THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF]
PROGRAMS: [Across Lite] [Adobe Reader]
On the same day that the Academy gives out its Oscars for (ahem) excellence in movies, the folks over at "Diary of a Crossword Fiend" give out their Orcas to acknowledge the best in puzzling. Get it? ORCAS anagrams to OSCAR. Pretty clever, huh? Anyway, all the obvious candidates were given awards. Best Crossword went to Ben Tausig. Merl Reagle nabbed Best Sunday-sized Crossword. So, imagine my surprise when I read that I was the winner of the Best Freestyle Crossword. I was shocked, truly. Even though the awards were announced at noon, I felt it wasn't too early to pop open a bottle of bubbly. So, captured for all to see, here I am seconds before the celebration began (roughly 12:15-ish Sunday afternoon).
For those who might like to do this award winning puzzle, here ya go. And for those missed my acceptance speech, the full transcription is here:
Wow. This is an honor. "Best Freestyle Crossword." This is going to look great on Tabitha's changing table. You know, it's funny, when I started off, puzzles without themes were called "Themelesses." But now Matt Gaffney, who I liberally ripped off when I began making puzzles, has been spearheading the movement to call them "Freestyles." Nice bit of symmetry there.
Okay, I'd like to thank my test solvers Nancy Schuster, Tyler Hinman and Joon Pahk. I'd like to thank Amy Reynaldo who also gave some last-minute notes on this puzzle before it went live. I'd like to thank two of the Crossword Jesuses: Frank Longo and Patrick Berry who listen to many of my half-baked clues before I put them in the crosswords. Ditto to Francis Heaney. I'd like to, uh, thank my lawyer Don Bixtler. My life coach Gil Falcone. Everybody who ever went to BEQ.com. And to my girls, Liz and Tabitha, you're the reason I get up every morning and the reason the sun shines so brightly. I love you.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
P.S.Who's up for the latest Bawdy Crossword?
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.
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