Ben T sent out a mini contest with the inkwell email. I can forward it to you if you want.
― Viriconium Island Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
Aargh. He just emailed me. I was fourth, just missing the cut.
― Viriconium Island Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
Saturday Times puzzle was the Lollapuzzoola final.
It took me almost twice as long to solve it as it did the champion. (18:05 vs. 9:00) I knew I was off on the wrong foot when I started off 1A with "tepee" and it turned out to be "hogan."
― Dave Zuul (Phil D.), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
I had seen it before and it still took me quite a while to solve.
― Viriconium Island Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
I can forward it to you if you want.
Thanks, but no need, I was just curious.
― Aziz Ansari & III (jaymc), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
Too late I just did. You can send him your answers when you ping him about your complimentary copy.
― Viriconium Island Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:39 (twelve years ago) link
Oh!
― Aziz Ansari & III (jaymc), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:40 (twelve years ago) link
do u see?
The Lollapuzzoola champ is pretty good- he's won that twice (maybe more I dunno), came in 26th at the ACPT and is apparently pretty fast at solving cryptics as well.
― Viriconium Island Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 August 2011 15:44 (twelve years ago) link
Exactly three weeks after Lollapuzzoola 4, I point you in the direction of the puzzle Tyler Hinman wrote for Lollapuzzoola 3, which Tony Orbach recommended to me: http://bemoresmarter.squarespace.com/puzzles/lollapuzzoola-3-the-great-pickle-giveaway-2010/
― Don't ask for the steening, ask for the HOOS (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 August 2011 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
Today's puzzle was interesting.
jaymc, I see that your book is
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #32,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #14 in Books > Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Crosswords
#14 in Books > Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Crosswords
― Hipster Shake Boogie (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 1 September 2011 15:16 (twelve years ago) link
oh, jaymc has a puzzle in that penguin book? now i have to get it.
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Thursday, 1 September 2011 15:29 (twelve years ago) link
Two puzzles, in fact! I just got my copy of the book the other day, and it was interesting to see (as someone who'd never before published a puzzle) how B.T. edited the clues. I think maybe a third were changed in some way: either easier, harder, or livelier. In retrospect, I think I probably had a few too many synonym clues -- which weren't necessarily easy (I tried to make it tough by using words with multiple definitions), but may not have been particularly fresh or interesting.
― jaymc, Thursday, 1 September 2011 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
cool!
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Thursday, 1 September 2011 15:45 (twelve years ago) link
Heard ADIA just now for the first time ever maybe in the supermarket. Now I just have to go and listen to "ELLA in Berlin."
Yesterday's Times had a celebrity co-constructor, a one-time Jeopardy contestant.
Looking forward to receiving my copy of that Penguin book later this week.
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 5 September 2011 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
Weirdly I had just seen Dana Delany's Battlestar Galactica episode last week.
― *ter jacket (jaymc), Monday, 5 September 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
I'm trying to remember: was she the third contestant when Andy Richter beat Wolf Blitzer?
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 5 September 2011 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
tyler hinman puzzles are always so fucking sporty
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 September 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
Has this been linked to before?http://www.slate.com/id/2145623/
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 September 2011 18:12 (twelve years ago) link
IIRC, that's from Gaffney's book -- which is definitely worth a read.
For what it's worth, I use a software program to create a grid, and websites to help me come up with fill -- but I don't maintain a word list, ranked or unranked, like many constructors do.
― *ter jacket (jaymc), Thursday, 8 September 2011 20:45 (twelve years ago) link
Which program do you use, or is that a trade secret? :)
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 September 2011 21:06 (twelve years ago) link
I use a freeware program called Crossword Master (for Mac). I emphasize: this is just for designing the grid. No bells and whistles at all.
I do have a copy of Crossword Compiler, which is the industry standard, but only on my work computer, because it's PC-only. I basically use it when I need to convert the grid to a PDF or other file format (PUZ, CCW) preferred by publications. If I had it at home, where I do my constructing, I'd probably take advantage of some of the advanced features.
― *ter jacket (jaymc), Friday, 9 September 2011 00:10 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks. I was wondering about that because I have a Mac at home and it had seemed to me that the standard program being PC-only would force most constructors to be PC-based. I was actually meaning to ask some people at Lollapuzzoola but I forgot. What about the new format BEQ and Crossynergy use, the jpuz?
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 9 September 2011 02:04 (twelve years ago) link
I haven't heard of that.
There's also a Mac-compatible program called CrossFire that a lot of constructors like. I have the free demo version, and it seems pretty good.
