Saturday, October 27, 2012
Clue writing contest! (Sunday brunch: October 28, 2012)
Harper's has a new website, and Richard Maltby's November puzzle is posted, still missing the clue for 12d (answer: ALAS). Are you one of those who wonders if he or she could ever construct a puzzle like that? Now's your chance. Create a clue for that missing one and post it in the comments for everyone's enjoyment.
Want variety crosswords? There are two good ones this weekend. First is Seven Sages by Patrick Berry in the weekend Wall Street Journal. This is one of the ones with two rings of seven-letter words interlocking with each other, leading to a thematic quotation around the outside. The editors have made the puzzle a little easier by telling you whether each word is entered clockwise or counterclockwise, but you still have to figure out the starting point from intersecting words. You'll need at least three adjoining words to start filling in
The New York Times puzzle this weekend is Ring Toss, by Mark Halpin, to whom we were just introduced last week. It's a format I haven't seen before, with a 12 by 12 grid of acrosses intersecting eight-letter rings, and the letters enclosed by the rings spelling out a theme answer. Deb Amlen has comments at Wordplay.
And as usual, Hex will have their cryptic in the National Post and Falcon will have his solution and comments over at natpostcryptic.blogspot.com.
Start submitting your clues: I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The Game is Complete
"The Game is Complete." Cliff Johnson has finally finished The Fool and His Money, and you can buy and download(*) it now. Make sure your weekend is clear and you don't have any appointments or commitments you mustn't miss, because you won't want to leave the computer until you've completed the game.
It's already been blurbed by Stephen Sondheim, who had the privilege of being an alpha tester: he said the puzzles are "challenging in just the right way." The art is enchanting, even for those of you who weren't around in 1987 and don't recall the bitmapped graphics of those days.
It's typo month (Puzzle No. 3,258)
Puzzle Number 3,258 is posted at The Nation.
As currently posted, the typesetters misnumbered the clues to 20a (shown as 21a) and 21a (shown as 22a), but those are the only errors in the puzzle. I repeat, those are the only errors. This comes on the heels of a clue (12d) being omitted from Richard Maltby's puzzle in the November Harper's, and my not finding the theme in last week's puzzle, so it proves we're all human. And as Ian told us at training camp, perfection is elusive but excellence is not.
Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/170780/puzzle-no-3258
Degree of difficulty: hard, but no obscure words.
Hozom's comment: In Defense of Simplicity: in which Hot and Trazom explain why you shouldn't set a cryptic where all the clues are hard (at least not for a general audience like that of The Nation). Once you've got the solvers hooked and reeled into the National Puzzlers' League, anything (and everything) goes!
I'm entirely in agreement. First of all, it's good to have puzzles you can put down and pick up and not have to devote 100 percent of your mindpower to. The National Post cryptic fits that bill perfectly for me, so I solved this week's between rounds at the fencing tournament Ssaber was competing in Sunday. A couple of the other competitors were curious, so I showed them a couple of the easy clues and how they were solved. They seemed to get it, and I promised to bring them a copy of their own next time.
Political content: Name check of a The Nation colleague at 7d, with a coinage for the old-school liberalism, 25a
Composer reference: 17a
Solution and annotation below the fold
As currently posted, the typesetters misnumbered the clues to 20a (shown as 21a) and 21a (shown as 22a), but those are the only errors in the puzzle. I repeat, those are the only errors. This comes on the heels of a clue (12d) being omitted from Richard Maltby's puzzle in the November Harper's, and my not finding the theme in last week's puzzle, so it proves we're all human. And as Ian told us at training camp, perfection is elusive but excellence is not.
Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/170780/puzzle-no-3258
Degree of difficulty: hard, but no obscure words.
Hozom's comment: In Defense of Simplicity: in which Hot and Trazom explain why you shouldn't set a cryptic where all the clues are hard (at least not for a general audience like that of The Nation). Once you've got the solvers hooked and reeled into the National Puzzlers' League, anything (and everything) goes!
I'm entirely in agreement. First of all, it's good to have puzzles you can put down and pick up and not have to devote 100 percent of your mindpower to. The National Post cryptic fits that bill perfectly for me, so I solved this week's between rounds at the fencing tournament Ssaber was competing in Sunday. A couple of the other competitors were curious, so I showed them a couple of the easy clues and how they were solved. They seemed to get it, and I promised to bring them a copy of their own next time.
Political content: Name check of a The Nation colleague at 7d, with a coinage for the old-school liberalism, 25a
Composer reference: 17a
Solution and annotation below the fold
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Harpers solution (Sunday brunch: October 21, 2012)
It's a two-acrostic weekend this weekend: Mike Shenk in the Wall Street Journal and Hex in the New York Times.
Fortunately for cryptic solvers, the Harper's crossword by Richard Maltby landed in mailboxes and libraries this week. As noted last month, their online edition seems to lag the print version, curious as that is. A solution for you is below the fold. There are three unclued answers that fit a theme, but I don't think that's enough to hang a "variety cryptic" label on it, so I didn't.
Watch for the National Post Cryptic over at Falcon's blog.
