this is the thread where we complain about the new york times crossword puzzle

There were a couple of times in the episode where there were quick shots of puzzles that appeared to violate crossword rules -- e.g., two-letter words, letters that only went in one direction, etc. Whenever a whole puzzle was on display for more than a couple of seconds, it was usually fine, but I was surprised that the others existed at all, considering Merl Reagle was credited as a consultant.

Merl Reagle explains how the episode came about (not sure why it's a PDF):
http://www.sundaycrosswords.com/TheSimpsonsBehindtheScenes.pdf

That is mindblowing!

20-across otm lolololololol

How come the NY Times Crossword doesn't have an iPhone app yet :/

(...he said, pretending he's smart enough to do the NY Times crossword)

Jaymc, do a brother a favor and send me the .puz file, unless it's floating about the internets.

there are plenty of crossword apps that allow you to download times puzzles, you just need a subscription

i have a pretty lame crossword app right now

its all numbers and there's no clues.

thats called "sudoku"

E-mailed you, Casuistry.

When Yma Sumac died I felt that the NYT should have run just a blank square in place of the puzzle as a lifetime tribute.

As for "slaws," it's a long-standing NYT policy to reserve the right to pluralize anything & everything. Even personal names might get pluralized, like "OBAMAS." Foreign words sometimes get pluralized in a way that doesn't correspond to how they get pluralized in their own language, as in "RAVIOLIS," for example.

And yes, Brian ENO gets clued all the damn time in the NYT puzzle. So does ELO.

ENOS

thanks for that info josefa, i never knew that

When Yma Sumac died I felt that the NYT should have run just a blank square in place of the puzzle as a lifetime tribute.

Ha, my first thought when she died (after "Yma Sumac was still alive?") was "I bet the crossword community will be all over this news" -- and they were.

Even personal names might get pluralized, like "OBAMAS."

This makes sense, because it can be clued as "Barack and Michelle." If you pluralize personal names, it's preferable that there are at least two recognizable people that share that name. But if that's not the case, you can still sometimes get away with a clue like "Pres. Barack and others" or "Barack's family."

And yes, Brian ENO gets clued all the damn time in the NYT puzzle.

Sometimes his brother Roger gets clued instead (or alongside: "Ambient composers Brian and Roger"). I'm waiting for a reference to Spoon drummer Jim Eno, however.

the slaws of yesterday

why is no one loling at my joke

20-across otm lolololololol

― the dan glickman from the hilarious motion picture association of america (max), Tuesday, November 18, 2008 7:47 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

just looking for a satisfied chuckle as a subtle way of indicating u did the nyt xword today

Jaymc, do a brother a favor and send me the .puz file, unless it's floating about the internets.

me too?

just looking for a satisfied chuckle as a subtle way of indicating u did the nyt xword today

Oh, I thought you were referring to Sunday, and I was like, I don't get it.

Haha, I get it now.

Where can I see this solved Simpsons puzzle?

I believe my 'simp' status precludes me from soling it.

(I tried to solve Friday's before therapy and my therapist and I had like an seven-minute talk about crosswords. Yes I have useful therapy.)

Abbott, here is the solved puzzle. (No clues, though, just the completed grid.)

Discussion of same:
http://crosswordfiend.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunday-1116.html

More discussion:
http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunday-nov-16-2008-merl-reagle-meshed.html

thx duder :D!

so what's the second hidden message in the sunday puzzle?

But then in the end Homer apologizes through the NYT crossword puzzle, the one I'm sitting there working on, which turns out to have not only a diagonal message (something like "DADDY SORRY FOR DUMB BET") but also the first letters of all the clues spell out a long message from Homer to Lisa!

oh right

i got your joke max

67 Across fucked me up today

whatd you put, fdr?

Yeah, "OBAMAS" was not a good example of what I mean. If I could try to explain it better, the NYT loves to indulge in creating what one might call metaplurals. This amounts to sticking an s on the end of any word and thus making a plural of the word itself rather than the thing the word represents. For example, take the following questions:

a. How many words are in my post?
b. How many coulds are in my post?

In question (a) "words" is a normal plural. In question (b) "coulds" is a metaplural; it refers to nothing except the word "could" & is a plural that would almost never be used in common discourse. The NYT puzzle constructors use (in fact, often invent) these metaplurals all the time, which admittedly gets annoying.

whatd you put, fdr?

yah--i wasn't thinking too clearly this a.m.

Josefa, what are you even talking about? I'm not going to say they never do that, but I don't think they're all that frequent, at least not under Shortz's editorship.

with such a tightly regimented puzzle any frequency at all adds a new variable to consider

new puzzle!

"kenken"

semi-hilarious article from will shortz explaining the new puzzle where he seems barely able to hide his disdain for sudoku--or looked at from another direction where he seems to be desperately trying to justify why the ny times never introduced sudoku

"unlike sudoku, kenken requires arithmetic, you see, which makes it far superior, and more appropriate for the new york times reader"

lol. i havent done it but it looks like that puzzle where you have to get each row and column as well as the diagonals to add a given sum i.e. like boring math work

hasnt will shortz made serious $$$ out of sudoku? or am i thinking of someone else

Never got into sudoku, but did the new example puzzles today and enjoyed them.

yeah he has made dough off sudoku--really im just writing shortz fanfic in my head

i think the new puzzle is more interesting than sudoku but i guess its just geared a little more toward the way i think & process logic puzzles. still doesnt touch a good crossword.

Nope. That reminds me, new Atlantic puzzle finally came out.

i still like sudoku but yah crossword is best

Looks like WS put out some Kenken books last year.