That's on the other thread The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 14:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Also just found this in the archives Favorite Oldschool NY TImes Crossword Clues
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 14:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Was I drunk that day? How did I miss that thread. Gah.
― Casuistry, Thursday, 3 January 2008 19:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Maleska thought he was making the world a better place by getting people familiar with variant spellings of AERIE. If he didn't preserve such knowledge, who would?
― Casuistry, Thursday, 3 January 2008 19:30 (sixteen years ago) link
eagles
― nabisco, Thursday, 3 January 2008 19:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Don Henle y
Yesterday's NYT theme was gay.
― Jordan, Thursday, 3 January 2008 19:36 (sixteen years ago) link
I did a new puzzle and put it in Across Lite (.puz) format. I think it's pretty tight. I can e-mail it to anyone who's interested. Download Across Lite here first, if you don't already have it.
― jaymc, Monday, 7 January 2008 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Or I can put it up on Flickr, too -- just give me a day or two.
― jaymc, Monday, 7 January 2008 20:44 (sixteen years ago) link
E-mail it to me! My first name, then my last name, then @gmail.com. Or whatever address you have for me.
― Casuistry, Monday, 7 January 2008 23:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Generally assume you can/should e-mail them to me.
Sent.
― jaymc, Monday, 7 January 2008 23:35 (sixteen years ago) link
All I can recall from my crosswording era is that any clue regarding sea eagles has the answer: erne.
― Aimless, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 01:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Aimless, see the link about a dozen posts up.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:07 (sixteen years ago) link
The local syndicated easy one has the classic "fruity drinks" clue every other day.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:09 (sixteen years ago) link
I spent the last few days of being sick solving a book of dumbed-down xwords that the man got for me from the dollar store. Perfect way to pass the time without really having to think.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Dude but now looking at the other thread it had hell of ASTA and ESAU solutions. And some four-letter word for a water pitcher that started with EW but never bothered to look at the finished word once I'd filled in all the other clues. Another frequent one: tipple = SOT.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:13 (sixteen years ago) link
EWER.
― Casuistry, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:15 (sixteen years ago) link
A lot of the crosswords I'm like, "I couldn't do 1/7 of these clues had I not known the bible so well as a youth." Then they throw some "Desperate Housewives" clue at me and fuck if I don't feel like an old, old, old person.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:18 (sixteen years ago) link
I feel totally lame, jaymc, for having a hard time making my own Jumble puzzles after reading yr breezy description of how you throw together a themed crossword.
― Abbott, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 02:21 (sixteen years ago) link
We forgot "case=E---" on the other thread.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 03:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Is that ETUI?
― Casuistry, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 03:41 (sixteen years ago) link
I tried to play that in Scrabble recently, except I think I thought it was EPUI.
I can't find EPUI in an English or French dictionary, but you do get quite a few google hits for it.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 03:50 (sixteen years ago) link
OK, newest one now on Flickr. Have been v. busy with playing music in the last week, but I've got a good theme idea I'd like to work with soon.
― jaymc, Monday, 14 January 2008 23:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Sorry, it's late, that perhaps wasn't clear. The link goes to the puzzle I made a week ago and already sent to Casuistry and robotsinlove in Across Lite format. (I've also revised some clues based on their suggestions.) I wasn't able to make a new one this weekend but hopefully soon.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 00:00 (sixteen years ago) link
I kinda dislike the structure of American xword puzzles, because of the way they so often seem more like sets of mini-crosswords that have a single words linking them to one another. I do enjoy doing them from time to time though. Norwegian ones tend to be a lot more interlinked, which I suppose makes them a bit easier once you get going. That's not a rip on your crossword btw, jaymc, just a general petty gripe.
Incidentally, is the Harper's one ridiculously difficult, or am I dumb? I only recently started subscribing to the mag, and I couldn't write a single word in the December xword!? Then I got the solution, and uh, yeah, that was surprisingly unhelpful to me for figuring out how to solve one.
In case anyone is curious, here's what a typical Norwegian crossword looks like: http://www.tema-x.com/images/702139_2_14.jpg
― Øystein, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 10:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Norwegian crosswords are some crazy shit!
