ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ KEEPING IT SHORT]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ KEEPING IT SHORT]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Seems like the “Crossword is dead” essay was a success; people as far as Australia were retweeting the post . I was humbled. Hat tip to the Visual Thesaurus who gave it a teensy bit of polish and promptly reposted it here.
Also, thanks to all who shared not only their demographic, but also their solving experiences/histories/etc. That was completely engaging reading. Please keep it up! And to all those who are printing it out, print out a couple extra copies and share them with your friends. Seems like you might be carrying around printouts, anyway. BTW: whoever said they hook their computer up to a TV and group-solve with their friends, shoot me an e-mail if you need a professional recommendation for anything.
Speaking of recommendation, Alex Boisvert (part-time puzzlemaker and full-time commenter on this blog) wrote an outstanding program that automatically downloads all the day’s Across Lite files for all the major markets with just one click. Program’s called OMNI and you can download it here. (Also, thanks to Alex for including me in that download list.)
And lastly, I was a guest on Ryan and Brian’s latest podcast which went live yesterday. Link for that baby is here. It’s all entertaining, but if you just want to get the stuff about me, my bit starts at 19:15. One personal observation: All those hours of NBA playoffs must have had an adverse effect on me. Is it just me or do I share the same speech inflections of Hubie Brown?
Enjoy the puzzle. New one on Friday.
Thought this was easy until I hit the S / SW. Slowed down. Last letter was “R” in NHRA (hate it, never can remember what the initials are) and CPR (very nice clue – wondered briefly what a CPA had to do with “chest-pounding”). Too much horror-show fill in this one for my taste (LESSEE, ALIENEE, EVERTS), but theme answers rule.
rp
terrif clue for CPR. great theme answers. w/ rex on LESSEE, ALIENEE, but no matter–excellent puzzle. you’re hitting your stride man.
for Rex — dragsters are “Hot Rods”, thus NHRA.
All in all, loved it. Especially liked cluing for 1D, 25S, and 62A.
(Got 53A without the crosses, a name I’ve only seen in crosswords, but it’s been years since I’ve seen it. Nice that I remembered it.)
Oh, and any reference to European soccer is always appreciated 🙂
Pretty solid; I only gave it 3 stars due to some of the fill, but I liked the theme a lot. Too, the BAZAAR/ZAGREB/STBEDE crossing was inspired (and inspiring).
If I hadn’t been sure 15-Across was ALU, things would have gone a lot smoother.
Nice misdirect on medallions and CPR clue was masterful.
Liked seeing BEDE.
EDIFY, not so much.
Spirits are difficult to “edify.”
Glad to see you emphasize the bad. 😛
Naw, it’s all good.
Thanks dude. It’s definitely been a decent week so far.
I’m slowly getting into European soccer… so maybe more of that to come?
Jeez, tough crowd with the fill. At least some of it was inspired.
Fair nuff.
oh forgot to mention I got the N and the J in 1-A and immediately filled in GANJA. stumped me in the NW for a couple minutes. 🙂 It would have been SUCH a BEQ puzzle to put that at 1-across, too.
One google to help me finish it in my time allotted was for GABE, otherwise perfect difficulty for me. Since it’s been a tough crowd, I’m leaving you with good vibes and love. Thanks for Iggy he is the father of all that punk/emo and Steve Jones would be the first to admit that.
Thanks for the link, Brendan!
How much does this “full-time commenter” job pay?
What puzzle are you doing?
Now’s as good a time as any for this stellar YouTube: http://is.gd/1Aejy
The pay’s bad, but the benefits are impressive.
Okay, I waited till the end of the day to see if anyone would post a slower time than me but I guess it ain’t happening. Maybe the real pokes are ashamed to admit it. Or maybe I stumbled into a site where everyone else is better than me. Could be…
Anyway, I’m loving these puzzles since I recently found them. I think it was thru a link at Orange’s blog. Today’s was beautiful with a gettable theme that broke the code and made the solving easier for me, I also appreciated that it had fewer current pop culture refs than a usual BEQ. But hey, where else than a crossword do you come across Iggy Pop and Skinnay Ennis in the same discussion?
