This weekend’s Wall Street Journal variety puzzle is by Mike Shenk and is called Alternations. The words form a spiral in the grid, and alternating letters from that spiral form two more sequences of words. The grid includes numbers for placing the main words, but if you want more of a challenge, try doing it in this grid, which has no numbers.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Wall Street Journal solution: Nov. 8, 2014
Below the fold is the solution to this weekend’s Wall Street Journal variety puzzle: Alternations by Mike Shenk.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Patterns (Puzzle No. 3,344)
(Sorry for the delay finishing the post: I had a battery problem.)
Do you find yourself following a pattern when you solve? All the acrosses first? Outside to inside? Or maybe no pattern: just solve whatever clue your eye falls on? When I solve straight cryptics I usually try to challenge myself by making a chain: only solving clues that intersect answers I’ve already got instead of picking off the easy ones first. For some reason, I did this one acrosses first though.
What’s your solving routine? Share it in the comments.
Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/188105/puzzle-no-3344
Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): easy
Hozom’s comment: Rising to the Surface, in which Hot and Trazom explain what makes a clue read well: the natural (non-cryptic) reading of a clue is called the surface. They also share a few clinkers. When I try cluing, I usually overdo it on shaping the surface.
Weekly cluing challenge (at Word Salad): MILLIONS, OREGANO, and PARODY—a three-way challenge (the aforementioned clinkers)
Back with the solution Monday. Join us this weekend for Sunday brunch: there’s a great variety cryptic on the menu.
Do you find yourself following a pattern when you solve? All the acrosses first? Outside to inside? Or maybe no pattern: just solve whatever clue your eye falls on? When I solve straight cryptics I usually try to challenge myself by making a chain: only solving clues that intersect answers I’ve already got instead of picking off the easy ones first. For some reason, I did this one acrosses first though.
What’s your solving routine? Share it in the comments.
Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/188105/puzzle-no-3344
Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): easy
Hozom’s comment: Rising to the Surface, in which Hot and Trazom explain what makes a clue read well: the natural (non-cryptic) reading of a clue is called the surface. They also share a few clinkers. When I try cluing, I usually overdo it on shaping the surface.
Weekly cluing challenge (at Word Salad): MILLIONS, OREGANO, and PARODY—a three-way challenge (the aforementioned clinkers)
Back with the solution Monday. Join us this weekend for Sunday brunch: there’s a great variety cryptic on the menu.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Body contact (Solution No. 3,343)
The solution and annotation of The Nation puzzle no. 3,343 is below the fold.
In the latest edition of their rulebook, USA Hockey redesignated its checking and non-checking categories “Body Checking” and “Body Contact.” I applauded the change because there is plenty of banging and crashing in the non-checking levels, and it might cut down on parents who scream at the ref because someone hit their kid and he’s down on the ice.
Of course you’re not supposed to body-check the ref at any level of hockey, but we take our lumps too. One of the more dangerous times for a referee is when the puck gets dumped in over the blue line and players are chasing it. Normally, I bump out away from the boards to give the defenseman a straight line to the puck; otherwise, the players try to go through me rather than around. This time though, there was also a forward chasing, and he didn’t expect me to make the move. He hit me at full speed and I got rocked. That’s why we wear all that protective equipment.
D players are such bad skaters that if you can’t get out of their way, it’s time to retire. Cs will run into you, but more often than not, they’re the one who lands on the ice. Senior As are good skaters, and if you get in their way, they shove you aside and drop a few four-letter words on the way. Bs have all the size and speed, but not the agility, which is a recipe for collisions. We should get combat pay at that level.
This week’s puzzle referred to a much less physical pastime. Read on to find out what one...
In the latest edition of their rulebook, USA Hockey redesignated its checking and non-checking categories “Body Checking” and “Body Contact.” I applauded the change because there is plenty of banging and crashing in the non-checking levels, and it might cut down on parents who scream at the ref because someone hit their kid and he’s down on the ice.
Of course you’re not supposed to body-check the ref at any level of hockey, but we take our lumps too. One of the more dangerous times for a referee is when the puck gets dumped in over the blue line and players are chasing it. Normally, I bump out away from the boards to give the defenseman a straight line to the puck; otherwise, the players try to go through me rather than around. This time though, there was also a forward chasing, and he didn’t expect me to make the move. He hit me at full speed and I got rocked. That’s why we wear all that protective equipment.
D players are such bad skaters that if you can’t get out of their way, it’s time to retire. Cs will run into you, but more often than not, they’re the one who lands on the ice. Senior As are good skaters, and if you get in their way, they shove you aside and drop a few four-letter words on the way. Bs have all the size and speed, but not the agility, which is a recipe for collisions. We should get combat pay at that level.
This week’s puzzle referred to a much less physical pastime. Read on to find out what one...
Sunday, November 2, 2014
A Great Game (Sunday brunch: November 2, 2014)
Seeing as how Election Day is this Tuesday, I figured I should read one of the new books by a prominent politician. No, not one of the people angling for the 2016 presidential nomination. The author isn’t even American: it’s Stephen J. Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.
Though his degree is in economics, Harper has long had an interest in history. Being a native of the Toronto area, he’s an avid Maple Leafs fan. When the Society for International Hockey Research was formed, it inspired Harper to pursue that avocation. He says the research and writing for the project, which began in 2004, was a pleasant release from the stress of politics and work in Parliament. He had assistance in researching the book’s contents, but the writing is all Harper’s.
A Great Game: the Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey is centered on the emergence of professional hockey in Toronto, from the beginnings of the Ontario Hockey Association around the turn of the century to the first Stanley Cup for Toronto, won by the Blue Shirts in 1914. Much centers on the tension between the ideals of amateurism in sport and the rise of professional sport as popular entertainment. This story, which played out in other sports too, like golf and football, was driven by rising prosperity and the emergence of a middle class. The upper class no longer had a monopoly on sport or other leisure-time activities.
