ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS WEDNESDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS WEDNESDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
BEQ gets mail! And it's chock full of gems. Let's do this.
Here's what my granddaughter got me for Christmas (see above picture). I'd never done a diagramless before and am having fun with your book. Is it possible to do them with out using the clues?
-John Ellis, San Diego
Of course you can. I do it every day: it's called constructing a puzzle. Now, the odds that we'd come up with (a) the same theme, (b) the same theme answers, (c) the same grid shape, (d) the same symmetry, (e) and the same fill are pretty minuscule. I mean sure, we could have accomplished a Vulcan mind meld, or maybe I could have just dictated the answers to you. But stranger things have happened.
Thanks for sharing your BEQ fandom, though. Normally I give out copies of "Diagramless" for examples of such bravado. Instead, I'll send you something from my condo I don't want anymore.
Just crawled to a finish on today's - we have a 20% overlap in musical tastes. #1 is an amazing CD and a friend in Melbourne knows some of the band and said their break-up was pretty messy, so I guess no more Avalanches (wiki says maybe, but I'm not sure I believe it). I used to come out to "Frontier Psychiatrist" when I MC'ed the old comedy club in Asheville (now I use "Warp Spin Rewind" by Melt Banana).
-George Heard, parts unknown
Doubly wow, there. (Well, triply wow if we throw in the confirmation that the Avalanches are no more.) Melt Banana as one's intro music? Stunning.
So, it got me thinking: what piece of music would I use as a sort "intro" you might hear upon loading the page? After some careful deliberation I've narrowed it down to a three: "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (no explanation necessary), "Cut Your Hair" (Pavement, duh. Plus it sounds like the theme to "Pardon the Interruption," the best TV show not called "The Wire"), or "Jazz Snob Eat Shit" (talk about getting someone's attention). Please leave other suggestions (I'm open to any of them) in the comments.
Speaking of shit.
Shame on you for using SHIT and FART in 1/6/10 AV Club puzzle.
-S. Fish, parts unknown
Come on, now! Obviously you haven't been paying attention to my work lately.
I have been driving myself nuts trying to figure out the answers to the "She and Him" Crossword puzzle in the Paste Magazine for hours, and I finally figured out your sneaky trick.
You are a dick.
-Lara, parts unknown
Paste is great in the sense that lately they've assigned the puzzles to line-up with the rest of the issue. For example, the "All In the Family" puzzle ran in their TV issue (highlighting Mitchell Hurwitz). The puzzle in question ran alongside a feature of She & Him. Predictably, the gimmick was a rebus incorporating either SHE or HIM. Maybe that one was a little too hard for the magazine. Oh well.
Share the puzzle. New one (yeah, probably another themeless) on Friday.
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 
