ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ TILT]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ TILT]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Let’s clean out the junk drawer today and do a couple quick hits:
- This one might be a Mard. Who knows, maybe it’s an Easium? I’ve had conflicting reports. Would you expect anything less than wildly divergent opinions of the puzzle’s difficulty from my test-solvers? Yeah, I thought so.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education website can’t decide when to post the puzzles. So, why not do my puzzle scheduled for Friday today? [Java] [Across Lite]
- Trip Payne alerted me to this great on-line game/tie-in thingy with the BBC Four game show “Only Connect.” I’d never heard of it. And, yeah, it’s no “Countdown,” which I admit I’ve played along with semi-religiously when I’m over there. But damn these “Only Connect” puzzles are entertaining and frigging hard. All ya gotta do is match up the four sets of four from the board of 16, then name the categories. Go figure: the first wall I successfully sovled was #5, and the first category I got right was not the one built around something very American, but the one built around the something very British. Thanks, Liz!
Share the puzzle. New one on Friday.
Update: Guess I liked this theme so much I had to repeat it. What do they say? When you copy yourself it’s a style?
Easium for me. But EELs are not sea snakes, they are fish. And HUCKLEBERRYs are like blue berries, not citrus fruit. 51d was the low point ( so to speak) and JILT was great, as was EYE LEVEL.
Easium, or Thurs NYT level. (Your Mediums are more like Fri NYTs.) You rarely have an Easy in the Mon-Wed NYT range for me.
I love themes like this! My husband was playing a puzzle game online the other day in which you had to anagram words…but sometimes you had to tip a letter over first (C could become U, W could become E or M, etc.). Isn’t that cool?
Haven’t you done this theme before? I know I’ve seen it somewhere.
Fun — but couldn’t see it for a while. None of the “Z”s were falling into place, and when they did (LION’S MAZE) I couldn’t see the joke. Also, had CRAVE OPERATOR (?). It made sense at the time.
rp
Wow. Great theme. I normally don’t like shaggy dog themes but the Zs made it worthwhile. With the exception of the clues for 43A and 68A this could be a NYT Thursday.
about an hour after i test-solved this one and sent brendan my comments, i had the same nagging thought… yeah, i think he has done this theme before. can’t remember when, or what the theme answers were (although CRANE/CRAZE sounds familiar). i’ll see if i can dig it up.
182Sidelines.puz added to vertical bars to the letter “v” to form an “m”. E.g. “Man with a van” became “Man with a man:
BEQ did this theme in number 131 from 10/09/09 and it did have CRAZEOPERATOR in it, but with a different clue. Even having done that one last October it took me a while to realize that was what was going on again. I did remember the previous one since it was close to when I started doing BEQs website puzzles. I really enjoyed the puzzle.
Thanks for the link to the ‘Film Series’ puzzle, as well. I was amazed to be able to finish TWO BEQ puzzles in one breakfast. Alas, this must mean they were easy, but both were a lot of fun.
I see someone else has already mentioned that HUCKLEBERRY is not a citrus; in fact, I don’t think there are any citrus ‘berries,’ though there are def some sour ones!
I was thinking ‘substitution’ vs TILT (must read puzzle titles from now on). Say, BEQ, did you really call the Queen ‘Eliz’ when you met her?
Fun puzzle. Felt like NYT Wed. level to me. Does that count as Easium?
11:41 for me, which is definitely medium for me with a BEQ puzzle, but I usually do the Thurs. NYT in about 7-8 minutes. Shrug. Thought the gimmick was fun–maybe I missed it the first time around? And definitely made the fills easier as I figured it out pretty early on.
Guess I’m inclined to give the boy a pass on sea snakes and citrus as not being meant to be absolutely literal, long as the results are fun. But others’ mileage evidently varies. On t’other hand…
I must admit, I didn’t bother to look up VAJAZZLE after the previous puzzle, but here it is again, so this time I had to. Talk about pop culture terms I really didn’t need to have in my head. BEQ: he monitors current pop trivia so you don’t have to! But we can give that one a rest now, ‘kay?
Thanks for another fun lunch hour divertissement!
Well guano!! Couldn’t figure out the title till I read the comments. All I saw was the letter substitution. Doh!
