CROSSWORD SOLVER PUZZLE:
[ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Crossword Solver]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
The family’s been “testing the waters” in regards to moving lately. This daunting task is usually split up in the following ways: Liz does all the research (calling banks, finding open houses, etc.); BEQ does all the “heavy lifting” (shlepping everything to the Zipcar, installing the car seat, driving to wherever we’re going, etc.); and Tabitha does her thing (acting cute and making darling baby noises in an effort to “destress” her parents). We’re a good team.
You know, house hunting is a bit like making themeless crossword puzzles. Both have starting points to consider (towns where you might move to, marquee answers that you want to showcase). Both have choices that you can reject quickly at the onset (the town in East Nowhereville even though the schools are amazing, the answer with too many unfriendly letters, even if it’s got three Js and a Q). Decisions you make at the beginning of the process affect your choices later on (whether it’s the bank you choose to work with dictating what you can work with financially, or filling in certain corners dictating the shape of the rest of the grid). Inevitably, you’ll fall in love with something that you just simply cannot pull off (the house you cannot afford, the crazy stack you cannot make work). There comes the inevitable moment in both events that pulling it off seems impossible. Both are long emotionally draining processes. And if you’re sending a themeless puzzle off to Will Shortz, both are heavy on the paperwork.
Anyway, hope you enjoy today’s puzzle. One of the marquee answers lost a smidge of it’s luster due to the outcome of yesterday’s sporting events. No matter, it’s still a winner. Any my assistant agrees.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
I can only imagine the scene where Liz explains to the loan officer what a “cruciverbalist” does. Good luck with your search.
Fine puzzle today. Loved the Beck clue and the aha moment it slowly developed for me.
I don’t know what it is, but lately I seem to get stumped for awhile by the lower right hand corners.
*its* luster, not it’s 🙂
Before i go into the XWP de jour, I must make some esprits d’escalier concerning the XWP titled The World’s Easiest Math Quiz. Ahem. What’s the equation for Hyperbola again? + Kids just don’t like math. Well, maybe this could help. + What did you say about Barbie uttering “Math is too Hard”? Now for today’s dull exercise: 12D: I’d know this from the Shostokovich symphony. This is one degree removed from what some people know, so that makes the clue much more difficult. It’d be SATNYT. Having Shostokovich mentioned in the clue, it’d be THUNYT or FRINYT. Foreign phrases and names give XWP tyros headaches. One lesson you learn quickly is that you have to get more global and expansive. 36D: I take this to be Stephen CRANE. 51A and 52A: I take this city to be in France. 46D: I’m familiar with this archaic word. A little bit is going to help. The BEQQies are tightrope stunts for me but I make it through them quite miraculously 99% of the time. + Thx for the BEQqer Kodak moment. It’s quite lovely.
stephen crane was primarily a novelist and short story writer; hart crane (no relation) was a poet. his magnum opus was “the bridge”, an epic poem about the brooklyn bridge.
françois hollande is the president of france, not a city (to my knowledge).
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
“A sense of obligation.”
A poem by Stephen Crane, in “War is Kind.” His other book of poetry is “The Black Riders and Other Lines.”
i think you’re working tabitha too hard – what a cute kid!!!
Whoa. Creeper Lagoon shirt. I didn’t know anyone outside the SF Bay Area had ever heard of them.
loved the puzzle, and learned a lot from the above comments, thanks… especially enjoyed MENDOZA LINE and WAYNE ROONEY, even though I loathe all things United
Great pic, by the way. Looks like she’s very interested and intent! At this rate, she’s going to has a puzzle up here by her 1st b-day…
WTG –
I have found a new favorite poet.
XXI
Thx
Yep, that is one cute baby girl. Someday you’ll look back and yearn for the day when she was this easy to deal with….
Enjoyed this puzzle! Haven’t been doing them lately, but glad I stopped by and saw a Tabitha moment. (My daughter is 31. Time does NOT fly, but presently it does speed up.)