ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS WEDNESDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS WEDNESDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Spoiler alerts! Avert your eyes if you wish to solve without spoilers! This means you! You’ve been warned.
Really, you have to turn back now. This is the last time I’m going to mention it.
If you thought the picture of Justice was a spoiler, it wasn’t. They are in the clue at 24-Down, {Justice and Death are in it (no, not my iPod)}. Just saying that Death record “For the Whole World to See” is no joke. Totally recommended. Anyway, that clue was perhaps my favorite of the bunch. Though I was particularly proud of {Time life books?} at 42-Down.
So for all those who guessed that the seed entries were CAPTCHA, MOM JEANS and BIG BOX STORE, you were correct. Hat tip to my bro Mike Fournier for suggesting CAPTCHA. Good stuff. By the way, I’m always on the lookout for good seed entries, so don’t hesitate to hit me up.
I’ve been having some conversations with Brad Wilber lately over what makes quality themelesses. If you don’t know Brad’s stuff, you should. Top-flight themelesses. Anyway, he was saying that lately he’s been trying to go less name-heavy with his puzzles. He felt his reputation for harder puzzles originally came from you-either-know-it-or-you-don’t names in puzzles. As for me? I honestly don’t think there’s any way I could possibly make a puzzle without a name in the answer or the clue. I count 15 in this grid alone. That’s 21% of the grid. Yikes. Maybe in the future I could try to lower that number, but it seems nigh-impossible today.
Now some of the names in this grid like MIRA, NOAM, etc., I think are inevitable. They’re the glue that holds together much more interesting entries. (I tried for new clues for both of those names, BTW, so they don’t feel like tired repeaters). OTOH, I think names like STEINEM, HAN SOLO, and ALI BABA are on the colorful sides of things. (I’m not saying they’re fresh and new, because that’s not true. I do think they’re lively, though.) So the jury’s still out.
Share the puzzle. New one on Friday.
Comments (30)