Artist Confidential

Here's an easyish crossword I whipped up yesterday.

Sirius/XM radio has a regular feature called "Artist Confidential". It's an hour-long program featuring a musical artist, in an intimate setting, playing a few songs with an interview portion between each song. In the past, they've featured such artists as Reba McEntire and Paul McCartney.

On Thursday, January 28th, a friend of mine scored two passes to the latest live broadcast of "Artist Confidential" which just happened to feature one of our all-time favorite bands.

Your mission -- should you decide to accept it -- is to solve for the name of the band, it's four members and the venue at which I and about 200 other guests partook of this sonic feast.

Across Lite will do you right.
Click to solve.

Free For All

Here's a little themeless I made a few weeks ago and promptly set aside. But, since I haven't made another crossword this week, I looked at again and thought I could make it work with some fun cluing.

Yeah, I know, it's got a lot of three-letter entries for a themeless.

Then again, if we were all Frank Longo, how would we know who the little voices were talking to?

Across Lite:
Click to solve.

Pitch Perfect

Hope yer stove is hot. **wink wink**

Opens with Across Lite as if you didn't know.
Click to solve.

Why Post This Crossword Puzzle Today?

I mean, it's not like I need to get some sleep or anything.

Aah, but the answer is contained within the circles under my eyes. I mean, the circles in the grid! The grid.

Happy new year, Puzzleheads!

Opens with Across Lite just because.
Click to solve.

Cycle

Anybody into the Hot Stove League?

I made this crossword a few weeks ago and was so disappointed with it that I never bothered to clue it.

Then I realized that I'd forgotten to post last week.

So I looked at it again and, eh, it ain't as bad as I remember. So I just now finished it off and here 'tis.

Opens with Across Lite, as if you didn't know.
Click to solve.

And if anybody has any better theme ideas, let me know. I'm always in need of a theme idea.

Triangles are for the riff-raff

Djy'ever notice that you'll occassionally spot the same word in several differant crossword puzzles in the span of a few days? I don't mean words like ARIA and OREO -- words that appear in 300 puzzles a year. I mean coming across, say, SNAPDRAGON on Wednesday and then seeing it again on Thursday and twice on Friday.

I can't say that I like or dislike when that happens. Maybe it's just too weird to have a learned opinion about. But, then there are the times when you've just gotta sit back and enjoy the coincidences.

Last Friday, Matt Gaffney wrote about the amazing synchronicity of one of his crosswords with a previous (by a few months) puzzle by Mike Shenk. (Fascinating read. Check it out.)

On Sunday, we had two crosswords with the same theme (to add "QU" to a phrase); one by Peter Wentz (Los Angeles Times) and the other by Will Nediger (New York Times), and they even had one identical entry: "QUAINT MISBEHAVIN".

On Wednesday, Rex Parker left a comment over at Brendan Emmett Quigley's digs about maybe perhaps working on a crossword puzzle that contained some certain names that are currently the news.
I, being always on the lookout for a theme idea, followed the link and made a puzzle based on those names. Apparently, as evidenced by his Friday post, so did BEQ.

Not only do Brendan's four theme entries match four of mine (I have six theme entries total), but this also happens to happen on the day that he runs the photo (taken Wednesday) of me and my BEQ mug. (See above link.)

I was ready to scrap it and post a different puzzle, but... nah.

One advantage I have with posting mine second is that I have the benefit of reading the comments at BEQ's thread. Amy Reynaldo, in particular, hit the nail on the head when she wrote, "They have weirdly spelled first names and/or uncommon last names... This gives today's puzzle the air of a quote puzzle in which half the quote's in Hungarian." So, for those particular theme entries, I decided to employ one of Merl Reagle's favorite devices.

Enjoy. More original content coming soon, I hope.

Opens with Across Lite.
Click to solve.

All Out Of Answers

Hell, I'm running low on questions, too.

But here's this week's crossword, inspired by some recently re-discovered theme ideas by Brendan Emmett Quigley as described here on Friday.

Actually, he didn't describe the theme ideas, he merely mentioned what little he'd jotted down on whatever piece of paper was at hand at the time, but couldn't recall what the fark he'd had in mind when he jotted them down.

So, I grabbed one of them (I wont say which one), went with an idea I had for it and voila!, here 'tis.

And, as usual, I don't have any test solvers for these puzzles so I have no idea if this is going to be a cakewalk or a death march. Have fun.

Opens with Across Lite, of course.
Click to solve.

Themeless 6

Puzzle opens with Across Lite, as always.
Click to solve.