My final letter was the T in ONAUTO, “Working by itself.” I looked at ONAU_O for the longest time thinking it was three words “ON A U_O” and couldn’t imagine how being on a UFO or something could mean what Brendan was saying it meant.
D’oh. The was a hearty forehead slap when the Aha! moment finally arrived.
Thanks, Brendan.
it sounds like the wednesday NYT. i know that 1-across.
Solving with friends around the TV is a blast. Although, I sometimes don’t enjoy being the one in control of the typing because that person gets to decide whether or not someone’s bogus answer actually makes it into the grid.
We usually only solve the weekend puzzles (or a BEQ) because solving Monday’s/Tuesday’s etc.. only leads to everyone shouting out all the answers at once and the typer doesn’t even get to read a clue.
It’s not your typical college activity (haha) but it has become a weekly tradition among my friends.
Jonathon
Good to see GABE Kapler (former Red Sox) and Freddy ADU (even though he’s not quite as big-time in US Soccer as people once thought he would be–how about working in his teammate, Jozy Altidore?) Those are good crossword names, funny we don’t see them more often.
PS Thought Adu played for Benfica? When did he move to Monaco?
Hubie Brown , language butcher, can use the word “you” to refer to 5 or 6 different entities in the same sentence. You don’t. Major difference.
Don’t be discouraged by the Leaderboard. That’s some of the best of the best (and I can think of another 10 people who don’t put their times up there — yet). Glad you’re on board. Share the puzzle!
Next time you do this, send me a photo of y’all solving the puzzle and I’ll post it on the site.
Bonus points if y’all are drinking shit beer whilst solving it too.
Looks like he does play for Benefica. Sorry about that.
Now I like what KarmaSartre is doing here. You like to solve puzzles, that’s a given. You have a computer and sometimes you want to go out there and try some other kinds of crosswords that you don’t normally see in the New York Times or other places like that. Fine. You might go to a place like my website and try the puzzles there. Now when you go to a website like this you know that you’re going to find a certain caliber of puzzle there. You know there’s going to be some kind of indie rock references. You know there’s going to be some sports references. You know there’s going to be some kind of ramble that accompanies the puzzle. Fine. That’s part of the deal with a website like this. Now, say you like the puzzle or the spiel that so much you might be inclined to post some sort of bon mot in the comments section. At least you are given the option of that kind of pontification. And let me just say that I like what KarmaSatre is doing right here.
Brendan, excellent! Can you do a Mark Jackson as well? Just start out with something like “If I’m Minnesota, you put Nowitzki on your bigs….”
I have to agree with that statement that Brendan Emmett Quigley is a starter on my all-time crossword team. Now, if I’m Will Shortz, you have to put your superstar constructors in the mix. Liz Gorski, David J. Kahn, these constructors need to step up. Now nobody is going to touch what Patrick Berry is bringing to the table. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it doesn’t matter what day, Patrick Berry is going to make masterpieces at will. Liz Gorski needs to man up and say, hey, not in my house are you going to get to push me around like. So the question becomes are they in the discussion for all-time, I say yes.
Win.
Think you can do a crossword in the style of Mark Jackson or Hubie Brown? I’m guessing the clues would not fit in the allotted space.
Hmm… Maybe if the word count was like 52?
Adu is property of Benfica, but was on loan at Monaco all last season (08-09). He’s training with Benfica at present, but it’s probably as likely as not that he gets loaned out again this year.
an English Premier League theme would be most excellent…but only if it revolves around Liverpool! Go Reds!
You nailed him. Very funny.
awesome. i was literally chuckling out loud (LCOL).
Portability is great. I started this one in the dentist’s office and finished it on the golf course waiting behind a slow threesome two groups in front of us. Excellent puzzle, can’t believe you went with Ogden Nash at 14a. I wonder if Will would do something like that?