ACROSS LITE PUZZLE:
[ THEMELESS WEDNESDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS WEDNESDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Couple quick announcements:
- Just because there was a pattern going for a while wherein I posted Themeless Monday puzzles seemingly weekly, doesn’t mean that every single damnfool Monday will be a themeless puzzle. You know what they say about assuming. Having said that, I swear there will be at the very least one themeless puzzle a week on the blog. So, bear with me. This blog’s as much entertainment as it is a journey. Anyway, hope you like this one. I tried to make it especially tough.
- Which segues nicely into my next point: After last week’s resounding success with the as-Hard-as-advertised puzzle last Monday as well as the as-Easy-as-advertised puzzle last Wednesday, we (my test solvers and me) will be clamping down on accurately grading the puzzles. That is to say, the ratings will reflect more to the Times level of difficulty, not the previous BEQ-level difficulty. (Until recently, “Easy” meant probably a Wednesday level, and “Hard” was a crap shoot based on what trivia you knew. At least we got “Medium” right.)
- Adding onto the last point: there will be an effort of at least two dead-easy, true Monday-level puzzles each month. Feel free to either practice your speed solving, attempt them using downs-only, or as a diagramless on those days. Also: be sure to share those easy ones with the uninitiated. I mean it when I say this site really will offer something for everybody.
- I changed the titling of blog posts to reflect “CROSSWORD” in the header, as opposed to the ambiguous “PUZZLE.” Are crosswords not puzzles? Yes. But Lord knows I could have been offering metas, cryptograms, jigsaws, “What Character from ‘The Wire’?” quizzes, or other such brainteasers. Best be more specific, no?
- Speaking of other types of puzzles, thanks for all the e-mail wondering when the next cryptic is coming. I can’t say when, but I can say I have begun making it. So, the answer is “definitely eventually.”
- And finally, an item to filed under the “scene points” category. I just made a custom puzzle for the band The Decemberists. For those who are going to see them this fall, you can check out the puzzle in their tour book. In what may be funny only to me: though they were impressed that I’ve made puzzles for the New York Times since 1996, they were more impressed that I made a crossword for Paste Magazine. (FTW!)
Share the puzzle. New one on Friday.
This puzzle was a bear for me but a thrill to finish. I didn’t get far into it before shutting off the timer as I wasn’t sure I’ve ever get ‘er done. Had to do the walk-away-and-come-back-later trick several times before it fell.
Lovely cluing with “Do-gooder,” “They have numbers and letters,” “18 – 21,” and “Hanky.” So much forehead pounding and head scratching mis-direction! Changing the first name of the “Cloud Shepherd” sculptor to the one he only used whilst in Germany really threw me off for a while.
Tough but fair. I love these puzzles, BEQ.
Great puzzle, although I did have to submit about 13 different letters in the 25-square to get the correct solution.
NW was a work of art. NE was the toughest for me. Guessing PFCHANGS was the seed. Typo alert in the clue for 25-D.
This indeed merited “hard”, particularly the NW for me. Like Peter I had IBAR and TBAR before SLEZAK finally came to mind. More amusingly, I had FATALISTS for 33A for a long time (ELESCO sounds as good as ENESCO to me), making 8D ending in F really tough to see.
Things that made me slap myself in hindsight: 19A and 61D. How can I keep falling for these same (well-hidden) misdirections time after time? And I thought of every meaning of “sharp” except the right one for 4D.
CANTLE? ENESCO? HANS ARP? JEN Lindley? All new to me, and I thought it was HANSARP, not Jean Arp’s alternate name. And Enesco could also be Enescu. Damn Europeans….
Definitely a true hard, although some of the proper names (Geldof, Slezak, and the Tegrin/Tardis) crossing caused the biggest problems. But, then again, I shouldn’t complain when I get the LEX Diamonds gimme. I also loved 33A, particularly as I’m listening to Mastodon while solving this puzzle.
It really was a bear. You shoulda seen the first pass. Whew.
PF CHANGS as the seed is correct.
Fixed the typo a couple hours ago.
A few too many tough names, I’ll give you that.
Mastodon + BEQ puzzle = A+
My biggest problems were confidently writing in JEAN ARP and ENESCU on the first run through the clues, had to go to the aids to find out what I was missing there.
My class starts on crosswords tomorrow… I might go back to Monday’s for the first one to run by them for solving!
Slightly ashamed to say that JEN was the first entry I could get. Only “slightly” because I never saw the show, but still know that was Michelle Williams’s character. Has PACEY been in any crosswords?
“Hard” was a crap shoot based on what trivia you knew.” Well in this case, definitely. I filled it in 14 min., about the time of a normal Saturday NYT, but it didn’t come up solved, so I had to spend two minutes trying to figure out which was the wrong answer. Always hard with propers. To my chagrin, it was 24A. I could picture him in my mind but that middle letter had me stumped. I-BAR? T-BAR? C-BAR? Other than that, it was a pretty smooth solve for me, just the difficulty level I like.
Cool news about the Decemberists. Colin Meloy being such a wordplay maven in his lyrics, it kinda fits.
Cool puzzle! I knew most of the names, so it wasn’t too tough. One thing I’ve learned from BEQ puzzles: all rappers must have a crazy alias or two.
This one left me in the dust not a chance of finishing this one unaided. The names completely did me in even with knowing the sports figures and GELDOF.
Yep, a hard one. I don’t think I’ve had ROAST HAM, usually I see baked ones. DIVAC is new, I don’t know that SLEZAK. I had the heavy metallists as FATALISTS for a short while. I was very happy to see the TARDIS in there.
The Decemberists did one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, in Boston last year. I recommend the Crane Wife album. Did you have any influence in getting their tour to start in Orono?
I freaking LOVE Mastodon (and BEQ puzzles)! Had to get that off my chest…
PS “Remission” and “Leviathan” are both 9 letters….just sayin’
You amaze me once again. I thought I had no chance of finishing this one after the first few passes. But, I stuck with it and finished error free. (It helped that SLEZAK was somewhere in the back of my head.) Kudos on a very tough but ultimately doable puzzle!