ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
I've been told by my test solvers this puzzle was a bear. This was probably not by accident. I was trying to do a super-wide open bizarre-o symmetry Frank Longo-esque themeless. Frank's work is always going to be wide open, always going to have a couple new intelligent entries that are vocab builders, and a comical amount of white chunks with no unnecessary black squares. Seriously, check this book out. It's some crazy shit. Oh, and Frank's a whiz of a clue writer/editor. Basically, his contributions to modern-day puzzlemaking can never be repaid.
Side bar: Frank's got the single most amazing ranked database of entries in puzzledom. There's a handful of us who are always trying to stump him with entries that he doesn't have. It's a daunting task, because this guy's pretty much thought of everything. Doesn't mean I haven't contributed a handful of stuff: mostly neologisms, fractured slang and obscure sports figures. They're almost always ranked so high to guarantee they'll never appear in any of his puzzles.
Anway, I learned a couple things while making this themeless:
- Symmetry-be-damned puzzles invariably will have some corners that are nigh-impossible to fill in. (This one I know has diagonal symmetry, still.) But after doing the daunting NE first, then the two chunky 4x8 corners in the NW and SE, I realized the SW was pretty much impossible for me. I tried and tried and tried to get something slick sans cheaters. No dice. Forgive me.
- It probably doesn't deserve another numbered point, but let me reiterate: that SW corner was my Waterloo. The black square to the left of number 42 and it's symmetrical partner were locked-in, and I tried every damnfool permutation of square placement to fill this sucker in. I thought a 3x10 intersecting another 3x10 area would have been cake, until I remembered that when I try to do this stuff I always, always, always start at the intersecting bit, not the other ends. Man that corner was brutal...
- ... But not as brutal as the SE. I know in crosswords there are tons of words that appear all the time in puzzles that are hardly ever used in everyday language, but they're perfectly fine words. The reason I say this is that the compromises I had to make for the SE corner (consensus hardest corner) had (count 'em) three S.A.T./spelling bee words at 32-, 40-, and 42-Across. And they stack! A thousand and one apologies for that one.
- I realize I'm not very good at trying to copy other people's styles.
Anyway, hope you enjoy it.
Oh, and before I go I gotta say "The Hangover" was pretty good. Zach Galifianakis (who provided the theme for one of my puzzles) totally stole the show. Anyway, new one coming on Wednesday.
Brendan Emmett Quigley creates custom-made puzzles for all occasions: birthdays and bar mitzvahs, anniversaries and retirements. You name it. Need a puzzle for your website or your publication? He can do that, too.
Brendan's custom work clients have included The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, BeerAdvocate, Boston Magazine, De Beers, The Decemberists, ESPN, The Improper Bostonian, Lollapuzzoola, McSweeney's, Phish, Reflexive, The Smithsonian Magazine, St. Martin's Press, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and Andrew Weil.
Call (617) 2-999-BEQ or click 
