ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ MACHINE SHOP]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ MACHINE SHOP]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. (I think the dead guy in the movie still up above said that).
Announcement: For those who might be disappointed in seeing that today’s blog puzzle is an easy one, fear not. I have tomorrow’s New York Times puzzle and the test solvers have told me it’s brutally nasty. Near-Saturday-ish level. So, you’ve been warned. I’ll post the puzzle here when it goes live tonight. Feel free to comment on either puzzle below.
Update:The Times puzzle is here.
Request: Sterling is putting out a greatest hits of mine (including previously published puzzles from “Time Out New York” as well as some from this blog). I’m in the middle of putting said manuscript together now. If anyone feels strongly that a certain puzzle should be included in the batch, let me know in the comments section. Thanks.
Share the puzzle. Times puzzle later on today. New blog puzzle on Friday.
Are you sure this one’s easy? I tried doing it Downs only, but had to peek at some Across clues in order to finish.
V. easy. Had one of those moments w/ HP LOVECRAFT where I KNEW it w/ no crosses, or rather I knew that I knew it, but Could Not Remember It … so I refused to go on until my brain dredged it up. I could picture books, pulps, etc., but the name was just … gone. And then it wasn’t. Nice work. There appear to be answer length indicators in a couple of the clues, btw.
rp
I got the theme answers easy enough, but this pretty much *was* a Thursday time for me (8:30), so to think that your puzzle tomorrow is going to be even more difficult… I shiver with anticipation of the challenge.
On the whole, I think this one was a great puzzle.
That’s what an easy puzzle ought to be. Solid and entertaining, with your basic theme, well-executed. Other than hanging up on the Phil Hartman character name, pretty smooth sailing.
For tomorrow, I just have to remember that your NYTimes puzzles will probably feature fewer curses and drug references…
Great puzzle. Just watched my first Dino Jr video. Nice pizazz in the middle. Liked GATEWAY and HP, which reminded of a recent t-shirt on woot:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/wootsaleimages/Cthulhu_BBQx8oDetail.png
Fun puzzle.
The only remarkable thing in solving it was that after getting EIRE and UNIV I had _IN______ for the alt-rock band and started putting in NINEINCHNAILS. When I realized this was too long I figured it was 9INCHNAILS, which aside from still being wrong fit perfectly and suggested there’d be a bunch of numbers in the puzzle.
re. greatest hits: Out on a Limb (I think it was called — a Friday SUN).
The phrase “Apple pie order” is/was a complete unknown to me, so I had to work hard to get the answer. Otherwise, I either knew everything else or could infer the answers from the crosses. Made me feel pretty clever 🙂
I loved seeing all those Z’s. I love Z’s – my dog’s name is Zane and my cat’s name is Zelda.
I didn’t consider it easy either it was closer to moderate for me. Loved seeing DINOSAUR JR and PBJ with an ADJ in the puzzle seemed right. No real problems just steady progress through the puzzle from the top, down.
It wasn’t “easy” (like the one two weeks ago), but with lots of snap. A good ol’ “BEQ easy”.
Had AETNA at 2-D (not connecting the “wing” slogan to anything else) and that made the northwest all wrong from the git go.
Then saw the HPL… forming in the top center and thought, “uh-oh, here we go again”. Likewise when 32-D wanted to end in …RJR. The ol’ face-palm came to the rescue, though.
This was a really awesome puzzle.
This seemed like a medium-challenging Wed. to me. Did not know DINOJR or the NBA guy so I was guessing in SE. Fine puzzle, solid theme well excuted!
Easier than your hard puzzles, but no runaway timewise. At least I’m consistant. Average time 30 mins. Enjoyed it. A drunk solve, so fun and no frustration!
OK BEQ, I sincerely hope you realize that your puzzles are the PERFECT complement for the NYT, and are massively appreciated M-Tu_Wed, especially.
Popeye
Now, if you’re lookin’ for an easy BEQ, look no further than the Thursday NYT. Who said it was Saturday-tough? It was like a tough Wednesday or easy Thursday, if you ask me.
