ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ GOING ONE-ON-ONE] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ GOING ONE-ON-ONE]

PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]

It’s probably unlikely that I’ll ever go one-on-one with LeBron James. For one thing, I suck royally at basketball. We’re talking inept beyond all infinite levels of ineptitude. I have such crap coordination that just about the only thing I could successfully do in a fantasy pick-up game would be to foul the superstar. Even my ability to pull that off is up for debate.

Yet, I love basketball (all sports, really). I wish I could do what these athletes make look so routine.

For the crossword connoisseur (that is to say the ones that pay attention to the by-lines), you can go one-on-one with your favorite constructors all the time. Paying attention to the by-lines and editors has its advantage. By recognizing that constructor’s (or editor’s) style, you might expect that sense of humor in the cluing, those kinds of words that pop-up in the grids, those themes that make you go hmm.

For instance with me, you’re probably going to see the same names that appear again and again (hopefully) clued with a new pop-culture reference. Or, you might see some bizarre-o letter combinations in a row.

Let me take a minute here to name-drop just a small smattering of some of my favorites:

Patrick Berry and Francis Heaney consistently do themes I wish I had thought of, and execute them with such grace that they almost always appear as if the grids just happened naturally.

Pat Blindauer has put together some beautiful rule-bending work. Every time I’ve try to duplicate his game-after-the-puzzle’s-solved puzzles they seem forced.

Ben Tausig, David Levinson Wilk and the “miracle Matts” (Jones and Gaffney) have begun schooling the next generation (i.e. alt.weekly readers) all across the country.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said Byron Walden beat me to the punch for being the first to use such-and-such entry.

The future’s looking mighty bright with Kevin Der on the scene.

And finally, you’d be hard pressed to think of three better puzzlers than the creators of the last three New York Times puzzles: Mike Nothnagel, Frank Longo and Trip Payne.

Enough spieling. Enjoy the puzzle. New one on Wednesday. And a huge thank you to all who’ve been posting on the comments section.

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