ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
After hours of fudging around with this grid, I stumbled upon an entry that was almost too-good-to-be-true. It was one of those epiphanies wherein I couldn’t believe the crossword gods were allowing this to happen. Brand spanking new entry? Check. Hysterical way to clue it? Check? Miracle alignment of all the crossings so that it can fit? Check.
It was a dream come true.
Then came the cluing.
And it suddenly dawned on me (long after I had written 80% of the clues) that I had repeated two very long entries to get said too-good-to-be-true entry to work. It wasn’t like small potatoes stuff like duplicating ATE and EAT. It was one 8- and one 9-letter entry repeated (okay, the longer one was plural). FML. Revision added hours onto the project. Yuck times infinity. This is the last time I’m going to just plunge into cluing with reviewing the grid first.
Or course, if I had a dollar for every time I promised myself I’d look over the grids with a fine-toothed comb before cluing the puzzle, well, I’d probably have upwards of $56. FML, indeed. (Wouldn’t mind the $56, while we’re at it.)
On the plus side, the miracle too-good-to-be-true entry provided me a seed for a future puzzle. (You were wondering why I didn’t mention what the entry was, weren’t ya?) So maybe the gods were smiling on me as well. There’s just never enough good theme ideas.
Share the puzzle. New one on Wednesday.
Nice, very nice. A good medium-hard puzzle — nothing I was entirely unfamiliar with, but plenty that I needed some help from the crosses to nail down. That tends to make for a very good zolve.
Did not know Kanye West and nailed Neil Diamond, but did not know that opera pirate even with 7/8 of the letters in place. Conclusion: I’m white, but not as white as I’d feared.
SONES!
Man, the pirate just killed me. Had to do the “step away from the puzzle” trick a few times before I could finally finish it, so no time for me today. The other 15 was just a thing of beauty and most of the 8’s and 9’s were fresh. Uplifter? = TBAR, LOL. I was sure that was something like a BRA. And it didn’t help at all that I immediately put SHELLFISH in for “Shrimp, lobsters, etc.” It was painful but fun as usual, Brendan. Thanks for making Mondays so interesting.
Oh boy, now I feel like a Scrooge for being the only 3-star rater of this puzzle. I loved, loved, loved the horizontal 15er. It’s wonderful how you keep finding these “Ripped from today’s headlines” entries and it’s quickly becoming your trademark! The vertical 15er was just too obscure for my taste (of course “too obscure entry” is always defined as “I haven’t heard of it”
:-). Not to worry, a BEQ 3-star is still way better than most puzzles out there. It’s just that I’d rated everything else either 4 or 5 and I didn’t want to get accused of grade inflation!
Good puzzle. Yeah, I nailed 35-Across with just the F in there…another example of the great advantage of this site, that being the timeliness. Thanks for putting SIXGUN in there too…I had made a puzzle once with that being a pretty important answer but I had always questioned its validity. In my book, if Quigs can put it in a puzzle it’s as close to legit as you can get.
Very Good puzzle! My average time for one of your puzzle’s. Somewhat amazed at the stuff I knew from wherever. The Niel Diamond song is a mystery. I doubt I ever heard it on the radio. Mabye Karaoke does pay off after all.
Cool stuff.
We’re all pink on the inside.
You got it dude.
I love it. Fair and honest rating is the way to go.
Thanks. I’d be wary about using ARSEHOLE tho.
I love Karaoke. I bring the house down with my renditions of “Like A Virgin” and “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Just some nitpickey crap in an otherwise outstanding themeless…
I don’t know how fair it is to cite a show that was cancelled after four episodes, no matter how recently. But congrats on finding a unique clue for an ubiquitous crossword celeb.
2D next to 3D seemed kind of weak, also…
that said, the 2 15-long entries were great. 35A is about as timely as you can get, and 8D is one of those where you either know it or parse it from the crosses (and the etymology isn’t too nasty to parse)…
very nice double-cross on 61A. I also wrote SHELLFISH quickly, and cursed having to write over every single letter…
This is too weird! Love the clue for the 15-er across!
