Starting Here, Starting Now (Sunday brunch: January 13, 2013)

Thursday’s post about Richard Maltby and Stephen Sondheim only scratched the surface of their contributions to cryptic crosswords and to musical theatre.  I kept exploring, and discovered that while Sondheim’s book of New York magazine puzzles is long out of print (this is the book with the dodecahedron on the cover), Sondheim’s first three puzzles are posted online for posterity.  I'm going to try one of them this weekend.

Elsewhere around the puzzling scene, it’s one of those two-acrostic weeks.  The Times puzzle (by Hex as usual, with their comments over at the Wordplay blog) is behind the paywall, while the Wall Street Journal’s acrostic is a particularly literary endeavor (update 1/13" I forgot to credit Mike Shenk for constructing that puzzle).  Note that there've been issues with Java security, so you may need to reload the page or re-enable Java in order for the interactive version to work.  But do so: that applet takes all the drudgery out of acrostics.  

For cryptics, this week we’ve only got The Nation from Thursday (solution posted here Monday: hints always available in comments if you need them--and don't miss this week's installment of Word Salad) and the National Post from Saturday, which this week has a mystery constructor.  Solution and commentary on that puzzle is over at Falcon’s site.  Harpers’ for February wasn’t out yet, last I checked.

I spend a good chunk of my week going back over a Kevin Wald puzzle: "I Scrambled Here" that I’d printed out a few months ago and found while cleaning up around the house.  This one has a four-stage meta to taunt you, in case working out two-part clues or clues with anagrams inside them isn’t hard enough already.  I’ve filled the grid and solved the first two metas, but there’s a final anagram I haven’t got yet, along with a final bit of wordplay. Want to try and help? If you ask in the comments, I’ll give hints on the parts I’ve gotten so far. Then you might be able to figure out where I’ve gone wrong.

Why cryptic puzzles were invented (Puzzle No. 3,267)

Well, that title ought to get your attention (though it won't get hits like the words "New York Times solution" will).  Go read this week's Word Salad for Richard Maltby's answer, and much more.

Link to puzzle:  http://www.thenation.com/article/172069/puzzle-no-3267

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): average.  Looks hard at first, but steady work and an open mind will see you through.

Hozom's comment: "A Talk with Richard Maltby," in which we learn that Maltby served as Stephen Sondheim's understudy, going out onto the big stage at New York magazine when Sondheim had to devote full time to the production of "Company" (which opened on Broadway in 1970).  Sondheim's puzzles were collected in a book, which is sadly out of print.

Maltby finds the English language uniquely suitable for cryptic wordplay, and vice versa.   
"No other language has the opportunities for puns and linguistic misdirection. In fact, that is probably why cryptic puzzles were invented: to make a game out of the mysteries and anomalies of our language."

It took a bit of searching, but in Maltby's honor, here's a show he introduced and participated in, in honor of Sondheim's 75th birthday, featuring my school classmate Michael Cerveris.  "Wall to Wall Sondheim" (part I, part II).  I don't see Mike appearing in any numbers that Maltby himself wrote though.

Congratulations Sabers, Congratulations USA (Solution No. 3,266)

Sabers won an individual event for the first time this weekend (he went 5-0), while the USA national hockey team won the IIHF World Junior Championship.  It was a great week for USA Hockey officials too: Harry Dumas, who is an officiating instructor for us in the Atlantic District, and his partners all worked the Russia-Sweden semi-final and the Russia-Canada bronze medal game (they weren't allowed to work the gold medal game because the USA was playing in it).  Even Matt Leaf, our national director of officiating, got a piece of the bronze: he was the video replay official.  Congratulations to all of you.

Did anyone else see a sixth piece of equipment in the solutions?  It split across the two parts of a solution, but it's pretty necessary too.  All the theme answers are highlighted in the solution below.

Themework: 1a, 10a, 16a, 28a, 29a (and an honorable mention to Sabers’ other piece of equipment in 23a!)

Political content: 13a, 29a.  There might have been an opportunity to cross-reference 22d to 8d.

Musical content: 16a (disputable), 23a, 7d

Solution and annotation below the fold.

  

Final standings of the first Y14 Philly Cup fencing event of 2013:  Sabers, Storm, and Elena.

Team USA in Ufa, Russia

New York Times "Puns and Anagrams" solution 1/6/13

Welcome NYT solvers!  Come back every week for Sunday brunch and try some of the other great cryptic crosswords out there.  We have hard ones like the variety cryptics, easy ones like the weekly cryptic at the National Post, and of course Hot and Trazom's puzzles from The Nation.

This one seemed a little harder than usual, but it takes me a while to switch gears for solving Puns and Anagrams.  You can feel like a dope when the answer (or the anagram) is in plain sight, as many of them are here.  If you need a hint, or want an explanation of how a clue is supposed to be parsed, or if you have a correction (I did this from a fuzzy copy), post in the comments below.

Epiphany Vespers (Sunday brunch: January 6, 2013)

Today is Epiphany on the calendar of most Christians: commemorating the revelation of Christ to the nations, who were first represented by the Three Kings (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar: who also would make a nice set of theme puzzle entries).

For those of you of a more literary than liturgical bent, this is where Twelfth Night came from.  In Shakespeare's time, Epiphany was more of a feast of revelry than a holy day.