Gamesmanship

Ah, the quote puzzle.

Some people say they hate them because "either you know the quote which makes it no fun, or you don't know the quote which makes it no fun." Some even argue that the quote fill is essentially unchecked, but I disagree. To my mind, solving a quote puzzle is simply a matter of piecing it together with what's gotten from the crossings, and that's really no different than piecing together an entry in, say, a dropped-letter theme.

But people have their favorites and least favorites. So be it. This one's a quote theme. Because I like the quote. I hope you like it, too.

Puzzle opens with Across Lite.
Click to solve.

Speaking Clearly

Across Lite. You know the drill.
Click to solve.

Interpretive Song Stylings

Boy, these larger grids take a whole lot longer to clue than the usual 15x15s. Whew!

It started out as a 15x15, but fitting in the theme entries kept making me have to expand the grid until it was 19x19, and symetry went out the window very early on. I like the look of the grid, though, and it kinda fits in well with this puzzle, anyway.

The circles aren't really neccessary, but I thought I'd better include them so as to be certain that the theme fill is differentiated from the non-theme fill.

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite.
Click to solve

Evans' Question to Rogers Upon Seeing Their Feistiest Feline

A few days ago (with my 19x19 monster still asking me to finally clue it) I decided to take a cue from BEQ and make a crossword puzzle in the style of a distinctive constructor. I decided to emulate Merl Reagle.

I guess that means I'm emulating TWO constructors, though. Whatever.

Anyway, I tried to work in some Reagle-esque fill and some Reagle-esque clues -- which was a lot of fun -- and this is the result.

Puzzle opens with Across Lite.
Click to solve.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Well, it's been two weeks since I last posted a puzzle. I've got one almost ready to go, I just have to finish cluing it.

In the mean time, I'll post one that's been sitting around for a while that I've been saving for just this type of occassion. It's not the best of theme ideas, that's why I've been sitting on it for a couple of months. Well, that and the answer at 37-Down is rediculous. But I actually kinda like it.

Better puzzle coming reasonably soonly.

File opens with AcrossLite, of course.
Click to solve.

Square Deal

This puzzle went through so many re-writes that I can probably post three versions with entirely different grids, save for the seed entries.

Then again, the reason it went through so many revisions is that I wasn't satisfied with elements of each re-write. So, here's the final version, just completed Monday night.

By the way, BEQ is having a contest. Solve his Friday puzzle, send him the answer the question that the solution poses and win a copy of his latest book, Diagramless Crosswords. Woo hoo!

In the meantime...

About that unchecked square in the center: When I was writing the clues, I didn't know whether or not I had to write a clue for it, so I simply clued it as "Crossword puzzle square". Turns out I had one too many clues in the file, so out it went. Don't worry about it though, it'll make sense.

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite, of course.
Click to solve

Out of Respect for the Deceased

An easy puzzle this week.

AcrossLite puzzle:
Click to solve.

Two-fers

Okay, so I missed posting a puzzle last week, but I think this one will make up for it.

I actually put this grid together last Sunday, but held off cluing it until today. Why? Probably because the heat and humidity have been brutal all week and I needed last night's thunderstorm to lighten up the air before mustering the wherewithall to focus on such a demanding task. Mind and body walk together, folks.

That certainly looks like an awful lot of blocks, doesn't it? Still, there are only 36 so we're good.

The way they're arranged gives a word count of 80, but don't let that lull you into thinking this is going to be a cakewalk, no siree.

Puzzle, as usual, opens with AcrossLite.
Click to solve.

Darn, late again

I finished this grid on Saturday but just finished the cluing.

I'm really not happy with 1-Across. It's just as bad as HCGP (Harris County Green Party) that I had in a puzzle a couple of weeks ago. I made the clue as obvious as possible but that probably wont help you. The crossings, however, should make it easy enough to fill.

Other than that, I hope it's a fun one.

Puzzle opens with Across Lite, of course.
Click to solve.

News From The Healthcare Presser

You want topical? We got topical.

Since I don't employ test solvers, I just ran through the puzzle again.

It'll probably be a cakewalk in the northwest (18-Across notwithstanding), lulling you into a false sense of finishing in under 10 minutes. It gets a little more challenging toward the lower areas, though, I think.

The southwest, in particular, has a couple of obscure entries. But, hey, it's not like I stuck any airport codes in there or anything.

Puzzle open with AcrossLite.
Click to solve.

Bonus puzzle!

This isn't my regular weekly puzzle (which should be up on Sunday). This is an homage to Ashish Vengsarkar's New York Times puzzle from yesterday (Thursday).

