ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Sorry about the delay. Dumb technical difficulties, but I think we’re running a little bit smoother than we were this morning. Knock on wood. Love the Dr. Octagon, though, so might as well keep the YouTube embed up.
Oh, and when I say this one’s hard, it’s hard. I was in a nasty mood when I made this one (see what all the technical difficulties does to a man’s psyche?). Thought Mike Nothnagel’s puzzle in the Times this past Friday was a beauty, so I took his grid and refilled it (removing the 4 cheaters).
That is all I got for today. Back to the trenches to fight my computer. Share the puzzle. New one on Wednesday.
Fun puzzle. Originally had MAXPROTECT for 59-Across. Also thought of QUICKSLANT and SHOVELPASS. BRADYRULE was one letter short, so I knew that wouldn’t work…
That was way, way easier than nearly any Saturday NYT for me to get into, but just as hard to finish off, there were some weird answers and some that I just plain didn’t know, though I finished it, which I didn’t (by 2 squares) Saturday’s NYT. Still don’t particularly like RAISESHEEP, though I had ????ESHEEP it didn’t come to me – RAISE just seems a bit arb, though I do note it has been in the NYT. The family part of 16A just seems unnecessary too, IMO. Can’t say I care for the clue to ATRIAL – yes ATRIA are courtyards, but in its adjectival form it’s describing hearts whenever I’ve met up with it; I will confess bias in meeting up with that meaning though.
I don’t know why I also seem to be in such a bad mood this pm, JESUSSANDALS is a cool answer though, err…
Yikes!! Brendan, promise that you’ll never use your powers for evil. This one shredded my brain. An hour in and I still don’t have jack, much less applejack, up in NE. There’s stuck, then there’s google-it stuck, and then there’s “OMG I actually have to use Reveal stuck”, which I hardly ever resort to any more. But… my cheat on APPLEJACK got me NE. Finally.
@Gareth, me too re ATRIAL. I was experiencing fibrillations by the time I accepted that one.
Brendan, only one rational cavil. The singular clue at 19A wants a singular ROTOR, no?
Creative Solving Strategies Du Jour. 25D HAD to be “Angel”, so I erased one of those bothersome little black squares so it would fit. Same on 43A, which HAD to be pension. Osso buco at 50A also needed an extra square drawn on that side, but, ta-da! Desperate hours call for desperate measures.
Almost forgot. I thought EEE was a laptop model manufactured by ASUS Intl. No?
This puts you in the running for Satan-hood. Yeesh. Took forever but it was a fun ride.
Like Dinsdale Piranha, you’re a cruel man but fair, more or less. Didn’t quite feel like you were nailing my head to the floor with this one, but 27 minutes ended up extending my lunch break a bit.
NW was stubborn as heck for some reason even though I got 19A pretty early on, and 4D would have been a gimme too if I hadn’t taken far too long figure out that the obvious answer DID give an easy solution to 1A.
52A actually ended up being a bit of a gimme, though I had to fill a couple crosses before I really trusted my first guess. You get a star for that one, crabby or not.
Hey man,
Thanks for the kudos. Very nice, this grid.
MN
Dude, two words: MacBook Pro. With Parallels, so you can run CCW. OK, technically that’s nine words. But still.
Yieeee. Someone find where my brain rolled, get a spatula and please scoop it right back into my melon. Thanks.
The beatdown in this one came from words, terms, and, well, plenty of stuff I just plain never saw before in every section. I’m still completely kicking myself for not figuring out 52-A sooner.
Nice one.
Nobody commented on the clues for 45A and 47A???? Zowie, the best-original-clue award for these!! Not to see “EEE” clued by the shoe size, and “high and outside” which just had to be baseball, right? This totally rocked, although Google got a major workout. You gotta get grumpy more often. Thank you!
I had a bad computer day yesterday also, but getting through this puzzle made it better. Thanks.
Hey, who needs CCW? Get CrossFire for the Mac!
Sorry to hear about the computer trouble. That’s not fun at all, especially in your line of work.
Feeling more than smug. So the time is in the stratosphere…it was in one sitting and the puzzle was correctly completed. You are a brilliantly twisted young man. Bravo! Kept trying to stick in AMARILLO instead of AFCSOUTH. But it wouldn’t stick.
LOL…and wanted OOOO for ICAN as in “Mr. Kotter, Oo! Oo!”
correct. that clue will need tweaking if you want to reuse this puzzle.
Had to finish this one at a Christmas party this afternoon. Did not know the tree, the SF classic, or the conciliatory synonym. Fortunately, party goers knew the tree and the SF and I could fill in the rest. Tough puzzle!!