THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF]
PROGRAMS: [Across Lite] [Adobe Reader]
We seem to be one of the last two people on the planet to have watched 4-Down, but finally, this weekend we started it, and, quelle suprise, we love it. Just such an entertaining show. It looks amazing, I mean, the sets and costumes are outstanding; it really feels like you’ve gone back in time. I’m guessing, I wasn’t alive then. The acting’s great. But probably the single most impressive thing about it is how much they care about getting the chess accurate. There’s not a moment where I go “these people don’t have any idea how to play the game,” which, honestly, is fantastic. It’s easy to cut corners when showing something arcane onscreen, and directors often go for what looks good. Like, there’s nothing I hate more than seeing crosswords represented on a screen and they’re so clearly not crosswords. How tough is it to do the research? Anyway, props to them, and obviously, if you haven’t seen it, get on board.
Looking for more puzzles? The Hub Crossword (Sunday puzzles by me and Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon) and Marching Bands year six have begun. So if that To Do list needs even more puzzles, you know what to do.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Great puzzle today, Brendan!
Triple stack with legit content.
Two verticals as well.
Happy Turkey Day!
Loved it, Brendan o’ mine! And THANK YOU for the clue for 11 Down! 🙂
BEQ: I think Garry Kasparov was consulted for the chess! I love doing your crosswords. Have you ever watched GMHikaru Nakamura? He streams everyday, and a lot of his games are on YouTube. Do you play online?
Never have seen “scuppers” in a puzzle. Love it, as in “What shall we do with the drunken sailor?”…”put him in the scuppers with a hose pipe on him.”
For some reason when I try to download or print the PDF, or open in Across Lite, the file is Themeless Monday #597. Is anyone else having that problem?
Got the puzzle but some pretty questionable clues.
7D Meh, but ok
60A, 45D lame and don’t make any sense.
You have the correct puzzle. Themeless puzzles have two numbers: the expernal puzzles number. This is his 1316th puzzle and his 597th themeless puzzle.
They do make sense. You just aren’t aware of those meanings. Looking forward to you sharing the puzzle you construct with us all.
No, they don’t, and I am well aware of their meanings. And just because I’m not a puzzle constructor doesn’t mean I can’t recognize a bad or tortured clue when I see one. The fixes here were easy without making them easy to get.
Thanks!!
I thought those clues were fine. The ones that are bad are the ones I can’t get.
matt Watson is correct, it seems to me. So Glinda or Howard or someone else, you should explain the two clues to us.
Those’re ALWAYS the bad clues: the ones that slow us down. 🙂
(Also in the comments for CROSSWORD #1318)
60A: A more obvious clue would have been: “I agree that I don’t agree” but who wants obvious clues? If you want it spelled out for you: “Expression of agreement to a negative statement”.
But c’mon guys, we don’t do BEQ puzzles to be spoon-fed the answers. We like him because he is playful. And when he is playful, he’s a little out there. It’s more of a challenge. I do the WSJ every day too (as well as the NYT) and the WSJ is B-O-R-I-N-G because the clues are designed for Wall Street guys who take everything literally.
As for 7D, submitting a manuscript *IS* one thing you’d use an agent for. 45D: A lot (i.e. acreage) is often zoned.
60 across. Sometimes the answer is a response to the clue, not another way of saying it. My take anyway.
45 down. Think city lot