I am very happy to make two announcements this week: both made possible by our friends at The Nation.
First, I’ve been granted permission to republish a selection of Frank Lewis puzzles from The Nation, which we’ll do on the weeks this summer when The Nation does not publish, starting today. So there’ll be a new puzzle for you each week: here or at thenation.com. And for those of you who couldn’t get a copy of 1,634, I’ll post one here later on.
Second, on the off-weeks for The Nation and for Word Salad, the weekly cluing challenge (which has really picked up steam the last few weeks) is going to be hosted here(*). So in honor of our summer study subject, your answer is FRANK LEWIS. Bonus applause from your fellow solvers if you can work something from Frank’s life into your clue, or create a clue in Frank’s style.
*--separate posts so your clues and discussion of the old puzzle will be in separate threads.
Our old setter was a bold trailblazer
ReplyDeleteBeloved wordsmith of the nation, Poor Richard wasn’t popular, but wise putting the end first.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I liked that, there's so much I tried to put in there that I thought of it as a “kitchen sink” clue. Hot, is it a common fault of novice clue-setters to try and do too much?
DeleteIn my years as co-editor of the cryptics in The Enigma, I've edited master cluers like Kevin Wald (aka Ucaoimhu,) and Trip Payne (aka Qaqaq) but also many, many novices. In my experience, the biggest weakness in novice setters' clues is overly transparent wordplay. That is not the problem with your clue! Nor has it been an issue with the participants in the Word Salad cluing challenges -- quite the opposite!
DeleteLifer wanks off to cryptic legend
ReplyDeleteSome might have a problem with the connector--other than that, I can't imagine any objections ;)
(Seriously though, I'll understand completely if you want to delete this as a sully to your blog, Braze. Just having fun.)
Mike K.
Well, I'll tag it "working blue." Hot, do you know whether Frank hewed to the Maleska standard of propriety?
DeleteI solved his puzzles for maybe 30 years, and never saw a clue that would fail Will Shortz's "breakfast table test". Hundreds of clues one could complain about, but not because of lack of propriety.
Delete