This is the crossword puzzle thread

Total pro-level theme on that one, too!

Ha, I sort of wrote that one with you in mind, N!

The "Paris's friend" clue, I mean.

I had to look that one up after I got the answer, I don't watch that show.

At first I thought it was going to be some Trojan warrior. But I saw the show out of the corner of my eye enough when my wife was watching it to figure it out.

I alread e-mailed this to jaymc:

Haha, on your crossword, I initially had CLASH OF THE TITS (crossing with CUTS DOWN)! I know it's CLASH OF THE TANS and GUNS DOWN now. It works with the theme, though!

Derived from CLASH OF THE TITITS?

Suddenly I feel like Jordan knows some way of spelling "titties" that I don't

Ha. Well, that was the first theme answer I got and I thought the theme was maybe just removing two letters.

Yeah, it does kind of work both ways! If only there were an old book about fashion trends and female body shapes, entitled CLASH OF THE "IT" TITS

Just finished this week's Ink Well puzzle. Jordan, let me know when you've done it, because I want to complain. :)

Do you guys do the Harper's crossword puzzle too? Cause I always look at that thing in wonder.

That's on the other thread The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

Also just found this in the archives Favorite Oldschool NY TImes Crossword Clues

Was I drunk that day? How did I miss that thread. Gah.

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?

eagles

Don Henle y

Yesterday's NYT theme was gay.

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.

Or I can put it up on Flickr, too -- just give me a day or two.

E-mail it to me! My first name, then my last name, then @gmail.com. Or whatever address you have for me.

Generally assume you can/should e-mail them to me.

Sent.

All I can recall from my crosswording era is that any clue regarding sea eagles has the answer: erne.

Aimless, see the link about a dozen posts up.

The local syndicated easy one has the classic "fruity drinks" clue every other day.

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.

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.

EWER.

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.

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.

We forgot "case=E---" on the other thread.

Is that ETUI?

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

Jaymc, I will print out your new one for my flight on Fri.

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.

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.

i don't know what a "cryptic crossword" is.

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

interesting!

Here's another type of clue, called a container I think:

Foot gets bandage for side (5)

Facet = F(ACE)T

There's totally a mistake in this week's Tausig puzzle.

I'll bet Mel Taub wouldn't have made a mistake.

I did it today, what's the mistake?

yeah good puzzle today!

40-down is the name of a character in dune messiah iirc

wow

i guess you no longer need the weirding module

Tomorrow's NYT theme is reminiscent of a puzzle I submitted to them 15 years ago, which was rejected.

Mine:

Full-grown frontiersman?: FOX CARSON
Full-grown rock musician?: KOALA RAMONE
Full-grown inventor?: SAMUEL HORSE
Full-grown actor?: RYAN GOOSE

NYT, 4/16/24:

*Actor who played Oscar Wilde in "Wilde" [fish]: STEPHEN FRY
*Inventor who patented the first revolver [stallion]: SAMUEL COLT
*English essayist who wrote "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once" [ram]: CHARLES LAMB
*Mouseketeer peer of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake [gander]: RYAN GOSLING
*Certain immature adult … with a hint to both halves of the answers to each starred clue: MAN BABY

Today's puzzle is admittedly better, conceptually -- but it's funny now to remember that one of the reasons I was given for why my puzzle was rejected was that Ryan Gosling wasn't famous enough.