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PUZZLE #105 & it was 13 years ago today (plus puzzle assist with Rex and Gaffs)

Posted on by Brendan Quigley




ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ SUPERHERO REJECTS] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ SUPERHERO REJECTS]

PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]


Thirteen years ago today my very first crossword puzzle was published in the Times. (Historians take note: visit Jim Horne’s website for the exhibit.) It should be stated that the 8/7/06 puzzle was my third crossword sale, and the next two published went in reverse order of acceptance (all of these sales were exclusively for the Times, by the way. Shortly thereafter I began sending to Games Magazine and other markets.) I’ve come a long way, baby, but it bears repeating: none of these puzzles would be sales nowadays.

Since we’re still in 1996, this one (that would be the third puzzle run) is the first-ever crossword I made. That’s right. First-Ever. There were no other crosswords/half crosswords/aborted grids/rejuked themes/etc. before it. And yeah, it was a sale to the New York Times. Beat that. (Historians take note: Will accidentally chopped off my first name in the by-line on that one. So, if you’ve been paying attention, it was by Emmett Quigley. Good times.)

Thirteen years ago. Where’d the time go? I remember writing to Will that I I’d run out of theme ideas around the time these ran (hah). It’s also worth noting that in a remarkable bit of symmetry, I will be dead exactly 13 years from today.

Now that we’ve tackled the past and the future, let’s do today, shall we? A couple weeks back “Miracle” Matt Gaffney asked me to participate in a little experiment. His proposal was to see if he could make a puzzle after he was given a specific entry from a stranger. To complicate matters, that entry had to be used as a theme entry. Well, anyway, Matt asked if I would participate in that have-to-make-a-puzzle-with-a-specific-theme-entry-stipulation as well (probably to demonstrate how wide and varied puzzlemaking can be if constructors put their drugs minds to it).

I was stoked at the idea. So, we got our main-man Rex Parker to provide the answer. And if you solve both mine and Matt’s you can figure out what that seed entry was.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.

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