equally annoying are the ones that are just a tad too current, like1 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
https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/gonfalon/
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:10 (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
https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=7/3/1949
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:11 (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what gets me are the ones that are slightly out of date, e.g.
EMAGPDA for a deviceHIRES 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
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 00:06 (four years ago) link
which led me this this old related thread somebody started long ago
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 00:11 (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, SISIADIEUX, MES AMIS
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 12:02 (four years ago) link
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 saidUIE UEYUAE UZIMe gotta goYEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 13:25 (four years ago) link
🎵 UEY UDAYthou little tiny childWIFI 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 ONKPAcross from the APOI was EYED up by a dog named OTTOWho report to the NCO
― 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
Lolhttps://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/dan-naddor/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-07-la-me-dan-naddor7-2010jan07-story.htmlhttps://crosswordfiend.com/2009/12/31/dan-naddor-in-memoriam/which links to https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2009/04/interview-with-dan-naddor.html
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 July 2020 21:50 (four years ago) link
jaymc used to construct, not sure if he is still doing that.
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
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
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 agohttps://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