ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
One thing's for sure, that old saying about how you relearn the subject when you teach someone else about it is completely true. I've noticed already that there's been a subtle change in how I've been tackling puzzles. Not a massive difference, but a subtle one, nonetheless. Good stuff.
I bring this up because in both classes I mentioned the evils of crosswordese and how modern-day puzzlers work their asses off to eliminate them. You know the culprits, ESNE and ANOA to name two words whose sole purpose is to hold corners of crosswords together. They can't possibly come up in regular conversation can they? So anyway, I'm solving this past Saturday's Times puzzle, and sure enough, frigging ADIT is smack dab at 54-Across. That really bothered me because I made an example of that entry as supreme crapola, specifically telling to my students change that A to an E. I guess my memory is bad because ADIT has appeared 18 times in the Times under Will's editorship, three times this year alone. Yikes. Who's got selective memory loss?
Rhetorical question: What would any of the Crossword Jesuses do?
Okay, it's not so rhetorical. They would Absolutely Never Ever use ADIT. Let that be a lesson to any of my students who are checking out the BEQ.com.
Thanks to all who were able to contribute this past month. This month's randomly selected winner is ... well, you'll find out sometime this month, subtly placed in one grid.
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.
Call (617) 2-999-BEQ or click 