Today’s (meaning, tomorrow’s) NYT went into Friday-Saturday time for me, even though the fill seemed like a Wednesday-Thursday. The “Aha! moments” were inspired and inspiring.
So I agree with both your test solvers and Will Shortz that this was not a Friday or Saturday but, with your fair warning, this was not your grandfather’s Wednesday. The combo of peppy fill and supremely clever clues kinda bridges a strange gap that must have been hard to peg for Will.
I would’ve pegged this as a Thursday-Friday but, then again, having such a delicious meal on hump day is so satisfying.
5 stars for this Wednesday if I could rate it.
A bit of a side note now follows:
That being said, BEQ, I must know something and will simply die if I don’t. Looking at the grid, is this puzzle your response to my challenge as issued here:
http://blatherreview.mu.nu/archives/cat_crosswords.html#290118 ?
I remember that you aknowledged the challenge, yet we haven’t seen such a grid yet. If this is what grew out of your answer to the challenge then you have done an excellent job. If this is not it, then may we still await the proper answer to the challenge?
Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂
“Easy”, Amy?
I, like the erstwhile “public editor” of the New York Times, keep a record of my solving times on all the major daily/weekly puzzles. And I circle the one’s that I think deserve special recognition just ‘cuz maybe, one day, I’ll do a “best of…” post.
I circled this one as soon as I was done.
It wasn’t the toughest, it didn’t have a gimmick and it had two or three obscure answers (obscure references are okay, obscure fill, not so much) but — and, unfortunately, to paraphrase Sandra Bullock’s character in her latest bad decision — it sparkled like a tiara. (Even though the Downs in the middle section were, relatively, brutal.)
i thumb my nose at you.
1/4 of my test solvers said it was a medium, and the others said it was easy. Hard to please everybody.
Nothing worse than those stubborn entries that you simply cannot walk away from even though you know you know it.
Thanks.
Thanks man.
Strange t-shirt.
That’d be a weird rebus.
That’s a great one, alas Peter owns the copyright on that one.
Right on Whitney. One of my friend’s daughter is named Zoe Zavracky. Talk about your Z’s.
J’s are fun to work in grids as well.
See now, here’s the problem. When 3/4ths of my test solvers tell me it’s probably the easiest I’ve ever made, I feel pretty good about it.
Now I was told by those in the know that today’s Times puzzle was really hard, and I heard that Dan Feyer solved it in just over three minutes.
I guess it takes all kinds.
Hey Popeye. I didn’t you realize you were on the blog! Hope to see more of you.
C’mon now.
No. Today’s Times puzzle was independent of that post. It’s extremely rare for me to make a themed puzzle with the grid pattern decided upon before constructing.
I still like that challenge. Might be nigh-impossible.
Don’t listen to Amy braggadocio. She’s a savant.
Great NYT puzzle!! Some of the fill was tough, but once I got THE BEATLESS, the rest of the theme entries came easily…except for that second one…had MOSSI going down, and no idea about the now-infamous 25&26D…so I spent a few minutes thinking of various ASS gerunds! But, ULTIMO-ately, it was gettable. =)
As for 63A…that was just so corny & cheesy that it made me LOL, which I’m sure was your intention all along…right? (please say yes)
Fun surprise to see your NYT byline today. Laugh-out-loud moments. Not easy, and not lame.
In a collection, I’d vote for “Superhero Rejects.”
I think you should include the Rickroll puzzle in the collection. Or do I fundamentally misunderstand the nature of books?
I posted this puzzle in response to Spork’s challenge: http://is.gd/3DS8V
So it’s doable, but hard … and the results I (ok, my computer) got aren’t all that pretty.
Had the exact same experience with HP Lovecraft… I’d love to see CTULHU in a crossword, BTW, especially a syndicated one where those who’d never heard of it could stare at the paper convinced that there has to be something, somewhere filled in wrong for such a set of letters… Guessing that’s why it hasn’t appeared yet.