The theme is the same. The grid is the same. The two 15-letter answers are the same for reasons that will be obvious as you solve. But the eight theme answers (and everything else, for that matter) are all new.

So, for those who don't subscribe to the NYT puzzle, this will be your chance to enjoy Ashish's puzzle without actually doing Ashish's puzzle.

Ashish's theme answers seem to have 16 possible entries. (Or 17, depending on how you pronounce the word "ours".) Ashish used eight of them yesterday, and I used the other eight today.

One side note:

I'd completed the grid and began to clue it when I realized I'd used the same entry twice. (Early on, I'd been switching the theme answers around and, well, these things happen.) Rather than begin anew, I changed 63-Across and adapted from there. 41-Down, in particular, ended up being a pretty silly entry.
The original entry could have been clued as, say, "A tasty morsel" and, upon completion of the puzzle, it'll be obvious which entry I mistakenly had in the grid twice.

But enough jibber-jabber. Unto the brink!

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite.
Click to solve.

Regular weekly puzzle on Sunday. I hope. (It's a 21x21. We'll see if I get it's clued by then.)

UPDATE: Second side note:
For "newer Mac users", Alex Boisvert informs us in the previous comments thread that you can download (and finally make use of) AcrossLite by clicking HERE. I hope that works out.

Puzzle 9

Yep. Another themeless. 'Cuz I still suck at coming up with themes.

I actually had four completed puzzles from which to choose to clue and post this week. But the answer at 34-Across was something I'd been trying to work into a crossword for a few weeks, yet with no completed puzzle.

I finally completed one this week so that's this weeks puzzle.

It's not the most consistant effort I've come up with, though. The crosswordese is a little too prevalent in the outer corners for my liking.

Since I began with no theme answers, a lot of the fill was haphazardly pieced together. That being said, I like a lot of the entries. Quirky partials. Gratuitous pop culture references. A nod to Pancho Harrison's Monday NYTimes puzzle.

Speaking of nods to other constructors, did you see Patrick Berry's grid from Friday? Here 'tis:

Hmm. I wonder if Mr. Berry swung by this little blog at some point recently because it looks uncannily like my grid from June 8th:

Okay, it's not that close. But, switch a few blocks around (as I just did to create these .jpegs) and there you are. My grid (as Patrick's may have also been) was based on this amazing Trip Payne 21x21 grid:

...which inspired to me to try to fill this grid:

...which is what my June 8th grid grew out of. Or, rather, shrank into.

I've attempted 7 or 8 times over the past 6 months to fill that grid. Finding two 15-letter triple-stacks is hard enough. Success in extending those stacks in that grid -- and then contecting them to the center area -- has proved illusive to me.

But I'll bet that there are at least four constructors out there who can do it. Not do it with ease, of course, but do it. They are (the aforementioned) Patrick Berry, Frank Longo, Trip Payne (obviously) and Brendan Emmett Quigley.

Brendan Emmett Quigley? Hey, the guy's a dynamo. He invited his readers to challenge him to create a puzzle in the style of other constructors. He emulated Trip Payne's Something Different **slash** Wacky Weekend Warrior puzzles (which I can't enough of) with impressive aplomb.

Now, I'm not issuing an official challenge here or anything. (Mainly because, based on the comments threads, I have no idea if anyone is actually reading this blog and/or doing these puzzles.) But I would be impressed if the above 15x15 grid (no black squares in the corners, cheaters!) showed up somewhere reasonably soon.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy my latest serving of crossword tripe.

Puzzle opens with Across Lite.
(Sorry "newer Mac" users. Still no more PDFs until, either, I can buy some software that'll turn a .puz file to a .pdf, or someone tells me what my search for a way to do it for free has overlooked.)
Click to solve

Air On The G String

I couldn't think a title for this puzzle so I decided to steal one from Bach.

As usual, puzzle opens with AcrossLite.
Click to solve.

Sounds Right To Me

This one was a lot of fun to create. The grid may not be pretty but, hey, give a little get a little.

As usual, puzzle opens with Across Lite.
Click to solve

Overdue Themeless

I hope you all had a rip-roarin' 4th of July and no one blew off their fingers.

It's been a while since I last posted a new crossword. It's not that I've gotten behind in creating them, it's that my standards are raising. A puzzle that I might have been eager to post when I first started is just too amateurish for me now.

Over the past few weeks I was working on four different puzzles simultaneously and couldn't get any of them to gel to my liking. One of them I even finished clueing two weeks ago, yet still didn't post because I didn't like the northeast corner and I couldn't hold the symmetry throughout.