Cute theme fill from the local free weekly: WWIREMOTES (instead of Wii remotes, all the theme answers had one letter changed).
― Jordan, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 16:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Jaymc, I will print out your new one for my flight on Fri.
― Jordan, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 16:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, lots of European X-words have those arrows. Øystein, re: The Harper's puzzle, you will have to practice to get those cryptic clues. If you want to post a few clues you couldn't understand, I can explain them to you. Or you can post them on the cryptic threads, and the Brits can help you too.
Also, I was going to try to do the puzzle you posted, as one of my many abandoned projects was to learn Norwegian, but I couldn't read it.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 17:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Games magazine used to run puzzles with arrows, although nothing quite as complex looking as that. It was fun enough, but having clues that fit in the boxes was a bit stifling.
But yes, cryptic puzzles like Harper's are entirely different and play by their own rules. I rarely get very far into the Harper's one.
― Casuistry, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 17:26 (sixteen years ago) link
i don't know what a "cryptic crossword" is.
― Jordan, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 22:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Cryptic clues have two parts: one part gives the meaning and the other part gives the wordplay required to construct the letters of the defined word (sometimes this is just another definition of the word). Up to solver to figure out where break between two parts is. Classic example is a clue like
City stylish in the past (7)
Chicago = CHIC + AGO
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 23:05 (sixteen years ago) link
interesting!
― Jordan, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 23:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Here's another type of clue, called a container I think:
Foot gets bandage for side (5)
Facet = F(ACE)T
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 23:19 (sixteen years ago) link
There's totally a mistake in this week's Tausig puzzle.
― jaymc, Thursday, 17 January 2008 01:24 (sixteen years ago) link
I'll bet Mel Taub wouldn't have made a mistake.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 17 January 2008 03:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I did it today, what's the mistake?
― Jordan, Thursday, 17 January 2008 04:40 (sixteen years ago) link
The coin is spelled NICKEL, not NICKLE. Although I belatedly realized that this wasn't as big of a disaster as it first seemed: he just needs to move the circle to the first E rather than the last E in SNICKERDOODLE.
― jaymc, Thursday, 17 January 2008 05:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Cruel irony: Jordan noticed a mistake in my last one. 33-Down was just mislabeled as 38-Down. I've fixed it.
― jaymc, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link
There was a giant mistake in the Tausig from ... last week, or two weeks ago, maybe. I'm just not doing it anymore. That guy sucks. I mean, nice puzzles, but I can't think of any greater failure from a crossword editor than to have significant errors in your puzzle, like, regularly! Frequently!
― nabisco, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I think I remember that one. I still like (love) the dude's sensibility to the point that I don't care about the odd error.
― Jordan, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Wait, do you remember what the mistake was, N? This is the first time I've noticed one, and I've been doing them pretty much every week for the last year. I guess what's tough is that he's his own editor.
― jaymc, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:22 (sixteen years ago) link
I can't remember, because I couldn't search up this thread to record it -- I just recall winding up with four empty squares that were completely WTF, because the words were right but they just didn't cross that way! Basically like the nickel/nickle thing, where one letter is a square over and a tiny region is just plain wrong.
There's another one I do remember, although I didn't bother with it long enough to decide if it was a puzzle error or mine -- it had to do with the birthplace of the first UN Secretary General.
― nabisco, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, wait, no, I figured that one out eventually.
― nabisco, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link
sounds like maybe you were RONG on the first one, nabs!
― Jordan, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:48 (sixteen years ago) link
unless you are talking about this?
Speaking of Tausig puzzles: the numbering of the clues in the Onion one this week (the sports issue) is completely off!
-- nabisco, Saturday, December 29, 2007 10:37 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Link
― Jordan, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:49 (sixteen years ago) link
No, it was not numbering: it was a letter in the wrong square. I know, I know, I assumed I just had something wrong, but there comes a point where it's like no, obviously these are the answers, they've just don't actually cross right, because someone placed a letter wrong!
― nabisco, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Jaymc's completing without noticing makes me sound wrong, I know
― nabisco, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Which one was it? Now I'm curious, because I've been keeping up with the puzzles too and I don't remember anything like that.
http://groups.google.com/group/inkwell
― Jordan, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:55 (sixteen years ago) link