THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF]
PROGRAMS: [Across Lite] [Adobe Reader]
I saw a lot of cool photos of various solvers tackling my SuperMega that was in the Times supplement last month, but probably none cooler than backstage at the New York City Ballet. Here’s a snap of the Mouse King from “The Nutcracker” scribbling down some answers. Amazing. Shout out to Marty Prudenti who snapped the photo. And while I’m here, if there are any solvers out there who really want to tackle that monstrosity, click here for a digital file. You’ll need this program to run it. Enjoy.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Thanks for the digital file of the NYT mega. My neighbor gave me his hard copy but I found it too unwieldy. What was the clue for the meta?
Great puzzle as ever, Mr. Quigley, but a fatally flawed one. Spoilers for one clue ahead:
The NES is not the granddaddy of the Switch, as you claim. Rather, it is the great-great-great-great-granddaddy (its true granddaddy would be the Wii).
Did you intend for the term “granddaddy” to be interpreted literally? I doubt it, but no true crossword enthusiast would let that stop them from splitting hairs.
No. Here’s “granddaddy”, literally, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/granddaddy def 2: “one that is the first, earliest, or most venerable of its kind”
Fun puzzle for the most part; the NE corner was the one that messed me up. Not knowing 13D was the kicker, since it crossed with 5 other proper names. Did you have to use an adult film actress for the 21A clue, when something like “Actress Fischer” or “Actress Coleman” would’ve worked just as fine? Doesn’t help that the first letter of 21D could’ve been an S, and there was no way of knowing what obscure name 21A was.
Aside from that, this was an enjoyable solve. The NW corner was interesting and challenging.
The ultra mega is huge bonus. The only problem is the grid squares are too small to write the letters in. Anybody have a suggestion?
Your point is valid, sir, but it will take more than that to stop MY pedantry. Are you suggesting that the Nintendo Entertainment System is the “granddaddy of all Switches?”
😉
Thanks for posting the Super Mega. Just managed to do it through Crossword Solver (luckily, that program has a ton of problems!).
@jimmy bonham
The puzzle grid would definitely have to be reformatted into several pages for things to work. I’m hoping someone more talented than I am at image processing can manage that very soon.
I just finished the Super Mega in Crossword Solver. When I went to check it I found that the Check, Reveal Letter, Reveal Word and Solutions are all grayed out and don’t work. Did anyone else experience this? Was it intentional? Is the solution posted anywhere?
Yeah, some puzzles in electronic format give the constructor the option to lock answers. It’s intentional so that nobody gets a headstart on the meta, from what I understand.