This is that puzzle.

In the mean time, I've just finished a new puzzle that I will post as soon I've clued it. But, I figured I'd put this one up anyway just because I don't want all that work to go to waste.

I didn't try to make this a stumper by any stretch, mainly because I don't think it deserves the effort. But I did try to make it somewhat interesting.

Of course, most people who solve several puzzles a day will probably say, "Bleh, ordinary. Wouldn't have run in any decent newspaper." But I think it has it's moments, so here 'tis.

A much better, more interesting themed puzzle is coming shortly. But, for now...

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite.
Click to solve

P.S. Sorry, newer Mac user(s), but the trial software I was using to convert AcrossLite to PDF has expired. Unless someone can tell me how to do the conversion F.O.C., that's it for the PDF versions for now.

Puzzle 5

Another week, another crossword.

Ah, my first triple stacks. I'm getting better at this but there's still a little fudging. Namely, the lack of perfect symetry in the grid.

Feh. Rules are made to be broken.

You know the drill.
Click to solve with AcrossLite.

Or, Download PDF file

Themeless, Too

Well, it's early Monday morning and I've finally finished this week's Saturday puzzle.

(Yes, I do need to work on this more during the week. Why do you ask?)

I re-wrote this grid as I clued it, which should give you fair warning.

It's hard to clue a toughie because I, as a newbie constructor, never know what is "tough but fair" for my target audience.

For instance, I could give the clue [Opening track to Iggy Pop's "Party"] which maybe three people would immediately recall was the song PLEASURE. Or I could agonize over whether the clue [Beatles song originally adressed to John Lennon's first born] might be too cryptic a clue for HEYJUDE. You just don't know.

Anyway, here is my latest effort, completed just in time for the Monday blahs. I hope this gives you a worthy respite from the early week dailies.

Amy, of course, would have nothing good to say about it, so I wont even ask. (She'd tear me to shreds while we're just lookin' to have some fun.) Here it is anyway:

Puzzle opens with Across Lite.
Click to solve. file

More random thoughts of a newbie crossword constructor

I've always made my puzzles the old fashioned way. With pencil and paper.

There are some constructors who still do it the old fashioned way. In fact -- based on my experience with crossword puzzle-making software -- I don't know how a successful constructor can create a puzzle utilizing crossword puzzle-making software.

Oh, sure, the software can help you find words to fill in some gaps. But the software can never come up with a theme and it can never provide phrases that are the parlance of the day -- the ones that inspire grids and create those gaps in the first place.

Is it any wonder that Brendan Quigley included the name "Susan Boyle" in one his puzzles three days later than I expected him to? No, it isn't. Even crosswords take time.

So anyway, I wont pronmise to be another Quigley. But I do promise to try.

Hydroplane Tsunami

Okay, this one's a day late. I had this grid ready to go a few days ago but, oh man, it was a bear to clue. I'm still not sure if I like some of the clues, but enough is enough. Time to call it a puzzle and grab some lunch.

What in the world does that title mean, you ask? There's only one way to find out.

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite.
CLICK TO SOLVE

PDF to follow in a little bit. Namely, now.
Download file
And, since I don't have Adobe Illustrator, the grid has that godawful text running across it. But the jpeg above will suffice if you're so inclined to download that, too.

UPDATE: To add some more thoughts on this one.

I worked hard on the theme so I tried to make this grid work. Unfortuantely, I ended up with an inordinant amount of 3-letter entries.

Solving this one might be a piece of cake for experienced solvers yet, simultaneously, remain an enigma to those of us who don't solve five-to-nine top-notch puzzles a day.

I, therefore, consider this puzzle to be my most impressive failure thus far. An ambitious puzzle that satisfies neither the crossword maven nor the casual solver. An example of the Peter Principle, where ambition puts one above his level of competence.

Perhaps a 17X17 or 19x19 grid would have been better? The world may never know.

Another attempt at puzzle-making on Saturday where there just may be an abundance of 4-letter words.

A thought on crossword puzzlers

The worst thing that can happen to crossword puzzles is that they cater to crossword puzzle addicts.

The demise (restructuring?) of the TMS (Chicago Tribune) daily crossword and its replacement (partnership? Please explain further) by/with the L.A. Times' crossword may be merely (simply?) another clue that corporate (publicly owned) America has a problem to solve.

Or, maybe more truthfuly, it may be a clue that crossword constructors and solvers are in danger of getting just a little bit ahead of themselves and, in the immediate desire for more challenging puzzles, choke the market that can produce those puzzles.