Epiphany is also the setting for one of the most interesting pieces of music I've ever heard: Kile Smith's Vespers (iTunes link).  Originally titled Epiphany Vespers, Kile started with seasonal psalms and chorales that wouldn't be out of place in a 16th century Lutheran worship service, and then added sections to showcase the talents of Piffaro, Philadelphia's Renaissance band, and The Crossing, a small virtuoso choir specializing in new music.  Talking with Kile after the premiere, I made note of the sixteen(!)-part harmonization in "Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn," and he said that if he'd known the choir had twenty voices, he would have written it in twenty parts!  Take a listen while you solve.  Another video about the recording is at the bottom of the post, below the fold.

"Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn," performed by the Virginia Chorale

"Epiphany" is an apt word for us solvers to use, especially when we discover the gimmick in a variety cryptic or work out a particularly challenging wordplay.  There should be several of them for you in this weekend's cryptics.

The New York Times (behind the paywall) has a Puns and Anagrams this week.  I'll post the solution here Sunday.

Wall Street Journal puzzle editor Mike Shenk takes up the pencil himself this week to offer us another of his Spell Weaving crosswords.  Clue 1 is quite fitting.  I find these puzzles pretty easy: would anyone like to try it on a grid with the numbers blanked out?  Look below the fold for a blank grid

Ucaoimhu (Kevin Wald) is overdue for a mention in this blog: he creates variety cryptics that are hard enough for the National Puzzlers' League.  His latest creation is called The Little Marathon Thing.  It's got altered clues, a clue that you need to solve the rest of the puzzle to complete, and a reward for you at the end.  Use the comments below if you want any hints.

The weekly cryptic by Hex is in the National Post.  Falcon has the puzzle and solution for you at his blog: natpostcryptic.blogspot.com.

Below the fold: 

• Interview with Donald Nally about Kile Smith's Vespers
• Numberless grid for Spell Weaving crossword!
• Comments and hint requests

The equipment bag (Puzzle No. 3,266)

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/crossword2013121-puzzle3266.pdf  (direct link: I had problems with the usual puzzle post).

Hozom's comment: "Puzzling Resolutions" in which Hot and Trazom share their New Year's resolutions.  Let me add one more: everyone bring at least one new solver into the fold this year.


This week's puzzle from Hot and Trazom has an appropriate collection of equipment, so it's an appropriate time to dig into my equipment bag.  Besides the striped sweater, skates and helmet, we refs wear a protective girdle, shin guards, and elbow pads.   While I don't wear contact lenses any more, I've kept the little bag I used to store them in.  It's handy not just to keep the small stuff from getting lost in my equipment bag, but also to carry it out to the scorer's table in case I need it.  What's there?

• Spare whistle (the most important item: sometimes your whistle freezes up or the finger-clamp gets bent; I've also lent that spare to rookie partners who have a cheesy-sounding whistle instead of an Acme or a Fox 40).
• Spare skate laces, plus cut-up pieces to fix the nets.
• Skate sharpener, in case one of my blades loses an edge.
• "Riot pad" and pencil (we call a little notebook a "riot pad" because it's needed when a brawl breaks out and we need to record who did what when so we can remember it for our post-game report).
• Ibuprofen (headache pills are the next thing you need after you use the riot pad).
• Tape measure (mine has a little paper taped on the side with all the equipment limits printed on it so I don't have to memorize them).
• Safety pins.
• Lock and key for the referees' dressing room.
• Tissues and lip balm.

How about the puzzler's equipment bag?  As it happens, there's not a bag per se, but I'm fussy about that equipment as I am with the hockey gear.  The most important item is a clipboard, on which I can keep all the puzzles that aren't done yet.  And in the interest of domestic tranquility, I have a book light I can clip to it so I can finish a puzzle at night without bothering The Other Doctor Mitchell. 

As for writing tools: different implements for different puzzles.

• The Nation cryptic: red felt-tip pen (so I can solve while I'm on a walk)
• National Post cryptic, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, other block puzzles: blue gel pen 
• Variety puzzles, Samurai Sudoku: mechanical pencil (I'm partial to the cheap little Cadoozles from Zebra Pen*) and a big polymer eraser.
• Financial Times cryptic: purple gel pen (for some reason, this stands out a little more against the pink paper and black ink)

*--you think this zebra would use any other brand?  There was a Zebra Pen ad on the boards at the Meadowlands: I always thought it should have been at the referee's crease.

Cockney Rhyming Slang?

While we're debating what's fair and what's not, how about Cockney rhyming slang?  Sleuth setting for the Financial Times (puzzle No. 14,193) thinks it's OK.  Here's the clue and the intersecting letter I managed to get (*):

19a  Roughage about to follow pork pie. (5)  _ _ B _ _

Can you figure it out?  Answer is below the fold.

Rhyming slang is certainly unfamiliar to us Americans, but would you be OK with a themed puzzle using rhyming slang in each of the theme answers?  Cryptic solvers tend to like this kind of fun with words, so I think it would be OK as long as solvers are warned what to expect.  While rhyming slang was originated to conceal vulgar words, I don't think it would work in the locker room or on the ice here.  Even slightly intelligent humor tends to fly over the players and coaches heads.  

*--I liked the intersecting clue as well

20d  It might describe a lair a nob planned? (8)