CROSSWORD #606: Themeless Monday

THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF] 
PROGRAMS: [Across Lite] [Adobe Reader]

PROGRAM: [Java]

This Christmas I was given a nice book about crosswords: "Two Girls, One On Each Knee (7)" by Alan Connor. If you think that that title looks like a cryptic clue, you'd be right. And if you think this book is entirely about cryptics, well, you'd be kinda sorta right. It's a nice catch-all of brief essays by the crossord blog writer for The Guardian. So yeah, it's got a nice British view of how-we-got-here in the puzzling world. But it's not all U.K.-centric. Since the crossword is such an American thing anyway, there's a lot of anecdotes about U.S. puzzlers as well. Here's a sampling of the Yankees in there: Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, Bob Klahn, Will Shortz, Stan Newman, Merl Reagle, and yours truly. Surely one of these doesn't belong in that mix. Anyway, I've rather enjoyed it, mostly because I not-so-secretly-love cryptics and wish I were better at solving/making them. But also because it's just a well-written book. Perfect for the casual fan as well as the superfan. Want proof? I've read at least three passages aloud to my wife Liz who laughed along with them. Definitely a fun breezy read. It makes a nice companion to the much more U.S.-centric how-we-got-here book "Curious History of the Crossword" by Ben Tausig. You should pick up both and curl up with a nice cuppa.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.