ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Seems like Friday’s episode of “Behind the Puzzle” was a success, so I’ve decided to reprise it today. So for those that wish to know nothing about the puzzle consider this a spoiler alert again. Only today, I’m not going to pull a prank and wax philosophic about a phony entry. Instead I will do a quick ramble about what’s going on in my life.
Miraculously, we got the condo. I was a little bit shellshocked at the whole situation. Partly because I couldn’t imagine that I’d ever be a homeowner. But mostly because I honestly didn’t think the bank was going to let us have the mortgage. And the thing was it wasn’t our fault. We had all the paperwork to support, well, pretty much everything. It was all those imbeciles (and I’m putting that lightly) that work at the bank whose name rhymes with “Fit is inns.” It was a horror show, and from what I gather, it’s not a unique situation. I guess I can laugh at it now, but for a while it was looking touch and go.
So we’ve begun to sell all our furniture. Partly because we didn’t want to physically move the couches, the dining room table, etc. But mostly because they’re too big for the new place. So hello, Craig’s List. I threw the stuff up yesterday thinking it would take about a month to finally unload everything. WRONG! Looks like the majority, of, well, everything I’ve posted will be sold within a day or two. All we got left is the bed and the desk. Which is all great, except we don’t move into the new place for another month. Where the hell am I going to sit while I watch the NBA playoffs? I mean, I guess we’re going to get all Buddhist and (literally) minimalist for a while. But this is ridiculous.
So, about the puzzle. I found the basis for this theme answer in “Word Circus,” a book by Richard Lederer. He’s an all-around word nerd/cunning linguist and his stuff makes for a good source for material every now and again. I dunno if Will Shortz read his stuff or not, but aparently, this theme was the answer to one of Will’s NPR puzzles. Needless to say, I really think the title ties the whole thing together nicely. Without patting myself on the back too much, I was pretty happy with how this one turned out.
There’s really not much you can do with three 13 letter entries, though I was a little lucky with getting I CANT WAIT spanning the three entries. It also blocked off the corners into nice 3x and 4×7 corners. So 72 words it was. The slanted squares in the middle meant my job was a lot easier to make the long entries in the NE and SW corners fun. I’m torn as to whether or not VOIP is worth anything. Though lately we’ve been using Skype, so, like I said, I’m torn. It’s a legit entry, but I wonder if anyone knows what it stands for or means.
I’ve been concerned that the puzzles have been a little too hard lately, so I wanted to make sure this was an easier one, so I eased up on the clues. Let me tell you, it’s hard to make a good easy puzzle. Anyway, I’m surprised nobody’s gone with the David Bowie song for STARMAN, but you know me, so can you blame me? And you’d be surprised how many times TSONGAS comes up. You wouldn’t think so, but it seems lately I’ve had ole’ Paul’s name appear in some of my more recent grids. Yuck. Happy to link that entry with ARENA to give it some new spice.
All right. That’s enough for now. Share your thoughts if you’d like (y’all have been especially chatty lately). New puzzle on Wednesday.
VoIP = “voice over internet protocol” is a technology for converting voice conversations (i.e. telephone calls) into data packets similar to those used for e-mail, web-browsing and other common Internet-based applications.
Once converted into “IP” the voice traffic can be run over the public internet or over a private network (e.g. Comcast cable service) making it much cheaper than using traditional telephone technology to carry the traffic.
Besides being cheaper for the carrier (and therefore enabling cheaper telephone bills for consumers) it also enables new applications such as delivering voice mail as an e-mail message.
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v nice puz although “temp directory” felt a tad contrived. was nice to have one that didn’t make me pull my hair out for a change! loved “alter kitty” although I expect kitty didn’t.
I’d have to disagree. As an IT guy who’s done support at a non-profit and for government, the sentence “did you save it to your temp directory?” is firmly embedded in my repertoire of possible fixes, although admittedly not as common as “is the machine turned on?”. 😉
Lederer is highly entertaining. Here’s the page BEQ is talking about:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wHlHFp9zG1wC&pg=PA240&lpg=PA240&dq=lederer+temp+temper+tempest&source=bl&ots=0051EBbaEJ&sig=dKd_ytWjD2sUCeUEyg1bfjlZZl8&hl=en&ei=drXsSbWCJaKwMdmUxNAF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
Lederer doesn’t mention this but all three share the same root of tempus (Latin for “time”).
Lederer’s a Concord native, if memory serves.
I always love your fills, Brendan, but this grid felt especially lively. And as New Englanders, my friend Matt and I were both happy to have TSONGAS ARENA as a gimme.
Rock on with your bad self.
I say VOIP is fair game. I’ve never done it, but heard of it mucho.
I’m not understand how “dope but not a dolt” = “info”. Is this slang or a reference I don’t know?
“Dope” is another word for information (so’s poop!)
Met Lederer a few times at a Mohonk Words Weekend. He loves an audience and kept the dinner table regaled. Will was there too. Lederer’s two kids are into professional poker, and daddy is too, to a lesser extent.
VOIP seemed fair to me, along with the Skype/EBAY connection. It was wonderful to have free communication options when my daughters studied abroad.
Dead last, not surprisingly, on the time, sigh. Can’t get the cursor on line to be as cooperative as a PENcil’s business end, the eraser. Didn’t know skype was an ebay production, definitely know temp directory for no good reason. Loved TEMPESTTOSSED! And “alter kitty,” though with ethan on that one re kitty. Nice to see “hissy” (fit) in the clue instead of the answer. Crossworld is a very lively place with all those words for fits and cries and upsets–ados, settos, hissies, howls, ohnos, egads, etc.
The O in INFO was the last letter I put in, with a smile. That dope. Ok!
