Redd's Roster of Crosswordese: Do not read if you hate DRNO

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (306 of them)

equally annoying are the ones that are just a tad too current, like
1 Across: "It's ____!"
and the answer is POPPIN

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, July 15, 2020 3:42 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

better clue would be "my lip gloss is _____"

mozzy star (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 20:58 (four years ago) link

okay, maybe not TOO current

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 20:59 (four years ago) link

The phrase TINKERS to EVERS to CHANCE just popped into my head, which used to be a crossword staple when I was coming up, seems to linger on and pop up every once in a while nowadays.
https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2009/04/tuesday-apr-21-2009-rj-nj-byron-1946.html?m=1

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:09 (four years ago) link

always exciting to see if it'll be KEA or LOA

yeah this is like the cargo shorts of crossword clues. try harder

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:10 (four years ago) link

Yeah, when I see MAUNA __ and already have the final A, I wanna throw my UKE up in the air in frustration.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:13 (four years ago) link

that 1949 puzzle is hardcore

mookieproof, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:15 (four years ago) link

In defense of crosswordese, sometimes it is the only way to crack into a difficult Saturday grid. Also sometimes it's fun to know all the different ways to clue, say,the hero of the thread title: Joseph Wiseman role, Crab Key denizen, etc. Or that famous fellow from the OP played by Bamboo Harvester.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:16 (four years ago) link

45D Man's name. : ISIDOR

foh

mookieproof, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:17 (four years ago) link

what gets me are the ones that are slightly out of date, e.g.

EMAG
PDA for a device
HIRES for a monitor instead of HIDEF

ETAIL and EZINE always make me lol

donna rouge, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:30 (four years ago) link

Pearl Buck heroine

the word "restaurateur" doesn't have an n in it (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:31 (four years ago) link

Oh man, I still have problems spelling that one.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:39 (four years ago) link

ESAI

Where ESAI goes, his twin brother ESAU is sure to follow.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 00:06 (four years ago) link

When MRT studies to the NTH degree, he gets a PHD and is henceforth called DRT.

AxoLOLtl (Leee), Thursday, 16 July 2020 01:03 (four years ago) link

LORI and TONI drank an ORANGE NEHI in front of the ELHI.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 12:00 (four years ago) link

OUIOUI, SISI
ADIEUX, MES AMIS

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 12:02 (four years ago) link

LIEU EKE

LIEU EKE

We gotta go

the word "restaurateur" doesn't have an n in it (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 16 July 2020 12:21 (four years ago) link

I said
UIE UEY
UAE UZI
Me gotta go
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 13:25 (four years ago) link

🎵 UEY UDAY
thou little tiny child
WIFI UEY UDAY 🎵

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 July 2020 13:56 (four years ago) link

WII OREO now

I said

WII OLEO

the word "restaurateur" doesn't have an n in it (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 16 July 2020 14:02 (four years ago) link

(To the tune of "Take a Letter, Maria")
Last night I was ONKP
Across from the APO
I was EYED up by a dog named OTTO
Who report to the NCO

I remember now, this was more like:

Last night I was ONKP
With a man they call GIJOE
I was EYED up by a dog named OTTO
Who reported to the NCO

I ate an MRE
I drove an SUV
I made a BEELINE to the APO

(something about a Dear John letter, I can't remember or could never work out)

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 18:01 (four years ago) link

I’m with YMP, don’t actually know why, actually I think I do know why, people complain about crosswordese so much, it’s kind of the DNA or building blocks of XWORDS. It’s like people complaining about cliched chord progressions or cliches in general: they can be problematic but they can also be used creatively, it depends.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 18:59 (four years ago) link

I only started noticing the gluey fill when I was exposed to xword blogs (RP, xwordinfo), but they've never really been a huge impediment to my enjoyment, ESPECIALLY if a grid has interesting and/or long entries or wide open spaces.

I do like Jeff Chen's puzzles a lot though, and he's pretty dedicated to avoiding glue.

AxoLOLtl (Leee), Thursday, 16 July 2020 19:05 (four years ago) link

And he is the keeper of xwordinfo too I guess.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 19:42 (four years ago) link

when you're filling up so much of the grid with letters it's unavoidable that you're gonna need these repeating mini-words, so i understand

but like, mel OTT has been dead for 60 years. bobby ORR has been out of hockey for 40. we're gonna be seeing USB long after that protocol has been deprecated. i have never actually seen ESAI morales in anything. so many of the acronyms are awkward reaches . . . i just wish the NYT were a little bit more ambitious with the possibilities, and i have to think that having the same editor for decades at a time doesn't help

mookieproof, Thursday, 16 July 2020 20:05 (four years ago) link

I think people very much in the center of the scene avoid pointing out that Shortz is something of a tired drip but people slightly outside it don’t hesitate to say so

all cats are beautiful (silby), Thursday, 16 July 2020 20:11 (four years ago) link

redd and mookie, I tend to grade for an overall average level of creativity, as opposed to requiring a complete absence of ERSE / ERNE / OTT etc.

