ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Class of '66 today. 66 words, that is. Pretty smooth and clean, if you ask me. It's probably worth mentioning that I found inspiration for making this from Crossword Jesus #1, Patrick Berry. Who doesn't get inspired from the original PB though?
Anyway, the other PB (Blindauer, that is) sent me a copy of "Patricks' Puzzle Pandemonium," which is a collection of every puzzle by somebody named Patrick that ran in the New York Sun. So that means lots of Berry. Some Blindauer. A dash of Jordan. And a blink-and-you're-going-to-miss-him cameo from Merrell. This is quite possibly the most absurd packaging gimmick for puzzles, and yeah, there might be a smidgen of sour grapes because my name isn't Patrick and therefore I'm left out. Here's hoping the people at Sterling are working on doing a book of all the people named Brendan who had puzzles published in the Sun. (Brendan Heaney, Brendan Gorski, Brendan Payne, Brendan Nosowsky, etc.)
Needless to say the book is a gem of a solve. Loads of ultra smooth Berry themelesses in there, hence the reason I felt the need to try and pay homage to the master. I would be a fool if I didn't mention at least a couple of the puzzles in there. Two, count 'em, two masterpieces from Blindauer and one of the other puzzling Brendans (Heaney): "Solving By the Numbers" (a tour-de-force execution of a so-obvious-why'd-it-take-somebody-so-long-to-make-it theme) and "Squares Away" (see previous parenthetical phrase). And Berry's jumpin' jiminy quint-stacked 15s in "Color Change" is a see-it-to-believe-it marvel.
As always, if I'm writing about the book, you should be buying one. So get thee to it. In the meantime, share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
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.
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