In the manner of the best popular history books, A Great Game is both scholarly and accessible. There are plenty of anecdotes to illustrate the ways of life before the Great War, and intriguing bits of hockey history like the introduction of goal nets and the practice of dropping the puck in a face-off instead of laying it on the ice (which is how face-offs are conducted in lacrosse, which was an equally big sport in Canada at the time). Harper also does a nice job fleshing out the main characters: not just the players, but the association presidents and promoters too.
Quotes from newspaper stories of the time knock down the myth that society’s preoccupation with sports is a modern thing: only fans gathered around newspaper and telegraph offices for play by play instead of around a television screen. The parade welcoming a returning Stanley Cup challenger, even in defeat, was just as much of an event then as it is now. That points to the only shortcoming of A Great Game: though it is well-illustrated, I would have liked to see more photographs of games and of the surrounding hoopla.
Amateur or professional, try solving these crosswords...
The highlight of the weekend is Hex’s variety cryptic in the Wall Street Journal: Spoonermania. I don’t think I need to say any more other than some of the clue types will be obvious. But a few aren’t so much, and in case those give you trouble, I have hints posted. The solution is also up Hex also have their usual straight cryptic in the National Post (blogged by Falcon). More moderate difficulty than easy, but a smooth solve. If you remember Hex’s fondness for second definitions, you’ll do well.
More straight cryptics are found in the Globe and Mail, and Down Under courtesy of the Stickler. I found the latter to be a tough one, but I got through it.
BEQ posted a new Marching Bands he brought to Crosswords LA as a bonus for the entrants. Small (11 x 11 instead of the usual 13 x 13) but creative as BEQ’s work always is. The other puzzles from that tournament (all straight crosswords, I think) are available for just five bucks, proceeds going to charity.
The New York Times variety puzzle is an acrostic, blogged (with spoilers) by Deb Amlen at Wordplay.
Though his degree is in economics, Harper has long had an interest in history. Being a native of the Toronto area, he’s an avid Maple Leafs fan. When the Society for International Hockey Research was formed, it inspired Harper to pursue that avocation. He says the research and writing for the project, which began in 2004, was a pleasant release from the stress of politics and work in Parliament. He had assistance in researching the book’s contents, but the writing is all Harper’s.
A Great Game: the Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey is centered on the emergence of professional hockey in Toronto, from the beginnings of the Ontario Hockey Association around the turn of the century to the first Stanley Cup for Toronto, won by the Blue Shirts in 1914. Much centers on the tension between the ideals of amateurism in sport and the rise of professional sport as popular entertainment. This story, which played out in other sports too, like golf and football, was driven by rising prosperity and the emergence of a middle class. The upper class no longer had a monopoly on sport or other leisure-time activities.
In the manner of the best popular history books, A Great Game is both scholarly and accessible. There are plenty of anecdotes to illustrate the ways of life before the Great War, and intriguing bits of hockey history like the introduction of goal nets and the practice of dropping the puck in a face-off instead of laying it on the ice (which is how face-offs are conducted in lacrosse, which was an equally big sport in Canada at the time). Harper also does a nice job fleshing out the main characters: not just the players, but the association presidents and promoters too.
Quotes from newspaper stories of the time knock down the myth that society’s preoccupation with sports is a modern thing: only fans gathered around newspaper and telegraph offices for play by play instead of around a television screen. The parade welcoming a returning Stanley Cup challenger, even in defeat, was just as much of an event then as it is now. That points to the only shortcoming of A Great Game: though it is well-illustrated, I would have liked to see more photographs of games and of the surrounding hoopla.
Amateur or professional, try solving these crosswords...
The highlight of the weekend is Hex’s variety cryptic in the Wall Street Journal: Spoonermania. I don’t think I need to say any more other than some of the clue types will be obvious. But a few aren’t so much, and in case those give you trouble, I have hints posted. The solution is also up Hex also have their usual straight cryptic in the National Post (blogged by Falcon). More moderate difficulty than easy, but a smooth solve. If you remember Hex’s fondness for second definitions, you’ll do well.
More straight cryptics are found in the Globe and Mail, and Down Under courtesy of the Stickler. I found the latter to be a tough one, but I got through it.
BEQ posted a new Marching Bands he brought to Crosswords LA as a bonus for the entrants. Small (11 x 11 instead of the usual 13 x 13) but creative as BEQ’s work always is. The other puzzles from that tournament (all straight crosswords, I think) are available for just five bucks, proceeds going to charity.
The New York Times variety puzzle is an acrostic, blogged (with spoilers) by Deb Amlen at Wordplay.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Wall Street Journal hint: November 1, 2014
Need a hint for this weekend’s Wall Street Journal variety puzzle? In this puzzle, 12 entries have a Spoonerism in their clues, 12 others have their answers Spoonerized before entry, and the rest are normal.
Below the fold, I've posted a table of which entries have altered clues, which have altered answers, and which are normal. If you want to find out which group a particular entry is, click and drag over the box next to its location.
Below the fold, I've posted a table of which entries have altered clues, which have altered answers, and which are normal. If you want to find out which group a particular entry is, click and drag over the box next to its location.
Wall Street Journal solution: November 1, 2014
Below the fold is the solution to this weekend’s Wall Street Journal puzzle: Spoonermania, a variety cryptic by Hex.
Did you solve the Richard Maltby variety cryptic from Harper’s? It’s linked in the latest edition of Sunday brunch.
Did you solve the Richard Maltby variety cryptic from Harper’s? It’s linked in the latest edition of Sunday brunch.
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