ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ SPEAKING IN CODE]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ SPEAKING IN CODE]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
I have a humiliating confession to make: I froze a frame of the “Lost” episode Liz and I watched last night so I could figure out whose crossword puzzle one of the main characters was solving. I mean, it was a shot long enough that answers could easily be read, so, damn it, I figured I could easily confirm who made the puzzle.
Side bar: I loved seeing Alan Arbesfeld’s name above a Times crossword that Miles solved in the movie “Sideways.” That shot required no Internet sleuthing. There’s a long shot of Miles hand as he works the grid and there’s Alan’s by-line plain as day on the page. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Was I jealous? Hells yeah. That was a great movie! Who wouldn’t want a cameo like that? I even went back to try and figure out whose puzzle Miles solves whilst driving (love that scene, cuz I’m so busted for doing that when I had a car). Lo and behold: Craig Kasper. Couldn’t happen to another nice guy! Who’s doubly jealous?
So, I was kinda hoping another one of my crossword buddies would have appeared in “Lost.” According to Google, looks like George Shayler wrote the puzzle in question, and it was in the L.A. Times 7/31/06. Alas, I’ve never heard of him. Another search confirms that’s the only puzzle he’s made. Lucky guy. The one puzzle he makes, it’s in a popular TV show. Who’s triply jealous?
I highly doubt it was written for the show. That would have been a Monday puzzle, and as we all know by now, those are some of the hardest puzzles to make: all easy answers, no ambiguities, no crosswordese, simple-to-grok theme, etc. It also seems highly unlikely that a puzzle by a one-and-done constructor could have been polished enough to have no technical errors, no clue and/or grid rewrites, yet would be chock-a-block with “Lost” clues. Gimme a break. You can’t cram that much information into a puzzle without the wheels coming off somewhere. Of course, that hasn’t stop bulletin boards of “Lost” fans trying to glean symbolism in the answers.
Anyway, just a big thanks to all who were able to tip so far this week. Quick reminder: the puzzles will always be free, but feel free to show a little tip jar love if you liked the puzzles this month. Remember: another child is born in India every time you tip! As always, one randomly selected donor for this week will receive a copy of my “Diagramless” book. Thanks again for the continued support.
Share the puzzle. New one on Friday.
JAVAJIVE, BASICINSTINCT, CSTUDENTS, great stuff. Another fun one. Your “Mediums” are in my “aha” wheelhouse. I even navigated through the unknown/hip/proper noun section in the NE. Couldn’t be more proud.
JAVA JIVE was the first thing I put in the grid, even before I had figured out the theme. And I printed the grid to solve it here at work while waiting for the Eclipse (Java) IDE to do various things for me.
Would loved to have seen INTERCAL as an entry … I think word lovers would appreciate it.
-eP
The theme entries did not seem like BEQ today. The languages mentioned are all mainstream. Sort of like the Beatles and Michael Jackson. Was expecting something like Plankalkül. BTW, “viper” reminded me of the programming language Python and I guess that “dodos” could be nested do loops.
Got “cosplay” from the acrosses and learned something.
“COSPLAY” was also new to me…
http://thegreatgeekmanual.com/images/humor/motivational/november/motivational-poster-cosplay-horrible-warning.jpg
One quibble: the clue for 56-Across should perhaps be or , rather than , since it’s an acronym (“Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing blah blah blah…”). But people refer to it as the “Patriot Act” enough that that’s probably fine.
Plunked down A BEER so fast it made me thirsty.
Good vocab workout today. “Outro” (cool word!), COS[tume] PLAY, ALTERANT (psychedelic inhalant?), and ATTAINTS all new.
From the clue, I was expecting 33A to be a four-letter theme answer, something like C+++.
fun puzzle, thanks. i was psyched to see john lithgow solving a cryptic in the fourth season of ‘dexter.’ the shot opens with an extreme closeup of the grid, and lithgow’s character is penciling in a word obliquely related to his character. it struck me as a move similar to hannibal lecter murdering prison guards to bach in ‘silence of the lambs.’ a crossword would have made sense, but a cryptic was way more arch. in american pop culture, cryptics are probably the baroque classical music of puzzles: the domain of squares and psychopaths.
COSPLAY was near-lethal to me. What a horrible word. If you dressed up as Bill Cosby, maybe. Started out Hard for me, but settled down. Weird to do a puzzle of yours w/o looking at Difficulty Rating first. Kind of disorienting. Never considered how much my expectations affect the experience.
rp
Things started out badly when I tried to put LAKOTA and KENOBI for 1D and 2D.
And even when I was done, I wasn’t sure I was done, since I looked at every crossing in COSPLAY and ATTAINTS three times.
Well, I’m happy to have just completed a B.E.Q. puzzle, even if it was only a “medium”. JAVAJIVE was my first entry. I stumbled around after that. I had a real hard time with 33A. I was thinking geology and not cinema. After that, I finished in the SW, but had no idea what COSPLAY was, and had never seen ATTAINTS before. Likewise the clue OUTRO for CODA in the SE. So, I didn’t really know if I had solved correctly, until I checked the solution in AcrossLite. Then a big fist pump, and off to Google the newly learned words. Great puzzle!
EAST LYME, CT – a nice place to live and to camp at a state park on the water (Long Island Sound). Not so much a resort. Actually, the stuff on the water is in the Niantic section of East Lyme, and I think people would say they were going to Niantic for the day/weekend. If you say you’re going to East Lyme, you’re probably headed for the grocery store. I forget how this was clued the last time it was in a puzzle, but both times the clues had me stymied, and I live nearby.
Nice puzzle. Top half was pretty easy but the bottom half made up for it. I wanted to fit MYSTIC in the resort clue because, as Jan said, EASTLYME is not much of a resort and MYSTIC is actually closer to New London.
I was just happy to see Brother ALI in the grid. My favorite artist. Nice to see him in there.
COSPLAY was a gimme for me and perfectly clued. I’ve seen plenty of costumes at science fiction conventions, and read enough fanfic (fan fiction, that is) to know exactly what it meant. I even saw some authentic Japanese cosplayers in Yokohama a few years ago. Also the YANKOVIC clue was pretty easy, and Scrooge MCDUCK. Plus I’ve driven through EAST LYME plenty of times. Unfortunately they seem to be hit by the New England floods this week. March came in like a lion, and left like a kraken this year.
Spotted the theme off the title… Which never ever happens! Was prepared to thoroughly enjoy the puzzle… but didn’t… ATTAINTS and ALTERANT seem just plain ugsome to me, though there is lots of other interesting stuff all over. Also never heard them called COMPUTERLANGUAGES, though google suggests that’s just me…
Hadn’t heard of COSPLAY either but it’s still a thumbs up…