ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ LEAN ON ME]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ LEAN ON ME]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Looks like I have today’s puzzle in The New York Times today. Can’t embed it for copyrighting reasons, but for those who are subscribers to their crossword, you can get it here.
I also have the puzzle on Visual Thesaurus today, but since it’s a subscription-only service, you’ll have to settle for the link here.
Just going to throw it out there: I wrote this puzzle at a bar. Now mind you, I’m not trying to paint this overly-dramatic picture of the tortured artist, belly up at the bar, agonizing over each and every word — some weird combination of Will Shortz meets Tom Waits meets Ernest Hemingway. No, nothing that outrageous. I just had to get out and get a nightcap. But I also had deadlines with making some puzzles. So, armed with an India Pale Ale in one hand and a laptop in the other, I went to work.
For a while, maybe ten years ago, I made almost all of my crosswords at coffee shops. The tools I used at the time were nothing more complicated than word lists, pencil stubs and graph paper. Impossible to think that was how it was once done now that we’re all digital, but believe me that’s how we all did it for years. The cool thing about that setup was it was very, very portable, allowing me to work in various places around the (Greater) Boston area. It got me out the house, and frankly, I loved calling various cafés “my office.”
The whole time I was doing this, I was convinced that other people also in the coffee shop were going to notice that I was scribbling something that looked like I was making a crossword, and come over to have a conversation about it. I can safely say that it never happened. Not once. I’m still kinda shocked, because … me? I cannot help but notice what everybody else is doing in the coffee shop.
That’s right, I’m looking at you, Wannabe Hipster Chick Who’s Trying Too Hard To Look Like Karen O. I see you’re pretending to read “Atlas Shrugged,” and making sure everybody notices you reading it, even though everybody knows no one really reads Ayn Rand for fun, just for showing off. And yes, I’m pointing right at you, Mr. I Used to Be Somebody Once on My High School Lacrosse Team. How do I know that’s your name? It’s because you’re broadcasting this fact to all the other patrons at a volume level that can be heard from across the street. Nobody cares what your save percentage was no matter how loud you’re talking.
But nobody paid attention to me, dammit! Maybe I’m a little too egotistical about that. But, maybe they were noticing and they all called me The Freaky Dude Scribbling Some Weird Possibly Crossword Looking Shit on Graph Paper Sitting in the Corner Drinking Way Too Much Coffee. I probably would have called myself that. I guess this is a meaningless tangent as I never spoke to the lacrosse dude or Karen O. It’s a two-way street, conversations. I never chatted with them, and vice versa.
Well, anyway, when I was at the bar making this puzzle, once again, nobody bothered me. Somewhat annoying, as I’m still waiting for the time when somebody strikes up a conversation about the process of puzzlemaking they just couldn’t help but I notice I was doing whilst drinking. But believe me when I say it is interesting trying to write puzzles while having a pint or four. Kinda relaxes me a bit. I’m not as critical about each entry. And then, with each additional pint, all of a sudden, I become completely indestructable. Every, and I mean every entry is fucking King Shit, boy. Crap seven letter partial ONE INS A (“Last ___ rotten egg!”) to hold the thing together? Right on! Who cares that GFESDES isn’t a legitimate entry nor a word in any language, it allows for an amazing corner with, count ’em six jaw-dropping crossing entries! Double-plus right on!
Needless to say, the next morning, there’s a lot of clean up to do.
Anyway, for those that might be interested in my band, you can see a brief piece about us from a local TV news show at the start of this clip. Hope you enjoy this puzzle. New one on Monday.
Mr. Quigley, in my rather limited experience, I find that folks in the Northeast just don’t talk to strangers. I happen to talk to strangers all the time, but only in situations where not talking would be rude (subway, elevators, etc.). What I find amazing is how startled most people are when you talk to them in Boston, or New York or Philadelphia.
I suspect, tho, that if you were using your graph paper and pencil stubs in Chicago or in a southern city like Birmingham or Charleston people wouldn;t be shy with their curiosity and would be more likely to ask you what in tarnation you’re doing with that there paper.
I have constructed a few puzzles, only in the confines of my home, whic was, at the time, New York City. And, guess what? My wife never asked me what I was doing. (LOL).
Congrats on the NYT puzzle! very fun. I think you mean “copyrighting” not “copywriting” though.. need a copywriter? 🙂
Nice work as usual. I learned something new with KEY ON, which was difficult to Google until I tried the past tense KEYED ON. Sports term, apparently. (Actually, I learn lots of new stuff with these puzzles but it’s usually related to pop culture, like OSHOA. Can you tell I’m not a sports person?)
Great long non-theme answers.
My only quibble is that the clue for HER CHRISTMAS felt a bit stiff. It’s a tough one: a phrase we actually use (unlike the other two) but difficult to define. Maybe “winter holiday made extra-special for the wife?”
I mean OCHOA, of course…
Any puzzle with my favorite beer in it gets my love.
Best part for me was that even once I figured out the theme, I had to get 37A by crosses. Had the whole last part (WISTOFE), and just couldn’t believe that it could possibly be correct.
And am I to understand that this Sabin fellow actually invented a vaccine against “going to third base”? The monster!
Third base was different in my neighborhood…but I like your neighborhoood better!!
Cool band, but is there a close-up of you? Didn’t they know there was a celebrity in the band??
I liked the clue for HER CHRISTMAS, but isn’t it wrong? “The wife’s in-laws” would be your parents and, so, that would be YOUR Christmas.
The addition of oral sex to the base system was a new one on me. But it’s included here so I guess I can’t complain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_metaphors_for_sex
I would argue it’s incorrect, since the concept of the base system in baseball is that you have to touch each base before you proceed to the next one, and you don’t have to have oral sex to have intercourse.
Although I guess it could be argued that you don’t have to kiss or fondle someone to have intercourse either.
Anyway, I couldn’t quite solve this one, largely because I thought 2-DOWN was POLIOVACCINE and there was something going on with 2 letters in one box.
Enjoyed both puzzles today. Thanks. As an aside, you have cracked my top 9 most visited sites on my Google Chrome. Quite a feat seeing as how I spend about 10 hours a day on the web doing work related research, and you only update 3 times a week. You and Google are the only two non-work related sites to crack the home page.
How long are your typewriter concerts? Don’t your fingers hurt after a while?
I have a question on 52across – wouldn’t the wife’s in-laws be the husbands family? Hence HIS XMAS? Or am I missing sumpin’?
GFESDES: A tribal greeting used among those who have been scoring tournament puzzles for eight consecutive hours without a break or even an intoxicating beverage.
Seems like a valid entry to me.
Ayn Rand does not make Karen O look cool. Awesome orchestra!
No one approached you and asked what you were doing because you were not a girl. When I want a nightcap and have a deadline, I—having learned my lesson—get a drink from the Bar on Top of the Fridge.
Another great puzzle. Normally I would hate you for using ORAL, not only twice, but crossing itself. But you went dirty, so it’s okay.
Where or when is “Who’s your daddy?” a cheer?