forget the asymmetrical crossword which becomes symmetric after completing it, thanks to the rebus?
http://www.nysun.com/crosswords/puzzle_dir/archive_dir/nys080111.puz
So maybe we can brainstorm new ideas for the rebus. Can we put negative letters in a box? What would that look like? Can we have a crossword with a different rebus for across, down and diagonal? Anything else?
“This puzzle was MURDER. I kept thinking for some reason you were just omitting the letters BA for some reason….”
What he said (and what someone else said about wanting PBJ to be BLT). This one took me twice as long as usual!
Except for that SE corner, I am thrilled that I near-finished this mofo! Loved it! Though I knew something was up, it took me forever to glom onto NBA, which is especially desperate when you figure I, here in the Cleveland area, watched the Cavs-Pistons game just last night. I mean it clearly was going to be AMERICAN BANDSTAND (once I realized it wasn’t going to be Where The Action Is), but I still couldn’t figure out what letters I was stuffing into what box. Eventually it dawned.
I was half expecting 1A to be Sub and that Shit was your down, but it was not to be. 😉 Beautiful fill and cluing – I love being on the BEQ wavelength (when I am on it, that is). Went down some wrong roads due to poor knowledge and still was able to self-correct my errors. That’s a very good feeling and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Kudos!
Yikes! Murder seems like a harsh assessment. But at least it’s honest. Stick with it. I’m like your aerobics instructor for the mind. It’s gonna hurt now, but someday you’ll thank me for it. Six pack abs? Try six pack brains!
Now that, as they say, is a small world.
Good to hear that. I’d do rebus week, but what’s the fun in that?
Hmm… well, you’ll have to do something about the not hearing “Kid A” part, methinks.
I know, Aims coming through with the top spot. Dan, you’re slipping.
Although, if I can get one of my test solvers (you might have heard of him: Tyler Hinman?) to post his times, might make the leaderboard a smidge more humbling.
18 minutes and change. It took me for-f’ing’ever to discover the rebus, and when I did, I still was having FITS in the SE corner, because that NBA was so unexpected. EN BANC should have been a gimme, as should have been IN BAD, but because it wasn’t one of the long answers, I couldn’t make it fall. That was complicated by never having heard of either KIDA or Mr. BANNEKER. Up in the NE, RAHAL was a WTF fill, because I don’t keep with up racing. And for 63A, I had BSIDE for a bit longer than I want to admit, which mucked things up until the aha moment arrived. Tough puzzle for me, amigo, but a fine Saturday morning diversion before plunging into the NYT that lurks somewhere in this a.m.’s Albuquerque Journal (It also lurks in the El Paso Times, but they print it smaller, and F That.).
What an amazing post. The four Sun puzzles are totally worth your time, folks, if you haven’t already done them.
Congrats for the solve. While I’m here, if it’s not Boston this year, please let it be Cleveland because I am disgusted with the way the media wont let LeBron just play with the Cavaliers. Here’s is a once-in-a-generation player in his prime and all we’re talking about is when’s he moving to NY or LA. Let the good people of Ohio enjoy this, please!
Needless to say, I am pro-LBJ.
F that El Paso Times, indeed!
This is the great thing about puzzles. Not only do you have to know your African American history, but also your indie rock and your Indy Car racing in order to solve it.
I hear ya. What’s so wrong with wanting to play in the geographic area where you grew up? LBJ lives in my general neck of the woods (greater Akron, really, more than Cleveland – he went to high school 2 miles from me) and it’s a wonderful place to live, which he well knows. It’s just another symptom of the media needing to have something to yak about 24/7, so they make stuff up. If he can clinch a national championship while with the Cavs, I can’t imagine how that would be inferior from his perspective to doing it with NY or LA. In my book, it would be far superior. Plus the rest of the team (Boobie’s my guy!) is stellar as well.
1-A:Fuss(ADO);14-A:Goddess of Ireland(BANBA);17-A:TV show static(ADS);1-D:Rhyming pattern(ABAB);2-D:Grooving in woodshop(DADO);3-D:Billing for McCartney while a Beatle(ON BASS)…But your fill is much better…Really enjoyed the puzzle and the extra challenge.