This is the crossword puzzle thread

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/257848457_24bcb4bcec.jpg

I was scared going in after reading jaymc's friend's blog, but today's wasn't so bad.

But today's I could not finish.

By which I mean I got nowhere on the SE and next to nowhere on the NW.

But Saturday's was a lot better.

Constructed a pretty solid grid yesterday with one exception that I can't seem to get out of: OHER.

Here's hoping that Michael Oher becomes a huge NFL star and/or The Blind Side becomes a buzzed-about box-office hit. I might just have to wait a few months to find out.

uh, something about an Ohio emergency room?

i dunno if "Subject of Michael Lewis's 'The Blind Side'" is a terrible clue so long as its not crossed w/ anything else as obscure

I kinda wish we could all see that corner and try to do something with it

I'll e-mail the .puz file if anyone wants to see it.

Wait, I've got it:

66. Response you might make after someone spends ten minutes going "oh c'mon, you know, that one show, it was really popular, on Thursday, like a drama, you know that one guy was on it, that guy that was in those Las Vegas movies, and for a while there was that one woman ..."

^^ haha actually you'd have to remove the "oh" from the beginning of that clue

max OTM--referencing the Michael Lewis dude doesn't seem that obscure or tough

Chicago airport changes from a rabbit to a woman

haha "rapper Nelly's favorite Chicago airport"

wouldnt that be oherr

xxp No? OK. I read the excerpt of the book that was in the NYT Magazine in 2006, but I couldn't tell how well-known he was. He might end up being a boon to crossword constructors.

I know some constructors got excited when this movie came out:
http://sachem.suffolk.lib.ny.us/Reel_Rebels/images/post_iousa_crop.png

haha "rapper Nelly's favorite Chicago airport"

In fairness, though, I think it would be Midway, because he can get a good deal on Southwest coming from St. Louis.

ben tausig is killin' it these week with the funny clues (in the inkwell and av club puzzles).

3. ybaB eman taht yltnecer emaceb yrev ralupop, yllaicepse htiw lacilegnave snaitsirhC

50. Runs around naked covered in feathers, or whatever, for the privilege of living in a house that smells like Busch light

23. Norwegian king who...oh, as if you know anything about Norwegian kings

43. Country that recently certified its election results, thus forever ending any doubt about the legitimacy thereof, totally

also the av club puzzle gets points for using "SABIAN" as an answer, finally

these = this

those are like cryptic clues!

3. ybaB eman

Ha, I especially appreciate #3 (although I was reading that as "eBay name" at first and was confused).

(Although tbf, the AV Club puzzle this week was constructed by Francis Heaney. I don't know to what extent Tausig changes the clues, but I'd guess it's less so than Shortz does.)

NEVAEH, RUSHES, IRAN, and is other one just kinda "fill in the Norwegian king name that winds up fitting?"

oh sorry that's THIS week, didn't mean to spoil

xp OLAF or OLAV, presumably.

yeah i didn't want to post spoilery answers. but as long as you're ruining it, i also like "male singer the italians used to go nuts for" for CASTRATO.

i'm sorry :(

NYT article about puzzles disappearing from newspapers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/fashion/12puzzle.html

Oddest quote:
Dunn Miller, a 64-year-old librarian from Oakland, Calif., who was attending the National Puzzlers League convention in Baltimore last week, spoke of losing The Puzzler in terms usually reserved for the breakup of a favorite band, like the Beatles.

“It’s like, why are they murdering us?” she asked. “We’re losing one of our stars. It’s like if some great athlete, Dennis Eckersley, were told by the manager he had to leave early and he couldn’t play for anyone else.”

Dennis Eckersley is the first example that comes to her mind of a great athlete??

(Oh, I notice now that she's from Oakland. Still.)

I for one will miss The Puzzler. Hopefully Henry and Emily will find an outlet somewhere else.

Hey look.

Yeah, but you saw what amateurist said about him.

I have now.

yes

I made a crossword puzzle for Marbles: The Brain Store, a local chain that sells educational games and toys. It's a pretty easy one, I should think (especially since the site gives a hint about the theme).

nice! the linked down clues are good ones.

Anyone notice the glaring factual error in this week's Ink Well puzzle?

ha: is it worth making a point of doing the puzzle later?

Sure. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Tausig just needed to have changed "won an Oscar" to "nominated for an Oscar" in the clue.

the warren beatty one?

xp

Yeah.

OOXTEPLERNON!

Good article in Slate by Matt Gaffney about how easy it is for crossword constructors to duplicate each other's themes.

Do you do Matt Gaffney's puzzle, jaymc?

Just saw this article for the first time: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/fashion/12puzzle.html?_r=1

I used to, but I got too busy to keep up with it. After he published this puzzle a few months ago, he posed a challenge to readers to come up with a 15-letter theme fill that contained no vowels other than U. The best I could do was "BURNSBURNSBURNS" ("What Johnny Cash's ring of fire does), but it did inspire me to write this poem. (The winning entry was "CRUSHCRUSHCRUSH," which I guess is a Paramore song.)

Nice. I think you might have done an embryonic version of it on this thread: Me Need Help! ( A Spelling Thread)

Wow, I don't remember that at all!