ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ CHANGING YOUR TUNE]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ CHANGING YOUR TUNE]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Two “Easy” puzzles in a row? Yeah, well, they’re not so easy on my end as a constructor, thanks for asking. FWIW: I asked the test solvers to give it a shot as Downs-only, only to get this response: “I bet it would be easier Across-only.” Make of that what you will. I think this one’s on the “Easy” side of an “Easium.” Jesus, do I have to make more categories now? “Medium Side of Mard?” [shudder]
As promised Monday, here’s a lovely two-for-one word puzzle extravaganza from this year’s M.I.T. Mystery Hunt by Craig Kasper. Definitely, not an “Easium.” Still, very satisfying, even if there’s a reference to my musical nemesis in the K clue of the acrostic. I think I was slowed down by that clue because (a) I threw up upon reading it and (b) I gave myself a partial lobotomy to remove said song from my head. Good times. Anyway, enjoy that puzzle, it’s a winner.
Since I have to share this with somebody, I’ll leave you with this:
One the many reasons I love my job: That moment where I am filled with amused satisfaction that an entry as eye-poppingly cool as Beat writer/”Creem” contributor/all-around bad ass NICK TOSCHES (the full name, thank you very much) not only fits into a grid, but also makes everything in that corner measurably better as a result. Wow.
One the many reasons I don’t like my job: Reminding myself that the NICK TOSCHES puzzle was a custom puzzle for someone’s 75th birthday party and therefore completely inappropriate.
Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.
Middle of “NO MORE I LOVE I.O.U.S” was wicked hard in the middle. Couldn’t pull out EXPOSÉ despite the EXP-, don’t think of ALI G as an “interviewer,” etc. etc. Harder than yesterday for that reason alone. Rest was indeed Easy.
Is there a theme besides just changing the first letter of last word from one letter to another letter? Not sure what “TUNE” (in puzzle’s title) has to do with anything
@Rex, I just figured it was because these are names of songs.
Nice one, BEQ (or is that BQE, the actual way monograms are frequently written) favorite is WOULDN’T IT BE MICE?
Five stars for Gene Gene the Dancing Machine!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACpNVD5GMUw
V. nice. Not a false move in the whole puzzle, Brendan. The theme entries elicited some amusement (which is a rare thing, quite honestly—of all the many crosswords I do, the number of puzzles with theme entries that make me smile more than once is pretty damn small). And nothing in the fill or clues made me grumble at all. And it didn’t make me feel hopelessly unhip with current musical references I don’t know. Five stars!
I’d definitely call it a measium, though. Solidly in the Thursday NYT range of difficulty for me.
fag hag, throw a fish back and the nice self referral 52D were worth the price of the puzzle.
I really liked this one. The theme answers cracked me up. I must have been in the puzzle zone today – I knocked out wednesday’s BEQ, this one and the NYT in record time, when usually friday NYTs would suck up my whole lunch break on their own.
Great puzzle…couldn’t parse ALI G for the life of me until I read Rex’s comment…even though I have seasons 1 & 2 on DVD!! D’oh!
And I agree 100% with Crosscan…I haven’t even thought of that name since I was 8 years old, yet it came to me instantly! I love that!
As far as Steve M—-r…I was in a band once with a guy who used to full-on RANT about how much he hated that guy…so your blog today made me LOL!!! Personally, I don’t love him or hate him…but the song referenced in the clue…well, yes…that was DEFINITELY the most annoying song of the early-MTV era!!
I wanna reach out & grabya!
Awesome, awesome clip….but Chuck Barris is definitely the real dancing machine!! And who is the third panelist, after Arte & Jaye P??
“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” is worth seeing, if you haven’t already.
David Letterman!
terrific puzzle Brendan. Great entries throughout, great cluing, fun theme.
Except… I now have that @#$%^& Katy Perry song stuck in my head and I want to beat you to a pulp with a cherry chapstick.
I was moving through this puzzle and hit that bottom center and came to a dead stop. I could not parse I LOVE IOUS and ALI G. Those two/three squares took almost as long as the rest of the puzzle.
Now I got Annie Lennox in my head, I have the Medusa soundtrack. This was one of the cleanest puzzles I’ve done in a while.
ALI G. Oh. And Doh.
Wow, was this one was fun!! I agree with mesium, mostly because of that bear trap in south-central. Stared and stared at A_IG, the last white square. And stared. Parse synapses finally fired and I saw NO MORE LOVE I.O.U.S and finished. But I was still in WTF? mode till I came here. Never seen ALI G except in CWs, but should have seen it for just that reason. Glad I wasn’t the only one.
@nanpilla, thanks for the explanation of the title. I, too, was mystified.
Excellent work for a Friday. Had a D’oh! moment with ALIG. I actually googled it then slapped the forehead…
Watching his Beckhams interview, brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P842Tmi6lrc
It occurred to me that this was a shaggy dog puzzle. You have a cute theme answer and then have to come up with a convoluted clue that works. Shaggy dog puzzles are often groaners as are shaggy dog jokes. But this one worked mainly because of the music theme and BEQ’s obvious interest in music.
That said, here is a great shaggy dog joke for the mathematically inclined.
“There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant, and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys. This goes to prove that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.”
Wow. Pythagoras would have loved that one.
Excellent puzzle. What Karma said about ALI G.
Holy s–t!!
I haven’t, so…thanks!