“CHANGES” / MAGNA killed me in the NW. Otherwise, great fun.
nice ambivalence on AIR POWER (originally had AIR FORCE, fixed by VOIP) and WETNAPS (originally had WET WIPE, fixed by SRS)
Btw, the completion message appeared when I still had two blank squares and one incorrect letter–not sure if that’s a bug in the Java program or what.
Also, as a little bit of additional trivia, Richard Lederer is also the father of Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, two of the most famous poker players in the world.
16 across murdered me. For some reason I never seem to get the answers when they’re broken up into words like that. Thank God someone wrote it on-line with a space in the answer or I’d still be scratching my head.
That said, this was a bit easier than usual. Thanks for the mercy.
Lederer is also an active member of the American Mensa Society.
Sadly, I like the Spice Girls (poke fun all you want), and I still took forever getting that clue. I just could not make it work in my head. It was the last thing I filled in. Hate it when a ‘gimmie’ ends up being my last fill like that. DOH.
And here I was, thinking that I was just getting better at putting myself on the BEQ wavelength, and here you go, saying that you’re making the puzzles a little easier. Actually, I’ve been getting them for the last month, and, as always, I’m digging them (it’s the Onion one that killed me). I’m still an amateur, so all the “new” fills are great, and since I’m moderately young, I even know some of them without crosses. (Though VOIP was new and MELANGE was old.)
I thought this was a themeless till I got here… it is 72 words after all. In a way disappointed that wasn’t harder, but still amazing to haved a themed 72 puzzle that’s so easy and so neat and still has tons of sparkly entries to boot… In retrospect actually one of the best crosswords I’ve seen recently.
Re “Starman” I think the problem for an American audience is it’s a 36 year-old song that charted at #65 (per Wikipedia) and it’s a brave constructor who sends something like that in… Complete gimme for me as a fellow Bowie fan, though.
TEMP DIRECTORY might be a little on the PC-side of things. I couldn’t imagine doing IT for the government though. I once had a shit job at the Department of Unemployment and Training, and well, it was a soul-crushing job in more ways than one.
Gotta love that non-wraparound Amazon link.
Thanks Dan. By the way, saw your stuff in Wired yesterday. As usual, I haven’t the faintest idea how to even begin solving one of your puzzles.
We’ve been using that to talk with Liz’s folks, and let me just say, the technology is kind of amazing. Sure, we’re talking to a screen, but it does feel like we’re in the same room, even though were 3000 miles away. Yay technolgy! Are we in the future yet?
Hardly dead last. Tons of people haven’t shown their stuff and been brave enough to put their times up there.
Hmm… interesting. Totally unplanned for ambiguity. Suddenly gave me an idea for a puzzle… Developing.
I was unaware that the Java things being dodgy, but will look into that. Thanks for solving.
Good to know. While we’re here, I understand that the “E” in “ESPN” stands for “Entertainment,” so I guess all those World Series of Poker shows fit under that umbrella. Would people stop calling poker players athletes, please? Thanks!
The captain has turned off the “mercy” sign. (Naw, just teasing. Thanks for the solve.)
Who doesn’t like the Spice Girls?
You know, difficulty and these puzzles is such a variable measurement. I mean, The Dan got TSONGAS ARENA probably immediately because he used to live in the Greater-Boston area. Sometimes things line up on the hard side, and others on the easy.
Thanks for the kind words Gareth. Feel free to share the puzzle with anybody.
“Starman” is classic-rock radio fodder. #65 on the charts be damned!
Once again, a great puzzle. I was mildly (but only mildly) disappointed that the clue to 22D didn’t have a beet in it as a shout-out to Rex Parker. After getting the two lower long acrosses, I was convinced the one up top would be two words starting with T. I was wrong. That took a while for my brain to accept. 1A hung me up for a while because I really wanted to Roar rather than Howl. I’m howling now, and I believe I’ll go put on Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, since you have me in the mood. Thanks again for a fine mental workout, amigo! — jesser in NM
@jesser,
For the record, I disavow any and all affiliation with the red-root-vegetable-that-shall-not-be-named. Please don’t confuse me with my commenters.
BEQ, can’t wait to see what puzzle concept could possibly have come out of my “CHANGES” / MAGNA debacle.
You’re welcome Jesser. And as much as RP is “my boy,” no unnecessary shout outs unless I deem them neccessary. Am I an ass for not loving “Diamond Dogs?”
RP: You know, I can’t wait for that puzzle concept as well. I forgot to write the damnfool thing down! Hopefully it comes back to me.
Hi again —
@RP: Mea culpa, sir. (But I still think it would’a been funny.)
@BEQ: The great thing about Bowie is all the phases to love, hate or be meh-ed by. He lost me for a time there around the Let’s Dance era, but I’m still in awe of his collaboration with Giorgio Moroder for the Cat People soundtrack. You get a pass for passing on Diamond Dogs. Arf.
As I told RP in an email to him, I get the NYT in such a delayed fashion (today, we in NM got to solve the March 17 puzzle) that it makes no sense to post on his blog (although I’d love to be part of that odd beet-infested community). Therefore, to be able to make timely comments on your site makes me so happy that my toes actually wiggle when I start typing. Of course, it goes without saying (he said) that I got the link to your site from RP’s blog. You guys are my cruciverbalist Gods.
I believe I will shut up now. The little piggies are tired from so much dancing.
I was in a reading circle where we listened to Bowie’s lifework in sequential order, one album a week. By the time I got to “Pin Ups” and “Diamond Dogs” I was all set with the proto-metal/glam.
Nice. “Developing”!
I was fine with VOIP and know that it stands for voice something Internet something. Are you concerned about VOIP because you feel it’s a newish technology that not many people know about yet? Or do you think it’s a faddish technology that will quickly become obselete (or only be known by brand-name examples such as Skype)?