ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ WHAT’S IN A NAME?]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ WHAT’S IN A NAME?]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Will Nediger’s puzzles, especially his themeless work, seemingly always have at least one entry that makes me stop what I’m doing and go, “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that one.” (FWIW: that would be 12-Down 11-Down in today’s guest puzzle, which I’m happy to share with y’all. ) It’s no surprise that the grids pop considering Will’s a linguistics student up at the University of Western Ontario. He says his major “seems like the obvious thing, although I’m pretty sure there are more mathematicians than linguists in the crossword community. I mean, Noam Elkies regularly comments on Rex’s blog, but as far as I know Noam Chomsky doesn’t.”
The guy up above who doesn’t look like Tommy Chong is Will. Say “hey,” everybody. And without further ado, let’s do this interview:
BEQ: Your puzzles are so name- and crazy-letter-heavy; tell me how do you go about making crosswords.
Will: I’m a trivia guy, and names are great fodder for trivia. So sometimes I overestimate the number of people who know, say, the highest mountain in Australia. I’m also a Scrabble player, which could explain why I like to use Scrabbly letters. Like most constructors, I try to find seed entries that are interesting and Scrabbly – all those names just seem to work themselves in there somehow.
BEQ: How did you get into puzzle making in the first place?
Will: I think I started when I was like 10. I did crosswords, and I figured how hard could it be to make them? Turns out: very hard. I did it all by hand, and it took a few years to get the hang of it. Obviously my first puzzles were terrible. I’m pretty sure I once used MITSU and clued it as “Half a car company.”
BEQ: Does linguistics classes help or hinder you in the puzzle writing process?
Will: Studying linguistics makes you really pay attention to interesting facets of the language around you, which is very helpful when it comes to coming up with themes, or just in-the-language phrases for themelesses.
BEQ: Your Facebook page says you speak three languages, surely that’s gotta help?
Will: It doesn’t really help, actually. ETRE and ESO are one thing, but when you speak Spanish, you are always tempted to use stuff like MANZANA or something to bail you out in a tricky corner, and if you give in to that temptation, it’s just bad for everyone concerned.
BEQ: Do you ever solve crosswords in other languages?
Will: I once tried my hand at a book of crosswords from Germany, and let me tell you, it did not go well. I do solve French crosswords on occasion, but there’s no way I could construct them. Knowing a language is one thing, and being attuned to its letter patterns is another.
BEQ: You and I seem to be cut from the same indie rock dork cloth, but we sure aren’t going to agree over the merits of Joanna Newsom. So I ask you, if she holds a concert in my home town, and I don’t go, does she still make a noise?
Will: C’mon, you’re a PBR drinker, can’t you bow to Pitchfork on this one? Hmm, that gets me thinking, maybe I should write a tribute crossword to Joanna Newsom. It’s too bad [her breakthrough album] “Ys” is only two letters.
fun one. never heard of the surfer, but it’s a cute theme and the sparseness of it allows for some killer fill (although brendan, is it really TIM you wish you’d thought of, or SKYY VODKA?).
I’m a fan of aptronyms, but when they’re theme entries, it helps if I’ve heard of the people. Didn’t know the surfer or the poker player.
C’mon, Joon—TIM is a great entry! 🙂
Always nice to see ZOLAESQUE in the grid, isn’t it? It’s one of the few crossword entries dramatically portrayed on the silver screen.
Does anyone call the QE2 the QEII? Because they really shouldn’t.
Best. tennis. name. ever. I’m picturing a Hulk-like tennis star rushing the net, racket swinging overhead at subsonic speed, grunting, “Anna Smash”! Followed closely by the appearance of a tennis-ball-sized crater on the opponents baseline.
Of course, that could just be the caffeine talking. Nah.
let me just add that this is probably the first time in the history of crosswords that the word “surfing” in a clue has referred to an activity involving a board and water waves.
I’m confused as to why the Skyy vodka entry is so special. I can appreciate the difficulty in having it cross two theme entries, but we’ve all seen Skyy in previous puzzles and the clue seemed pretty straightforward. What am I missing?
A fun and engaging puzzle, especially for an “easy.”
Not a single comment??? And four days after? This was a great puzzle with several new to me entries (Tuvalu, felted, end man, among others). Favorite clue/answer was 1A. I had FREEWIF_ and showed it to my WIFE. We both laughed. Thanks.