CROSSWORD SOLVER PUZZLE:
[ RAISE YOUR SPIRITS]
PROGRAM: [Crossword Solver]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ RAISE YOUR SPIRITS]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ RAISE YOUR SPIRITS]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
You gotta love the little things in life. Believe me, I love the little things in a crossword constructor’s life.
What’s that? Yes, Tabitha does qualify a “little thing,” and yes, I love her to bits. But the “little things” I was referring to are those miracle answers.
You know the ones. The ones that you weren’t expecting, but while you develop the theme, you find that answer. The answer that is so amazing that it was hard to believe that it wasn’t the one that started things off. And when those answers appear, you can hear the voices of the crossword gods saying: “yea, verily, this puzzle shall come to pass,” or something. I don’t always hear the crossword gods talking to me. I might be lost in Spotify, or Tabitha might be fighting for my attention. Things happen.
Alas, the conversations with the crossword gods are strictly a one-way street. My pleas of “Are you there, crossword gods? It’s me, BEQ!” go unanswered all the time. Okay. Okay. I do have 2/3rds of the Crossword Jesuses in my IM list, but still …
Since you were asking, the starting theme answer was not the show-stopping 37-Across, it was the unassuming 17-Across. Yea, verily.
Share the puzzle. New one tomorrow.
Awesome puzzle. Just took awhile to catch the “spirit.” It was fun! Thanks, BEQ.
Great puzzle but not sure I get the weirdportal/singchances connection. I must be a bit thickheaded today.
Upper right killed me — never heard of 10D, and didn’t like clue for 12D (the clue is a question, and the entry is an exclamation; the entry might follow the clue as a FITB, but it isn’t defined by the clue).
Loved the theme, though.
@Alan — PORT is the “spirit” you’re missing.
Yes, I see that but how does it fit into singchances. Rum goes into drollplease and ale goes into americasgottnt but port into singchances ?? HELP!
Sporting chances! The light bulb finally turned on.
The opposite of such a XWP as this is inserting the theme unit to the SQPDL answer. This would be easier to solve than the type that appears above. I couldn’t figure out what “spirits” to raise to 13A, 33A, 53A, and 58A. I solved the XWP with one error, the one having to do with PJ, “JAR”, not “JAM”. Liked 45D and 46D. Thot a Heatle was something inspired by the Beatles.******* The holy trinity of XWPs are Arthur Wynne (anniversary coming up!), Paul Harvey, and Will Shortz. Like the mythologies that are Greek, Norse, Hindu, Celtic, etc. there are a lot of other minor gods out there. If you do not beseech them, then you deserve to go to eraser hell. &&&&& A special occasion: I just got through yr. DIAGRAMLESS COLLECTION as of this morning. Started off with lots of fits & starts last year, put the notebooke where I couldn’t find it, then came upon it unexpectedly. Was determined to get thru this harder than usual selection. Was worth it. Noticed that 44A from the above appeared in one of the DGMLs. Now I will put the notebook somewhere on a library shelf somewhere where someone will find it many months,perhaps years later.
Speaking of sudden inspiration, I threw together a lyric for ya, BEQ. 🙂
“Are You Up There?/I Believe (A Song to the Crossword Gods)”
(Sung to the tune of this medley.)
The puzzle is due tomorrow
and what do I see?
A grid half-filled with RSTLN and E
Seems that all the crossed words in the tangled web I’ve spun
may be solved by no one
Why should I continue on
with freshness as a goal
when the best I’ve got is AREA crossing OREO?
I don’t want a miracle, or to put ZYZZYVA in one square,
but are you up there?
Tell me ere I err
Are you tough but fair?
Are you up there?
…
I believe above DROLL PLEASE
there’s got to be TRUMAN LINES
I believe that somewhere in the great northeast
KILN goes with LIME
Every time I’m finally rid of TSE TSE fly
and the scrabbly fill’s
at an all-time high
then I know why I believe
Dagnabbit, the HTML tags didn’t work. Here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2SuvoHE7wk
Loved it! The NE killed me though.
Please, would someone explain 28 Down to me? I got it but I don’t “get” it 🙂
Nintendo Entertainment System
Wow, this one was rather above me, but I found RUM and ALE, and finally I threw in the towel; the Comments helped me complete things and understand the brilliance of this puzzle.
BTW, some of your puzzles furnished Thanksgiving entertainment, as both of our (adult) children (plus one SO) were here. The SO knew rock/band/song stuff, and the kids and I whipped through the rest. Really enjoyed them, so I sent you a tip. (Actually, I meant to add a message–another tip: Don’t wake sleeping babies.)
Aren’t you kind of amazed how a baby grabs your heartstrings and never lets go?
Oh, so the clues are moves you would make? I never played video games, guess that’s obvious! Thank you for explaining.
Up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-select-start is the famous Konami Code. It’s basically a shibboleth among gamers – not just the old-school ones who actually used the code on the NES, but the new generation of gamers that have never had to blow dust out of a cartridge.