ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
For those who might have been late to the party (I know how it goes, you’re used to coming here Mondays and Thursdays) and missed the debut of guest puzzles on the BEQ.com: once you’re done with this puzzle, go get David Quarfoot’s masterwork.
Tip of the hat to Matt Gaffney for berating me for not running one of the above entires in last week’s Themeless. Better late than never, innt?
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
I have to assume that 21A never heard of 3D (and vice versa) but their crossing was enough to make the NW difficult – at least for me.
Matt Gaffney chided you about Liu Xiaobo, right? I miss his mini puzzles. He would usually have something that happened the day before in them.
The puzzle did not disappoint even though I needed Google to finish it.
Never heard of 6A, which made the other things I’d never of in the down clues ungettable.
But, that doesn’t bother me like it would with an NYT puzzle.
Great fun.
Felt more Medium than Hard… Gimmes (for me) at 1D, 11D, 16A, 22A, 48A, 64A gave me a foothold in just about all the corners, which isn’t usually the case on a BEQ Monday.
This was one of those that I looked at and thought, “Gah! I don’t know any of this!” Especially since I figured that ACHINESEDISSIDENT wasn’t going to fly for 3D. But I somehow managed to finish. That’s always fun. When I finally got 49D I facepalmed. Really, I should have seen it coming. Minor nits – something can be TOXIC but not lethal and I don’t know of anyone who has ever given or received ROSES for a prom. A personal peeve is that technically TWILL is a style of weave, not a material but it’s used so often that way (by many people who really should know better) that it definitely falls into the “fine for a crossword” category.
Though it goes without saying, I feel compelled to say it anyway – thank you BEQ for giving us something challenging on Mondays, and for Thursdays as well. I’m really in awe of both the quality and the quantity of your work.
Def #1 of “twill” from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary:
“a fabric constructed in twill weave”
The clue used “material” not “fabric” and material is a nebulous word – it can mean the fabric or the type of fiber the fabric is made from. But like I said – I have no problem with it from a puzzle point of view where nebulous is the name of the game. It’s a sewing peeve.
What messed me up (after finally figuring out 3D) was that 49D word. Didn’t take French, and if it’s not common, I’m in trouble. Even after the ‘Nice’ hint in the clue, all I knew was that “This is French. You don’t know this word. You’re going to need the crossings, sucker.”.
A smattering of Spanish helped a little, but still needed to cross ’em all to solve it.
– Loved the crossing of 6A and 6D. (Yes, I plan to. It’s tasty).
– Struggled with 34D, since I didn’t know the clue reference. Something new to learn. Checked, and the closest one (in the clue) is about 20 miles away. Not bad, but nowhere I’d stumble across. So at least I know there wasn’t one around the block that I missed; I can justify my ignorance. Yay!
Re: 49D. I have no such excuse, having taken French in both high school and college and, oh yeah, living in France for two years. >_< To be completely honest, when it hit me, I not only facepalmed, I dropped an audible f-bomb. Good thing I was in the privacy of my own home at the time!
DNF…
(grumble)
Who keeps their bike chain lubed?
3D – “Oh, yes… I remember reading about that Chinese dissident…Drat! I’ve forgotten the name.”
And…”LOOKED IN ON” is crossing “ON LOOKOUT”? I guess all’s fair in love and corners.