There are crossword publishers aplenty. Puzzles can be had in the hundreds in just a few issues of Dell and Penny Press puzzle magazines. Some crosswords are geared for casual solvers. Others are geared for puzzleheads -- like me.

But I wasn't always like me.

There was a time in my life when a crossword puzzle was just another puzzle. One that I didn't even have to solve. A thing to engage whenever it and I happened to cross paths and only for the hell of it.

I read-tell that some TMS puzzlers are less than thrilled at having to deal with the L.A. Times puzzle now. My gut reaction, of course, is "Wha?! Do you not see the superiorness of the L.A. Times puzzle to old Chicago Tribune puzzle?!

My second reaction is that I remember what it's like to solve what we puzzleheads might call "introductory puzzles". (Yeah, I made that up. Feel free to come up with something better.)

I was about 8 or 9 years old when I read the clue, "Funny man Reiner". I, being a child of the '70s, knew that the answer had to be ROB. But the puzzle wanted four letters and ROB only had three. I complained my confoundedness to my grandmother who told me that the correct answer was CARL. "Who?" (To this day I can't see Carl Reiner without remembering the moment I'd first heard of him, while doing that dang crossword puzzle.)

If crossword puzzles are to exist in the future then they must continue AS daily crosswords, in every newspaper, that are accessible to casual solvers. Not everyone is Dan Feyer.

I don't believe that the recent spike in crossword fandom has had any effect on the TMS puzzle. I think that it's due purely to cost-cutting in this economic climate. But I do worry about the clannishness of puzzle solvers having an effect on what's publishable. Brendan Quigley very recently mentioned that crossword bloggers have had an impact on Will Shortz. That's fine. In fact, that's great -- for us and Will Shortz. I just hope that that impact isn't felt at Universal or USA Today.

Ordinary crosswords are the impetus of great crosswords. They invite the casual solvers to solve and win. And those who can win want to win more. But the worst thing that can happen to daily crosswords is for them to become inaccessible to the rest of us. Some of us (believe it or not) want to solve a crossword as a morning calisthenic; a warm-up for the challenge of the day ahead. Some of us solve the crossword as the day's challenge itself. That's almost spooky.

I must confess that I'm not sure who I'm addessing this to. I'm addressing myself, of course. But, maybe, also the bloggers, the constructors, the editors, the champion solvers, the casual solvers of the world or the wanna-be scholars like me. What I do know is that it was the daily puzzle in my local paper (Newsday, in my case) that got me interested in crosswords in a way that went beyond wishing that I could I solve it. As much as we crossword mavens might poo-poo the daily Newsday puzzle, it is one of the most widely syndicated puzzles just because it is ultimately (and some would say infinitely) solvable. Except, maybe, for Saturday.

Crossword puzzles aren't just for crossword puzzle addicts. The uncanny way that they can find a use for an almost forgotten memory is almost Holy.
Crossword puzzles remind us of what we know.

I lift an abject toast with all those who'll join me.

I am as guilty as sin.

More!

Oh, no! Another crossword!

Here's a little themeless puzzle for a lazy Saturday evening. Or Sunday morning. Or whenever.

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite:
CLICK TO SOLVE

PDF version here:
UPDATE: Thanks to Stephen Macklin, here's a PDF without the obstructive text across the grid:
CLICK FOR PDF.

Fair warning. The PDF prints out on three pages. Page one is the grid. That's good to have. Page two is the clues. You'll need that. Page three is the solution. Don't look at that.

new Crossword puzzle

Here is the first in what I intend to be a somewhat regular posting of my own crossword puzzles. We'll see how that goes.

This is an homage to David J. Kahn's New York Times crossword puzzle of Thursday, May 14, 2008 which generated quite some discussion at a couple of crossword blogs.

Those who solved it and discussed it in the comments thread HERE will, I hope, appreciate the emulation of Kahn's clues and answers, spiffy and iffy alike.

I don't think it's a difficult solve. It's certainly not an impressive grid.

But I do hope that it's a fun solve. (Except for those two airport codes that I had to include just because including them was the only way to complete the @#$% thing).

Puzzle opens with AcrossLite.
CLICK TO SOLVE

Don't have AcrossLite? What are you, nuts? Download it FREE. All the cool kids have it.

UPDATE: Per request, here's a PDF version:
Download file
I converted the .puz file to .pdf using the demo version of a crossword-making program, so it has some text running through the center of the grid and the grid and clues are on individual pages. Oh well.