ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ HERO SANDWICH]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ HERO SANDWICH]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
But for most of us, an unsolved puzzle is an unsuccessful one. It may not seem like it, but we really want you to get that last entry, even if it means scrambling, straining and reaching into the darkest recesses of your mind to pull out the finishing letters. This is entertainment we're talking about here. And if you just say “screw it” in the middle, we didn't get the job done. Now that, my friends, is a huge problem.
The classic example of the unsolvable crossword is when the obscure European river crosses the African bug genus. Only those who have memorized all 315,000 entries in Webster's unabridged dictionary are expected to get that one letter. Patently unfair. Simply unentertaining. Puzzlemaker gets a big F-. Feel free to Photoshop a piece of cheese on the picture of the constructor's face and make some asinine caption at I Can Has Cheezburger?, post that shit everywhere, as they deserve it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's the I-Get-It-But-I-Don't-Get-It puzzle. In that one all the entries are legit, none of the crossings are hard, therefore the solver completes the whole grid. Yet... can't make head or tail of the theme. Is this an unfair puzzle? The puzzle is solvable, so from that perspective it succeeds. Yet they would be solving it almost as if it were a themeless, so is it a failure, or simply just a flawed puzzle?
Or, could it be that the IGIBIDGI puzzle provides a delayed reaction? It's not unlike a grenade. From a puzzlemaker's standpoint, it's been activated, lobbed in our enemy's general direction, and now we're just waiting for the thing to go "BANG." Now you have to realize that the constructor really wants that "BANG" ("aha!" moment) to happen, otherwise: FAIL + LOLCAT picture + humiliation, etc. (FWIW: my test solvers took a while to get the whole gimmick here with this puzzle. No LOLCAT picture has to be made, necessarily.)
Well, having said all that, I've been waiting to make this theme for a while now. My timing might be a hair early, but I think the puzzle is worth it. Enjoy.
Just a quick note on the blog: I have decided to cancel the Diagramless as a Twitter Feed. I think it was a great idea conceptually, I wasn't sold that it was the best use of the tweeting feature. A good on paper, bad in execution idea. So be it. However, I did like that people were tweeting back to me the answers as they were being typed, so I'm going to probably shift the tweeting focus thataway. Thanks.
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 
