ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
There’s a reason grids like the one above (and its obvious variants) are classic grid patterns for themeless puzzles. It’s very easy to cram loads of fun stuff in the puzzle. For those who care, unless it’s blindingly obvious, I start at the bottom with themeless grids and work my way up. For this one, the SE was first, then I moved onto the SW, astounded at how many “geek-chic” entries I could cram in there along the way. (No spoilers, no worries.) I surprised myself that that I managed to turn in, IMHO, the clue of the puzzle at 1-Across, roughly where I stopped constructing. Love how that sort of thing works out.
By the way, the latest BEQ contest is still open. After you’re done with this one, get to it.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
I thought 18A was Midgard. I imagine Elder Eddas will be common knowledge once the Thor Movie comes out.
Earworm – I thought there was a urban legend about earwigs being able to burrow their way into one’s skull. I know there was a Night Gallery episode about this happening.
This 1 took awhile but it was sheer eclectasy.
Sooo much great stuff here. Had to “reveal” the NW, though. Don’t know ARN and kept reading 17A as locale instead of local. Dumb.
good point about the grid design, but you know what? this is what a 72 *should* look like. i count at least ten kickass entries; some of the themelesses i’ve done recently have had as few as two. and the short stuff hasn’t been sacrificed, either.
the next time somebody dredges up the argument about stacked 15s or ultra-low word counts, this grid should be held up as the counterexample.
Was it at all intentional that STUART Scott went to UNC?
NW = backbreaking (except I ultimately got it, which was satisfying). For a while, it was just … ARN.
rp
PS what joon said.
Nasty, but I dood it.
Funny, I blew open the NW immediately — MASONIC and MAILBOX were the first things I put in the grid, and the mistake there became clear without too much trouble. Probably helped that Ljubljana and CHUNLI were both gimmes for me. One of the easier themelesses in a while, in my mind, though maybe I just lucked into a lot of wheelhouse material.
Yep, what they said. I *knew* what you were getting at at 1-A, and still it was the last thing to fall.
Satisfying to know that those Street Fighter games in the college lounge after exams paid off a little here.
Don’t know if it was because I read your blurb before I solved, but I followed the same path in solving that you made in constructing. I wish I could make something out of that. (Last clues are easiest syndrome? I often succumb to that.)
As far as this pattern is concerned, I’ll take a grid like this provided that the entries are fun (you were of course quite successful!) – and I usually prefer a puzzle like this compared to one that strives for triple stacks if those 15s aren’t all brilliant. I think my favorite type of themeless though is a puzzle with as much interlock as possible – where the corners are a little bit more open than in this one.
you’ll note that i said “this is what a 72 should look like,” not “this is what all themelesses should look like.” i think it was tyler who said (maybe he wasn’t the first) that his sweet spot is 68. that sounds about right to me, although i might go with 70. openness has its appeal, but below 68 you start seeing some “concessions,” unless it’s a patrick berry. but if you’re going to go up to 72, there should be a payoff in terms of having a couple more awesome entries.
I only wish you’d been able to cram UCAL in here.
Otherwise, good!