ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ WAR ON DRUGS?]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ WAR ON DRUGS?]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
When it doubt with a theme, crossword constructors can turn to the ever-reliable quip/quote/aphorism/rhetorical question/zen koan/recipe/etc. Here’s one from the ever-reliable comedian David Cross. You might know him as Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development, or one of the Mr. Show guys. While I’m doing some hyperlinking here, I’ll just throw out David’s inspired turn in this New Pornographers video.
The hard thing with making quotation puzzles is that they’re mighty limiting. For starters, the quotes got to be right up there with some of the funniest/wittiest/most introspective/apposite/salient/etc. things you’ve ever heard. Secondly, they can’t be long spiels as they have to fit into something small as a crossword. And then there’s this crossword construction rule that they’ve got to split up in some sort of a symmetrical fashion to fit into a grid.
Another puzzlemaking constraint is the so-called “breakfast rule” which I believe to be the brainchild of Merl Reagle, god-like constructor and recent guest on “The Simpsons.” The rule say that since the majority of puzzles are solved over breakfast, there can’t be anything in the puzzle that might upset the sensibilities of those eating a bagel and having a cup of coffee.
All of those rules tend to created a bit of a problem. With those kinds of constraints, quote puzzles tend to be a bit bland, a real workout for every theme entry, and generally not much of a payoff.
Thing is, genuinely hysterical jokes are the sorts of things that would spit in the face of the “breakfast rule.” Sure, maybe the dead tree editions of puzzles have to apply to that rule, but who’s to say savvy on-line solvers can’t enjoy some more off-beat material?
Enough spieling today. Enjoy this one. New puzzle on Friday.
BEQ, these files download much nicer when there are no spaces in the links. There were underscores in ‘Whipping Posts.’ For me, the pdf and the puz both downloaded as files named 002.
Oops. I mean when there are no spaces in the filenames themselves.
Good to know… I’ll fix all of them now.
want an ‘inspired turn’ by Mr. Cross?
try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgpQBaziy0
Agreed. I totally forgot the Yo La Tengo video.
He said a dirty word!
actually, the “sunday morning breakfast test” applies only to family publications, like most daily newspapers and grocery-store magazines. just depends on who you want your audience to be, and although i do push the envelope quite a bit in my sunday puzzles my target audience is still primarily “mainstream america,” so i gladly adhere to the rule. but if i were you i wouldn’t hesitate to just chuck it out the f**king window.
Dear Sir,
You owe me one bagel
Consider the rule defenestrated. I take it you didn’t do the second puzzle, Merl?
Gramster, e-mail my accountant and he’ll hook you up.
David Cross is so quotable, I say screw the symmetry and just start cramming his best lines into the grid.
From his HBO special some years back, he had that bit wondering why they sell porn mags in airports, and said he didn’t know about you, but he uses porn to masturbate—that quote probably doesn’t break up symmetrically, but it’s comedy gold. And the dying kid getting a flight with somebody’s donated miles—”Well, they should have told you” you’re dying? And the stuff about, what, Jesus and/or Mary? There’s some good material in that HBO show, and its absence from crosswords must be remedied.
Ack … couldn’t quite crack this one, mostly because I had EEW for Yuck and didn’t know Street Fighter.
Hmm… I don’t really feel like making this the David Cross(word) site. But I’m sure eventually we’ll do some more modern comics. I have a couple jaw-droppers from Sarah Silverman that just don’t quite fit.
Much better banner. The Java applet is not friendly to Firefox 3 on Mac OS X 10.5
i had some problems with typepad earlier. we’ll see if this works now.
i didn’t love the quote, but the fill was pretty spectacular. how come we never see NEARBEER crossing DABOMB in the NYT puzzle? and RYU! you just made me look up shoryuken on wikipedia. surprisingly, i spelled it right on my first attempt. (hmm, HTML comments seem to be disabled. so be it.)
God only knows how many hours of my life have been wasted playing “Street Fighter.”
Righteous puzzle/site/concept/service to the community. You need to become a distinguished entity on FaceBook so that I can become a total fan boy.
Hmm… there’s gotta be an add me as a friend on Facebook widget somewhere.
In the meantime, you can search for me either by full name or by e-mail address (the one underneath the pic with me and the suit).
Loved the puzzle, Mr. Quigley! Funny how brainwashed I’ve been by newspaper xwords that I sat there staring at FU–ING for about twenty minutes and drawing a total blank as to what word could fit there.
And Mr. Show is the best sketch comedy show that ever was, is, or shall be!
What a generous and inspired idea. We crossword addicts salute you.
One minor quibble with this one – Buick discontinued the LeSabre in 2005. Unfortunately for my solving experience, its replacement, the Lucerne, starts with an L and is the same length!
Sure, LeSabres are discontinued, but that doesn’t that there aren’t some of them still on the road. Interesting Lucerne/LeSabre connection.
Now that’s a quote puzzle!
Good stuff; my complements to the puzzle chef.
Congrats on the site, buddy. Looking good!
I enjoyed this. I relish the FREEDOM of no breakfast test. But could someone explain the “Mars to mars” clue?
I enjoyed this. I relish the FREEDOM of no breakfast test. But could someone explain the “Mars to mars” clue?
I enjoyed this. I relish the FREEDOM of no breakfast test. But could someone explain the “Mars to mars” clue?
oops, sorry about the double post.
“Mars to mars” is “March to March” in French. Hence, a year, or ANNEE.
But what’s with “Jiggers”=IRISH?
The Irish do a dance called a jig.
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to translate it as “March à March”?
breakfast rule is weird i didnt know about this before…
this is really awesome creativity to improve the intelligent skills and cross activeness in the IQ quality of minds ,,