ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
When I make a themed puzzle, two thoughts run through my mind: can I fit another theme entry in the grid and is this fill clean-enough? When I make a themeless puzzle, it’s always can I fit another fresh entry in the grid?
Both are challenges for different reasons. The themed puzzle may take me forever to actually get it started. I’m always trying to innovate, and look for more themes, another entry, or a unique spin on an old standby. The grids themselves tend to be less lenient, so if there’s any fun stuff in it, it’s a bonus. There are times (like last Friday’s) when the thematic material is the bare minimum, so I can kind of turn it into a themeless with all the showy fill.
Now with themeless, it’s always a question of new material. I almost always start each corner with one or two “seed entries” that (hopefully) are fresh and never before seen. BTW: while I’m thinking about it, thanks to Doug Peterson for the overall seed for this puzzle: 35-Across. And while we’re here, I was about halfway through making this puzzle when I got another gem of a seed entry from Rex Parker. I liked it so much, I scrapped the half-finished grid I had already begun and started all over again (keeping Doug’s suggestion), just to try and get Rex’s in there as well. Although it couldn’t find a place in either the NW or SE corners (their logical homes), something strange happened: the grid became better overall. (Astute solvers will find Rex’s suggestion in puzzle #137).
I’m not really sure whether I like making themed or themeless grids more. They’re both challenging for two different reasons. When I started off making puzzles, they absolutely had to be themed. Why? Because at the time I hated solving themeless puzzles. They didn’t seem to have a point. Plus, I wasn’t any good at solving much past a Wednesday-level. When I finally came around to the weekend level nastiness, though, the themeless became my favorite style. I find most themeless puzzles slightly tedious now, as so much of puzzlemaking relies upon computer-assisted grids. (Dare I say “Autofill?” No, that’s for another post altogether.) A lot of today’s themeless puzzles are starting to have that same been-there-done-that vibe that hackneyed themed have. (Okay, this is definitely another post altogether.)
I kind of bounce back and forth as to whether I enjoy making themed or non-themed puzzles more. I believe as of today, I would say I’d give making themed ones a slight edge. It seems like almost every gimmick has already been done before, yet somehow we still find new ways to spin it into (hopeful) gold. I even go through favorite types of themed puzzles. I had a rebus stage for a bit (who doesn’t?). Now I seem to be into a quote puzzle phase (look for a crazy one this week).
Anyway, share the puzzle. New one on Wednesday.
Nice puzzle. On easy side for me, but MOS DEF and LITA Ford are right over the plate for me. Cool that you went with DRINK THE KOOL-AID. I once had a puzzle idea start with my pondering the phrase “to be IN THE TANK” for someone, e.g. a political candidate, a corporation, a lobby, etc. Political buzzwords are great xword fodder.
Keep up good work. Can’t wait to see my (insane / obscure-to-most) suggestion in the next grid.
ooh nice one. very fresh.
Got much of it done quickly. DRINK THE KOOL AID was one of those shared-brain moments where my hand filled it in automatically after barely a glance at the clue.
However… CAESURAE? Yow. That and MCCLAIN were my albatrosses.
Also, kind of nitpicky, but 20 down probably should have been “Google competitor, once” since Ask Jeeves is now just Ask.com.
I remember a while back you referenced ‘cheater squares’ or something like that…this is the first puzzle where I actually noticed them. Still loved the puzzle…not a criticism, just a true story…I need my long triple-stacks!
Also, I had a personal natick at CAESURAE and LIKUD…never heard of either, had an A for the U. And I guessed correctly between ASDF and BSDF…as I went to type ASDF into Google, I was like ahhhhhaaa… =)
Really enjoyed this one. Tons of fresh new stuff. Naturally I enjoyed INBED the most. Still hoping to see SOUH…
CAESURAE is definitely the Word of the Day in this puzzle. I’d rate this as Easy or maybe Medium, since I had a much easier time with this one than Friday’s Medium.
Loved 52A. My brain was on the right page for that one. But it is hockey season and all. I was totally looking for BALLOON BOY to be in there somewhere. Or even better BALLOON BOY HOAX. There is no long term value to them. But they certainly look really cool.
I found it just around mediard. Got turned around with CRANK and the beginning of LIEBERMAN. I could’t get those crosses with KEL, CDR and CAESURAE. My biggest huh, was with ASDF which makes sense while typing it in.
I was all ready to say that this was much easier than “hard” until I got to the WSW: never heard of KEL Nagle, CRANK DOWN was hard to see, I blanked out on LIEBERMAN (embarrassingly), in part due to not knowing that IN BED was a standard fortune cookie joke (which Wikipedia explained to me), and not being able to guess MCLAIN.
For good measure, I also had SIZE A at 27A, which makes hash of 12D, but somehow it took me a long time to find this error.
Medium for me also, except for the SW where I crashed at the MDCI/CAESURAE cross. Went with “V” over L, I, or C. Damn, I’m usually pretty good at multiple choice tests. We are currently in Santa Fe, so I will pass on something I just learned for future reference. ANASAZI turns out to be a Navajo word that is not complimentary. I means something like ancient foe. So, the current PC label for those formerly known as ANASAZI is “early pueblo dwellers.”
Really wanted CHEEK for “Moon unit?”
Me too. Refused to change it for the longest time.
I liked this one very much and also found it easy in a particularly satisfactory way. My early guesses on long entries all paid off, which is always exciting in that mildly exciting way of crosswords: Robert Gates, Anasazi, caesurae, brasserie–all those got cashed in quick. Also wanted CHEEK (right next to ASSET would have been nice, since a set of cheeks make up an ass.)
Ask Jeeves was the tuggiest for me, becuase was thinking Alta Vista or something (is there an Alta Vista search engine? Why are there any other search engines if there’s Google? Does anybody in the universe use any of the others?)
AltaVista is indeed a search engine founded in 1995 but now owned by Yahoo!.
As an English teacher in the public schools, “drink the koolaid” is a phrase we use weekly–“DR_NKT” came fast and early, and the rest of the phrase just fell onto the page. Very kool seed. And “caesura” is also part of my normal vocabulary, but…unthinkingly used the “s” plural, which held me up foreFer.
Stupid moment to share: I got “side a” from the crosses, but am still baffled by the clue. Any help on that one?
Would have done better if I hadn’ta had a couple of glasses of Pinot first.
“Stupid moment to share: I got “side a” from the crosses, but am still baffled by the clue. Any help on that one?”
Perhaps you need to wax nostalgic…
http://www.bombhiphop.com/ultimate-6inch.jpg
DOH! Brain lock. Yeah, I’ve got lots-o-vinyl, being an inner-child of the late-60s / early 70s. But got stuck thinking of 45s re side a/b, blinded by memories of the term “flip-side” re LPs. Thanks.