That’s gotta be the most obscure opera pirate ever. I wondered if he’d really go for FIG….he did!! Nice…
Never heard of 48-Across. Otherwise a very nice puzzle.
Shout-out to Al S. for tipping me off!
Man, that friggin’ pirate took me from a 5-minute solve right up to about 12 but I loved it nonetheless. Where else can you find ORGASMIC crossing ARSEHOLE but in a BEQ puzzle? Very nice puzzle and a good challenge for a Monday.
I’m so glad that you are giving us HARD
puzzles on Monday..otherwise Monday is a wasteland!
LAIN isn’t clued correctly.
“lie, lay, lain” (to recline)
“lay, laid, laid” (to place or put down).
And I know the phrase as “Per ASPERA ad astra”; what’s this ARDUA crap?
Still, very good. No idea about the pirate.
rp
Very enjoyable, hard but fair (-ish for me). I had the same question as Rex regarding per aspera. Then as I was pondering over 39A, a little voice said “keep in mind it’s a BEQ puzzle!” Who else would clue walking on air that way! You’re sick. Thanks!
My English teacher in college would include a few questions on lie/lay on every quiz, test, worksheet, wherever she could fit it in. After all that, I still have to remember the difference by thinking “Lay Down Sally” is incorrect.
This was a Quigley beatdown, start to finish. Great stuff mixed in with a whole lot of nasty; I spent my time alternating between laughing and cursing it. All in all, if you can solve one like that, it’s overall a good experience. As long as you don’t cross actor/director/drummer/operatic names, I’m good.
That vertical 15 was brutal, by the way.
Another kick-ass puzzle from BEQ, kickin’ my carcass all over the place. Thanks, Brendan!
Really loved this one. May I say that, in the blog, “fine-toothed comb” should read “fine tooth-comb.”
Damn! Missed it by 2 squares. Didn’t know the pirate and was looking for something more exotic on the language clue (I tried ALT). Still a great puzzle. ORGASMIC, BAKULA, KANYEWEST…what a mix.
Google was my friend, no way I was finishing this one without it. Some of the stuff was way too obscure for my liking but that goes with the territory of a hard BEQ. Not a single alt musician reference unless you consider Kanye.
I bogged down in the NE corner. Didn’t know the actress, forgot the name of the regrettable politician, and couldn’t get the voice actress off the last two letters. Plus I made up a new German language, Aldsacen. I kept jumping back and forth between Cats and Aida for the musical. There are twelve names in the puzzle, exactly one was a gimme (Quantum Leap! Oh boy) and I’ve heard of only three others. Glmpehf. Still, the clunkers were great and 37D just looks insane.
can we get “glmpehf” into a grid?
Thanks for keeping these puzzles timely. “Lemon aid?” is inspired. I had SIG GUN (Sig Sauer) until Mr. Happy Pencil refused to surface.
I’m surprised no one has taken a shot at guessing the miracle grid entry and clue. I don’t know whether to be happy or disappointed about that.
excellent puzzle. very hard but rewarding the effort.
2-D and 3-D was a little dodgy, but it wasn’t that bad, all things together.
What do they say? Great minds think alike?
The title character of one of Verdi’s operas? I think not.
I think she’s a character on “Lost.”
Thanks, brah.
You got it, Teri.
I have corrected the puzzle. (Thanks for the heads-up, Rex.)
Took that clue right out of “The Synonym Finder.”
Sorry man. Will try to keep ’em a bit cleaner next time.
You got it, Lisa.
Fair nuff.
Thanks, Jae.
Well, the Google search bar is there for your enjoyment.
Developing?
Hopefully he did surface, right?
We need secrets (besides, it’s coming up.)
That’s what I want to hear.
No worries; trying to say it was a good challenge throughout, and the difficult stuff was doable. And I didn’t even get to mention that great chewy center 15.