Haven’t been posting here much, as most of the bloggers seem to be constructors and I feel a bit out of my league. Couldn’t resist today, though, as I enjoyed the puzzle so much. Mard for me—took 30 to 45 minutes (was up and down proctoring an exam, so mard to tell).
Was slowed down by three key-overs. First theme answer was CRAVE OPERATOR, which seemed to make sense, but which (rationalization alert) totally threw me off track for figuring out the sense of the clever title. SET before PUT wasn’t too bad, but ADAPT before FIT IN really ate my clock.
The real fun came as the theme answers fell, and The Daily Doubles on 38A and 48A were especially impressive. Last to fall was PETER_E__, where I had seriously been wondering if BEQ was going to throw “His Peterness” at us (though the reZult made no sense, luckily). Hey, after “Load assistant?” anything seemed possible.
I saw Manning and a 3-letter answer and immediately filled in ELI.
Then , I got to 48a (Go with the flow) and started to get an anxiety attack. BEQ / ACPT Puzzle 5 / 76a: See 19-Across = THE FLOW. Yeeooowww!
You do a BEQ while proctoring an exam? You must have honest students!
We’re talking high-school juniors doing a state-mandated standardized test here, and my room’s set up such that they’re in my line of sight while I’m at my computer. Most of them are just guessing anyway…
…And the ‘Vajazzle’-reference streak remains alive, at 2. For those keeping count at home. (Ahem.)
Fun stuff, hit some bumpy areas in there with the abbrevs. But I LIKE.
All citrus fruits are berries.
They’re also all considered to be one species as they are interfertile.
Honestly, the sooner the ICK factor is reduced, the better. It is possible to get just a little too excited about crossing the lines drawn by the NYT (which are somewhat looser than in the past, after all.)
True story: I wanted to shop for a custom-fitted thimble (I know, I know, but I ‘m a quilter) made by ‘Roxanne’s thimbles.’ So I typed in ROXANNE. What came up…was unexpected. I was so unnerved that I turned the damned computer OFF! I’m only 62…not old enough for some experiences, I guess. That includes the ‘vajazzle’ thread. I get it, and I think it’s stupid; anything that will hurt–and glue is sure to hurt– is not going to be fun.
Lit.Doc, I’m in the same boat. I’m hesitant to post because I’m somewhat intimidated by the level of constructors and speed solvers that regularly contribute. I absolutely love all the puzzles and am deeply grateful to BEQ for providing them but don’t suspect that my comments are worthy of such a talented group.
I do the puzzles and post my times and am elated whenever I rise above the 4th quadrant.
However, I have read many of your posts and have been entertained each time. Your contributions are much appreciated.
the only thing i like about VAJAZZLE is the word itself.
Well, here’s my thought: Constructors are in business–even if it’s a sideline and even if they’re having fun. Where would they be without the lowly Solvers? (What if you constructed a puzzle and nobody worked it?) Maybe we’re providing a valuable service by revealing our take on various puzzles, clues, and puzzle fashions.
Not to mention a little aid and comfort for our fellow-sufferers. (I don’t time myself, and I solve on paper in ink, or occasionally blood.)
Thanks!
My take on that, as well. (To clarify, I meant I liked the overall puzzle). Thinking from the construction/creation angle, the Scrabbliness is appreciated. The rest, not so much. And that’s all I have to say about that.
@Elaine: Unfortunately, beware of typos and too-general searches. The wide scope of the info on the Internet is sometimes not a benefit. The more exact, the better. Sort of like asking for wishes from a genie… be very, very careful about how you ask :).
LOL–yes, right you are, and that was my object lesson! Was about 9 or 10 years ago that it happened, and things haven’t gotten any safer! But even now, when people ask me about my thimble, I still tell them not to type in ‘Roxanne.’ (The website has some dumb name like ‘Perfect Stitch,’ which should really be for good one-liners or something.)
Oh, and if you are The Howard B, congratulations re the ACPT.
Okay, I guess I can’t argue with the word-player’s ear….the word itself might have had possibilities…
BTW, Mad Props (as they say) on your ACPT appearance. I am imagining it was fun to be doing what you’re so good at on the larger stage, as it were.
Anybody else think we should submit VAJAZZLE to the Urban Dictionarty?
Well, that’s obviously *dictionary……Normally I let my typos go…not here!