ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ ANYTHING GOES]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ ANYTHING GOES]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
And I have no good excuse. The fact that you guys are still coming to my site means you're holding up your end of the bargain. I have not. Until today. I finally got around to fulling one of your requests (the rest forthcoming, I swear). I finally made one of those outrageous "Something Different" puzzles that Trip Payne does oh so well.
Okay, I do have two excuses, and they're both lame. One, I should never have taken requests right in the middle of the move and a book deadline. That = stupid.
Secondly, the next challenge, after the Matt Jones proposal, that I wanted to tackle was this "Something Different" puzzle. And, frankly, I was scared witless at the prospect. Once a year the New York Sun would run one of these Trip beauties, and they were a joy to solve. The entries were always gonzo, always fairly clued, with a dauntingly wide-open grid, and usually around five or six stunning entries. It seemed like a Herculean task. (If you aren't familiar with these puzzles, Trip has posted a couple of them on his website: Across Lites here and here, and printouts here and here. Well worth your time, and when you're done, you might enjoy his cryptic puzzles as well.)
Now in the past I said I really didn't know where grid construction takes me. Well, in this instance, I really didn't know where this was going to take me. Once again I started along the bottom with 53-Across (Not going to say answers for this one, so no spoiler alert needed). No reason for that entry other than it sounded interesting. An uneventful one at 51-Across was the glue that held what I felt was the first winner at 48-Across. Threw in the goofy nod to a previous sports hero at 33-Down, and the 13-Down entry makes me think of those Dos Equis ads.
At this point in the construction, I got nervous. It seemed like there was a slight possibility that this grid could be filled in by mortal constructors. 60 words, 18 black squares. Certainly plausible. I shot the pattern over to Longo who said: "no way." (Phew! Course, now that I've said that, Kevin Der will pull this baby off somehow.)
Worked my way up in the 2-Down, 3-Down area. Basically, loads of words could have gone at the beginnings, so I was fairly flexible with how I wanted to shape the top. I was pretty pleased with how the 1-, 5-, and 17-Across entries came out. It almost looked like I started up there first. Also surprised with not only the pangram, but the abundance of Scrabble-y letters throughout.
Cluing took a couple passes. Trip gave his approval before the test solvers got their talons on it. Nancy Schuster, especially. I cannot believe I didn't think to go that route with 37-Down until she pointed it out!
Okay, so how'd I do? Did this work? Fail? Would you guys like more like this? Inquiring minds want to know! Let me hear it in the comments
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 