Like, if a constructor can get something surprising like MCJOB or RUNDMC or POKEMON in there, I will likely forgive the occasional ALOU. I'm assuming it takes a lot of compromises to make an innovative word work in a grid.

However, if everything in a puzzle is rooted in the culture of 1950s Manhattan, then I get annoyed. I will still finish the puzzle - not least because I've learned all this bullshit trivia from doing thousands of puzzles - but I will be annoyed.

the word "restaurateur" doesn't have an n in it (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 16 July 2020 20:35 (four years ago) link

this would be a terrible word for reasons of age and obscurity but i would still like to see MCDLT sometime

pretty sure i've seen clara peller referenced before

mookieproof, Thursday, 16 July 2020 20:42 (four years ago) link

I actually have heard whispers, well maybe heard is the wrong word, just sort of been in the big room at the ACPT when in the distance I seemed to see some insider or two talking quietly which turned out to be grumbling about successors to the throne. It was done very discreetly and my internal parabolic mic couldn't pick up any of it, but I asked someone later and they told me discreetly and in a roundabout nudge nudge way what that tiny Blow-Up moment I thought I witnessed was about.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:35 (four years ago) link

Back to the topic at hand. Please forgive my POP PSYCH approach, but feel like people (excessively) grumbling about fill is partly or mostly really about their addiction to XWORDS not giving them the high it used to. Not saying, just saying. Is that all there is, as Peggy LEE sang.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:40 (four years ago) link

Not every constructor is going to be the Crossword JESUS, sorry.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:42 (four years ago) link

I can think of maybe one constructor who jumped out at me, that wasn't already some kind of name, well exactly one, Dan Naddor, who I came across while solving LATIMES puzzles.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:46 (four years ago) link

let's make an ilx crossword

FUCKWASHINGAHAT is a handy 15 letters

mookieproof, Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:47 (four years ago) link

jaymc used to construct, not sure if he is still doing that.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:50 (four years ago) link

i don't mind crosswordese but i'd like better clues!
As noted above, enough already with Mel OTT; how about "way, way too much" instead?

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 16 July 2020 22:39 (four years ago) link

"nhl's senators on a scoreboard"

mozzy star (voodoo chili), Thursday, 16 July 2020 22:51 (four years ago) link

Right? My problem with a lot of fill isn't the fill – it's trite crosswordish cluing. (Cluing, by the way, is a great word).

My favorite 'regular' constructor is Zhouqin Burnikel. Among the standards I like Lynn Lempel and Jeff Chen, because everybody does and they're great. Trenton Carlson is the only regular whose name alone intimates that I won't have fun. Too many Qs and Js and Zs. Oh, and whoever wrote last Sunday's puzzle. I don't like that person either.

america's favorite (remy bean), Thursday, 16 July 2020 22:51 (four years ago) link

Whoops. I missed your post, ulysses. Coulda just written 'ditto.'

america's favorite (remy bean), Thursday, 16 July 2020 22:55 (four years ago) link

let's make an ilx crossword

Athlete who "knows" about uranium? = BORAD

2 x 33 + 11 = SEVENTYSEVEN

Greetings from Ditka? = BEARSAYHITOME

Rockist setting for a bicycle? = GEIR

Unlikely event = NOTGONNAHAPPEN

Dave Matthews Band pan = BADANDHATED

the word "restaurateur" doesn't have an n in it (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:01 (four years ago) link

I constructed three blatant failures a couple years ago (https://spooky.camp/~evan/) and I did try to be as annoyingly creative as possible with my cluing

all cats are beautiful (silby), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:03 (four years ago) link

Atop benjies

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:07 (four years ago) link

thing occurring in a marsh, seven letters

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:08 (four years ago) link

FENHAPS

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:08 (four years ago) link

lol

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:09 (four years ago) link

ilx would be a boon to any constructor, FUIUD

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 July 2020 23:10 (four years ago) link

there was this article critical of old white editors a few months ago
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/03/fight-to-make-crosswords-more-inclusive/608212/

especially this editor's note

MARIE KONDO wouldn’t be familiar enough “to most solvers, especially with that unusual last name.”

wasdnous (abanana), Friday, 17 July 2020 00:29 (four years ago) link

I was I could say I stopped doing them to take the high ground, but yeah, they basically occupy some ultimately bland middle ground with various tweaks now and then here and there to make them a wee bit edgier.

Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 17 July 2020 00:49 (four years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.