Note: In this crossword variation, any fabricated phrase that could be clued fairly is game in the grid. Some examples might be {Japanese assassin in a Tarantino movie} would be a PULP NINJA, {“Why are there only Subways to eat around here?”} might clue TOO MANY QUIZNOS, and {People who are always singing “Seasons of Love”} is RENT HEADS. There are a handful of straight clues in order that you might get a foothold in the grid.

ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ ANYTHING GOES] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ ANYTHING GOES]

PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]

A while back I asked you faithful readers for suggestions of other puzzlemakers styles that I should emulate. You guys gave me some winners. Matt Jones dropped down a gauntlet, and I accepted. Then … nothing happened. Where were my stabs at the meta/rebus/Zen koan/”big picture”/etc. puzzles that Liz Gorski does effortlessly? Or my attempt at the wide open, symmetry-be-damned themelesses Frank Longo cranks out? Nowhere to be seen.

And I have no good excuse. The fact that you guys are still coming to my site means you’re holding up your end of the bargain. I have not. Until today. I finally got around to fulling one of your requests (the rest forthcoming, I swear). I finally made one of those outrageous “Something Different” puzzles that Trip Payne does oh so well.

Okay, I do have two excuses, and they’re both lame. One, I should never have taken requests right in the middle of the move and a book deadline. That = stupid.

Secondly, the next challenge, after the Matt Jones proposal, that I wanted to tackle was this “Something Different” puzzle. And, frankly, I was scared witless at the prospect. Once a year the New York Sun would run one of these Trip beauties, and they were a joy to solve. The entries were always gonzo, always fairly clued, with a dauntingly wide-open grid, and usually around five or six stunning entries. It seemed like a Herculean task. (If you aren’t familiar with these puzzles, Trip has posted a couple of them on his website: Across Lites here and here, and printouts here and here. Well worth your time, and when you’re done, you might enjoy his cryptic puzzles as well.)

Now in the past I said I really didn’t know where grid construction takes me. Well, in this instance, I really didn’t know where this was going to take me. Once again I started along the bottom with 53-Across (Not going to say answers for this one, so no spoiler alert needed). No reason for that entry other than it sounded interesting. An uneventful one at 51-Across was the glue that held what I felt was the first winner at 48-Across. Threw in the goofy nod to a previous sports hero at 33-Down, and the 13-Down entry makes me think of those Dos Equis ads.

At this point in the construction, I got nervous. It seemed like there was a slight possibility that this grid could be filled in by mortal constructors. 60 words, 18 black squares. Certainly plausible. I shot the pattern over to Longo who said: “no way.” (Phew! Course, now that I’ve said that, Kevin Der will pull this baby off somehow.)

Worked my way up in the 2-Down, 3-Down area. Basically, loads of words could have gone at the beginnings, so I was fairly flexible with how I wanted to shape the top. I was pretty pleased with how the 1-, 5-, and 17-Across entries came out. It almost looked like I started up there first. Also surprised with not only the pangram, but the abundance of Scrabble-y letters throughout.

Cluing took a couple passes. Trip gave his approval before the test solvers got their talons on it. Nancy Schuster, especially. I cannot believe I didn’t think to go that route with 37-Down until she pointed it out!

Okay, so how’d I do? Did this work? Fail? Would you guys like more like this? Inquiring minds want to know! Let me hear it in the comments

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