ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS FRIDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS FRIDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
And that brings us to the electrifying conclusion of the totally unannounced/made up on the spot Themeless Week. Are we doing another themeless on Monday? I dunno. Have I mentioned I’m making things up as I’m going along?
Moving on, here’s an entry for the “errata file.” In Wednesday’s mail bag, I misinterpreted John Ellis’s question regarding whether or not diagramless puzzles could be solved with clues as, well, the clues in the puzzle. I thought he was being cheeky and so I gave him a cheeky answer. Wrong. John sets the record straight:
Brendan, of course I know that the puzzle clues constitute the “puzzle,” but those weren’t the clues I was asking about (Duh!). I wanted to know if the clues/hints regarding starting square and symmetry on the back page of YOUR book were necessary to solve a diagramless. Where I screwed up was skimming the intro pages and not processing the section where Francis Heaney said it could be done but it was hard and probably not a good idea for beginners. (I went back and reread the intro after seeing your blog comment.) Anyway, sorry about the misunderstanding, but I kinda wish you would’ve emailed me before responding in the blog.
BTW, my granddaughter was the only person in her family to actually look at your book and wonder how it was possible to solve such a thing. After I did the first three I explained the process to her. She’s a bright curious kid and that’s not just a granddad bragging, her test scores are through the roof.
No hard feelings and still your fan,
John
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, John. And that’s the spirit! It’s never too soon to indoctrinate the next generation with crosswords.
Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind a themeless every time you put up a new puzzle. Great clue for 7-Down. Looking at it again, you might mean “of” instead of “or”, but I didn’t even notice it until now.
Good stuff.
That was a typo. Fixing it now.
Uh, the GIRAUDOUX / GAHAN crossing is textbook Natick. I’m surprised you thought that was OK. That said, I guessed right. Never heard of that playwright. Ever. 7 years of French — useless, apparently. NW was really hard as I don’t get SPEARS clue and LARGE OJ (good) was tough to uncover. Random Maryland town? Tough one. Liked LOVE GUN.
RP
Agreed. Got one letter wrong and it was that G. Total guess.
knew GIRAUDOUX, and in retrospect GAHAN sounds familiar but i wouldn’t have got it without at least three of the crossing letters. i guess it’s a good day to know the names of french writers. giraudoux is not somebody i learned from french class but from studying postmodern drama in college.
agree that the NW was really really hard.
I dunno, GIRAUDOUX just looks french more than other initial letters. Or maybe it was hanging out in the back of my brain. I liked the VEGETARIAN PIZZA. Missed on loonier instead of LOOPIER, but I’m happy I figured Holder must be an attorney instead of a football player.
Shouldn’t 19a be ASG? (Kidding…)
NW was a killer! Actually had to google a couple of things. I hate it when that happens.
@Rex : maybe supernumeraries are extras, who would hold spears in some biblical epic? Does seem a little far fetched…
For 17A, I think the quote is “Step the meek fowls…”, not owls…Either way, fun puzzle. Vegetarian pizza is awesome. Also, I enjoyed learning about the MIT Mystery Hunt. It sounds like fun! Lots of obscure names (for me) so thank god for Google! I don’t get supernumerary props, either…Though I’ll buy @Nanpilla’s explanation (Google mostly brings up the whole third nipple thing)
Outstanding! I look forward to the MWF BEQ’s even more than the NYT.
Ditto on 32A/33D, but I like to work through the alphabet until I get the “Congratulations! pencil” in acrosslite.
In an opera context, “spear carriers” is a common term for the supernumeraries (non-singing extras used to fill up the stage). Google will probably help explain it.
Loved this one – nice and hard without that sadistic streak that sometimes creeps in. 🙂 I’m wondering if this grid is part of a METAPUZZLE in the upcoming Mystery Hunt!
You know you’re doing too many puzzles when you confidently put in AZO without crossings!
Didn’t we just have 30D as a clue on Wednesday?
Great puzzle!
As usual, superb job. One thought on Eric Holders. Since the plural form is Attornies General, shouldn’t the short form also be AG?
The response could be “AG is the new noun, so pluralizing that is AGS.” I think the clue and answer are just fine, btw, but it could be a very clever clue misdirection for future use? Works for me!
My bad, should be “Attorneys General.”
Guess it wasn’t Dave Mahon who sang? Miramoux sounded right, guess it’s like Miramar.
If not Wednesday (too lazy to look), then VERY recently, as it was fresh in my mind. Thought it was killer clever in that puzz, clued something like “Experts on cases” or somesuch.
Hate getting here so late in the day. Earning a living can sooo interfere with puzzling. In other late breaking news, this puppy was HARD for me. Needed “Check” repeatedly, plus one google (could hear one of my prof’s saying “Giraudoux”, but had no memory of the first name and no idea how to spell the longish French name—had alphabet soup there for about half an hour).
Glad to hear that it wasn’t just me struggling in NW. Got 2D SANGRIA right off the bat, which is symptomatic of how the whole thing went. Knew the theatrical meaning of “supernumerary”, but it didn’t help a bit. Near the end, got a smile seeing 28A S_F_W. Savored the moment before filling it in, cuz it seemed sooo APT a response to a question about a Frank Sinatra movie (no offense to fans, I’m just sayin’). The big Aha! moment was me sitting there wondering “WTF ends in GEOJ?!”
BTW me too re what Rex said re the 32A/33D cross, compounded by the 23D cross.
Might just be the Guinness, but I’m not getting the kid re 19A ASG. ASIG I know, but. Enlightenment?
Ditto on the 32A/33D cross, though I should be embarrassed given how much I like Depeche Mode. 🙁
Sangria?? For breakfast??
@GG, well, hmmmm, that or a “bloody” Mary I suppose. Ah, the sacrifices we make for puzzling.
Train wreck on this one. I knew Dave Gahan, lost on the playwright, and the NW beat me down hard with the partial movie title above the playwright.
After that, the SE corner had the mystifying clues “A drone” crossing “First word, perhaps” that my mind just couldn’t parse, crossing a Kiss album I hadn’t heard of.
So a major fail for me today. Guessed letters until the combination lock finally clicked. Just so many names in there…
Oh, by the way, was a fun, challenging puzzle otherwise. Just tons of spots to trip up – If one didn’t get you, there were plenty of other mousetraps, and banana peels laid out. Much respect, especially for the other long answers.
Finally finished this one and like Doug had M instead of the G. Tough one! I got stalled in NW and handed it to my bride who sussed out ISTSSAFE which let me finish.
Hi to everyone who posted later than me. I’ve only been doing this for a while, so I don’t know if y’all are new to Brendan’s site or not, but I do remember how much it felt like I was intruding on a conversation-in-progress when I started. Glad you’re here, welcome (back, or whatever) to the conversation. As Brendan sez, share the puzz, & tell your friends about the site. BEQ is living proof that the universe is NOT ruled by the NYT.
Note to the web master: asking as a website naif, what would it take for our Blogger identities to work here? How you currently have it set up is better than Rex’s sites (no offense, RP) in that we can reply directly to other posts. But I miss my avatar.
12D I had the starting k and an e and guessed what else fits with just those two letters? “Item in a nightstand” kyjelly!