October 30, 2011
Hell Night
This one ended up chockful of initialisms. I tried to keep them to a minimum, but the constraints on the grid proved too overwhelming. It's a small miracle that I was finally able to fill it, even removing a few obscure entries during the cluing.
There are still a couple of obcurities left, so I went ahead and made it an easy-peasy solve. Nothing too spooky. I hope.
Across Lite:
Click to solve.
October 25, 2011
Freestyle 9
I finished this one a couple of weeks ago and set it aside because I really liked a lot of it, and really hated some of it.
It started off well-enough in the northwest, building on the freshness of the three long answers. But, as I moved through the middle and into the southeast, it got trickier and trickier to make connections.
After lucking into 34-Across (not a seed entry), I didn't want to give it up. There were several ways to go on 41-Across, but none of them allowed a 39-Across that could give me a 27-Down, except the one I ended up with. (I've never heard of him. But, then, I haven't heard of most recording artists who've debuted in the last 20 years.)
Whenever I end up with an obscure proper name (person or place), I like to come up with an anagram to accompany the clue. (A trick I picked up from Merl Reagle.) If I can, I'll choose one that's, in some way, related to the answer and/or clue. I'd tried re-doing the southeast a few times because I absolutely hated 63-Across (and considered it the main puzzle-killer), until I found an anagram that complimented the clue so well that I decided to take it as a sign that it was meant to be. (Edit: An error crept in during the anagraming session. Original has been replaced. Many thanks to 3D for pointing it out!)
Surprisingly, according to Matt Ginsberg's database, 65-Across also turns out to be fresh fill. Woo hoo!
49-Down, incidentally, found its way into the grid because a search told me that it was part of a game's name. A further search revealed that the "game" in question is just someone's silly page that's been visited less than 10,000 times in I-don't-know-how-many years. So, I was challenged to come up with another clue. The resulting clue may seem forced. Even tragically so. But at least it no longer references something you've never heard of. I hope.
Anywho, it's either go with this version or start from scratch. So I'll just throw this up as a mid-week "bonus". There will be another puzzle on Sunday. How could I miss Hell Night?
Across Lite puzzle:
Click to solve.
October 23, 2011
Freestyle 8
Are these clues too easy? Since I don't have test solvers, all I can do is guess at how easy/challenging these are. About a year ago, I opened up a puzzle that I'd posted a year before, and I couldn't solve it, so I've been trying to "measy 'em down" a bit.
Anyway, here's one from a couple of weeks ago inspired by an entry in Andrew Ries's rose garden of that week.
Across Lite:
Click to solve.
October 16, 2011
October 09, 2011
Freestyle 6
Once upon a time he was just a crossword geek. Now he's a geek on national television. Joon Pahk has crossed the threshhold and become a five-time winner on Jeopardy!. Woo hoo!
See his games HERE. (Thank you, Nancy Shack, whoever you are, for uploaded each exciting episode!)
And, now that you've watched every episode, on to the next completely unrelated crossword puzzle:
AcrossLite, of course:
Click to solve.