― *ter jacket (jaymc), Friday, 9 September 2011 13:59 (twelve years ago) link
Oh yeah, I had heard of that one.
Amy R is always pushing .jpz (no 'u' sorry for earlier misspelling) http://www.crosswordfiend.com/blog/2011/04/18/tuning-spork-jpz/. You need to use a different program to solve with called Crossword Solver aka Puzzle Solve). Most of the speed solvers don't like it because it doesn't have certain convenience features AcrossLite but it seems there is some legal and financial reason constructors have been switching over.
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 9 September 2011 14:15 (twelve years ago) link
Huh, I will check it out.
― *ter jacket (jaymc), Friday, 9 September 2011 14:18 (twelve years ago) link
Here's a post by Tyler about this http://www.tylerhinman.com/blog/posts/316which links to this post by Amy http://www.crosswordfiend.com/blog/2011/04/05/see-im-telling-you-make-peace-with-puzzle-solver/
― I heard her POLL my mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 9 September 2011 14:27 (twelve years ago) link
Man, Friday and Saturday puzzles both killed me this week.
― Agent Double O POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 10 September 2011 04:34 (twelve years ago) link
Today's puzzle had a nice gimmick that wasn't too hard to get. People did end up talking a lot of crap about it.
― Agent Double O POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 September 2011 00:27 (twelve years ago) link
I've always wondered, when constructors are creating a puzzle, they mostly work horizontally and try to munge the vertical words afterwards, right?
― Leee, Lord of Wtfomgham (Leee), Monday, 12 September 2011 03:28 (twelve years ago) link
Theme answers are always placed first, and those tend to be mostly (but not always) horizontal. Otherwise, I work one section of the puzzle at a time, placing both Across and Down words before moving on to the next part of the grid. It's hard for me to imagine there being any value in working in only one direction, without knowing if the crosses are viable.
― *ter jacket (jaymc), Monday, 12 September 2011 14:16 (twelve years ago) link
There is some explanation of this in Patrick Berry's Dummies book, I believe
― Agent Double O POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 September 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
Full title: Crossword Puzzle Challenges for Dummies. I see it recommended all the time as the book to read about puzzle construction. Seriously.
― Agent Double O POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 September 2011 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/how-will-shortz-makes-a-new-york-times-crossword-puzzle/244733/
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:50 (twelve years ago) link
Fascinating.
― America's Test Hitchens (jaymc), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 12:57 (twelve years ago) link
Really? I wanted more.
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 13:05 (twelve years ago) link
Wait, I just clicked through to see the mark up more clearly. Pretty interesting.
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 13:48 (twelve years ago) link
What do you think of this? http://ericberlin.com/?p=4101
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 September 2011 04:59 (twelve years ago) link
I've never done the USA Today puzzle, only know it by its poor reputation. That post is fairly damning!
― America's Test Hitchens (jaymc), Thursday, 15 September 2011 13:55 (twelve years ago) link
Never did it either. There is a funny quote about it from Jon Stewart in Wordplay
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 September 2011 14:13 (twelve years ago) link
lol at that divided grid (linked from that eric berlin post)
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Thursday, 15 September 2011 15:08 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, that was even worse than using the answer in the clue.
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 September 2011 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
Today BEQ mentions the Patrick Berry book and posts a link to a video of Mike Selinker giving a talk about crossword construction.
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 September 2011 16:18 (twelve years ago) link
One of these days I'm finally going to study up on my NA and European rivers.
― Leee, Lord of Wtfomgham (Leee), Sunday, 18 September 2011 19:46 (twelve years ago) link
Which river missed you up?
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 September 2011 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, nothing in particular, just something that I've always been meaning to shore up. (ARNO? ELDO? EHRE?)
― Leee, Lord of Wtfomgham (Leee), Sunday, 18 September 2011 22:29 (twelve years ago) link
ELDO? Do you mean EBRO?EHRE? That's the German word for "honor," don't know the riverAs for ARNO, I think the most important thing about it is not to confuse it with Thomas ARNE, composer of "Rule, Britannia!"
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 September 2011 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
Today's Jonesin' puzzle, "Juggler's Blues," is awesome: http://groups.google.com/group/jonesin-crosswords
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 September 2011 14:57 (twelve years ago) link
yeah nice! thanks for the recommendation!
― symsymsym, Tuesday, 20 September 2011 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
nice. i always do jonesin' in my local free weekly, but the puzzles are consistently 2 weeks behind the online version (or whatever gets posted at crosswordfiend).
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Tuesday, 20 September 2011 18:06 (twelve years ago) link
This week's Jonesin' wasn't bad either.
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 15:01 (twelve years ago) link