Want more puzzles? Click over to this week's The Nation post and get to know Mark Halpin. He's got Sondheim-themed cryptics and some National Puzzlers' League creations to keep you busy.
Fortunately for cryptic solvers, the Harper's crossword by Richard Maltby landed in mailboxes and libraries this week. As noted last month, their online edition seems to lag the print version, curious as that is. A solution for you is below the fold. There are three unclued answers that fit a theme, but I don't think that's enough to hang a "variety cryptic" label on it, so I didn't.
Watch for the National Post Cryptic over at Falcon's blog.
Want more puzzles? Click over to this week's The Nation post and get to know Mark Halpin. He's got Sondheim-themed cryptics and some National Puzzlers' League creations to keep you busy.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Take a trip to Baker Street (Puzzle No. 3,257)
Earlier this week I suggested a trip over to England for a specially-themed puzzle in the Financial Times. Conveniently, Hot and Trazom offer us a puzzle this week that follows the British style, plus has a fitting theme. Solve this one and then go give that FT puzzle a try. You might not be able to finish it, but British cryptics often don't need to be finished to be rewarding.
Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/170603/puzzle-no-3257
Hozom's comment: Cryptically, Stephen Sondheim, in which we meet Mark Halpin, theatre designer and cryptic constructor. He links those two neatly by creating puzzles on themes from Stephen Sondheim shows: twenty, so far! Good thing Sondheim was such a prolific (and singable) composer: we should have lots more of those puzzles in our future. As an encore, he's also created mind-bending variety cryptics for the National Puzzlers' League. There he goes by the nom "Zebraboy."
Want another interesting coincidence? Like Cliff Johnson, creator of the puzzle games The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three, Halpin has also designed attractions for theme parks. Cliff's new game The Fool and His Money is still scheduled for release later this month: keep your fingers crossed.
Degree of difficulty: hard if you're not used to the British style.
Themework: took me a while to find the theme answers and I'm still not sure I got them right--I was misdirected and trying to find literary references.
Composer references: no composers, but you do get a bit of music notation in 5a.
Political content: Emile Zola (21d) was a French intellectual who broke open the Dreyfus Affair.
Solution and annotation below the fold.
Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/170603/puzzle-no-3257
Hozom's comment: Cryptically, Stephen Sondheim, in which we meet Mark Halpin, theatre designer and cryptic constructor. He links those two neatly by creating puzzles on themes from Stephen Sondheim shows: twenty, so far! Good thing Sondheim was such a prolific (and singable) composer: we should have lots more of those puzzles in our future. As an encore, he's also created mind-bending variety cryptics for the National Puzzlers' League. There he goes by the nom "Zebraboy."
Want another interesting coincidence? Like Cliff Johnson, creator of the puzzle games The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three, Halpin has also designed attractions for theme parks. Cliff's new game The Fool and His Money is still scheduled for release later this month: keep your fingers crossed.
Degree of difficulty: hard if you're not used to the British style.
Themework: took me a while to find the theme answers and I'm still not sure I got them right--I was misdirected and trying to find literary references.
Composer references: no composers, but you do get a bit of music notation in 5a.
Political content: Emile Zola (21d) was a French intellectual who broke open the Dreyfus Affair.
Solution and annotation below the fold.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
It was fifty years ago today... (In the Pink)
FT crossword No. 14,132, by Hamilton, is worth your downloading and having a go at. The key is the theme answer at 24a. Once you have that, the other theme answers are a romp. Solution and annotation over at Fifteensquared, by a blogger known appropriately enough as "Ringo."
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Work vs. play (Sunday brunch: October 14, 2012)
In the shameless pursuit of traffic (and new solvers for the The Nation cryptic), I've already posted the solution to the NYT variety puzzle, a straight cryptic by Rosalie Moscovitch. I thought the puzzle was something of a grind (which was Deb Amlen's conclusion about one of Moscovitch's earlier works). Deb's blog will include her commentary on this puzzle Sunday.
If you're a regular solver of the Times puzzles, welcome. I think you'll find this week's cryptic in The Nation to be a much more rewarding use of your time. It's about equal in difficulty, but the cluing is much more artful. You'll feel you've had a recreation, instead of a chore.
Patrick Berry is equally artful in the construction of his puzzles. Solvers over at the Wall Street Journal were raving about his latest one, called "Telescopes." Not only has he checked every letter both across and down, there's a quote that emerges at the end. That's amazing.
The regular weekly cryptic in the National Post is blogged by Falcon. This week's puzzle has three fifteens and a couple of question marks, so it should be an interesting solve.
If you're a regular solver of the Times puzzles, welcome. I think you'll find this week's cryptic in The Nation to be a much more rewarding use of your time. It's about equal in difficulty, but the cluing is much more artful. You'll feel you've had a recreation, instead of a chore.
Patrick Berry is equally artful in the construction of his puzzles. Solvers over at the Wall Street Journal were raving about his latest one, called "Telescopes." Not only has he checked every letter both across and down, there's a quote that emerges at the end. That's amazing.
The regular weekly cryptic in the National Post is blogged by Falcon. This week's puzzle has three fifteens and a couple of question marks, so it should be an interesting solve.
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