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

Oh that’s why!

thought saturday was really hard. it almost defeated me. first time in a long time i’ve had that feeling.

same

(This is just above Blue Saturday in my bookmarks - some confusion)

the Saturday took longer for me to finish than today’s Sunday

Been feeling very annoyed lately by the proliferation of "schoolyard comeback" "schoolyard retort" etc. - AMTOO, ARENOT, CANSO, etc

while I'm reviving the thread, can anyone direct me to a good primer on the common mechanisms, tricks, logic of Cryptics? I am beginning to find regular puzzles a little too straightforward (I do the NYT Sunday every week, and sometimes the Saturday). But I am usually at a total loss to even get started on cryptics. I did complete a Puns and Anagrams in the NYT Mag a month or so ago when it was featured as the second puzzle, which made me feel like Cryptics might be something achievable when in the past they just felt way too far outside my capacity. But I'd need to raise my baseline a little to get started.

this PDF download is a really clear guide to cryptics

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nqqbfts95ywzluz/Introduction%20to%20Cryptic%20Crosswords.pdf?dl=1

The NYT Mag cryptic is on the easier side imo, lots of anagrams, and this indie crossword page has some cryptics too: https://www.ariespuzzles.com/2020/08/aries-cryptic-29.html

either the beginning or the end of a cryptic clue are a straightforward definition or synonym of the answer. I couldn't figure out how to do cryptics until I grasped that concept.

awesome, thank you! just DLed that pdf and will read through, but your comment here is illuminating on its own

looking back up at this thread. it's kind of a funny phenomenon how certain celebs get their stature cemented because of how useful they are for crossword constructors. issa rae is mentioned upthread, i imagine that if and when she fades into obscurity in the general zeitgeist, crossword doers will keep having their memories jogged. it's something like having a hit song that can be closely associated with a holiday or other recurring phenomenon - an easy path to canonization.

no problem! I only learned how to do them this last year (productive use of my newly vast amount of free time, yes), and I love them now. The New Yorker site runs old ones from their archives once a week, and the Guardian has tougher ones (with some incomprehensible to me Britishisms), and both sites let you check for mistakes

ooh nice, will try the NYer first

xxp ERMA bombeck will live forever

Apparently 'alit' and 'asea' aren't very common English language words based on usage frequencies on books released since 1980. Wouldn't have guessed that from doing crosswords.

http://app.aspell.net/lookup?dict=en_US-large;words=alee%0D%0Aalit%0D%0Aasea

Been feeling very annoyed lately by the proliferation of "schoolyard comeback" "schoolyard retort" etc. - AMTOO, ARENOT, CANSO, etc

yeah if there was one crossword cliche I could ban it would be this one

with some incomprehensible to me Britishisms)

lol yes, as an American learning cryptics, learning to bung in ER anytime I saw “queen” or AB for “sailor” was the most arcane and incomprehensible stuff when I was starting. My best tip is don’t get too hung up if you don’t complete a puzzle. It just means either you were just not on the setter’s wavelength, or perhaps the clue was just wonky. They’re not all perfect. Just check the answers on fifteensquared or elsewhere, and learn from your mistakes.

There’s a cryptics thread here, but it’s been quiet lately.

asea

This should be easy but I can never distinguish between the clueing for it and "alee"

Cheri OTERI hasn't been a member of SNL since 2000

And it's been quite a while since there was an ALOU in baseball.

Been a while since anyone wrote a significant ODE. Or cooked with OLEO.

The last time someone seriously sought the help of a Muse such as ERATO? Longer still.

Crosswordese is its own dialect and its own cluster of references. It is white and it is eastern and it is boomerish or older. If you were a decently acculturated sports and film fan in 1958 in Manhattan, you will do okay; the rest of us just learn that vocabulary through trial and error.

It sucks but that is where things stand at present. I love and applaud the constructors who push at the boundaries and get more DRDRE into the mix.

Came across an old pre-Shortz piece of crosswordese in a recent cryptic today: CYMA.

cover your motherfucking ass?

don't think that's what it means, lol, although perhaps that's what it says in the urban dictionary, will have to check

cyan, yellow, magenta, and ass

Sung to the tune of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUZvfpVfW0k

RIP, Felix Silla aka Cousin ITT.

beedybeedybeedy

Pre-Shortz word with exactly one appereance in the, um, modern era:
SLUB

CYMA was/is a curvy molding.

https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2012/aug/2/spare-moments-of-litzing/

KRAAL was popular throughout the first three NYT editor eras but disappeared in the Shortz zone, but KRAIT managed to live on for a quite a bit.

My mother gave up crosswords for good over ANOA ("Celebes wild ox") and I think that one has lingered a bit into the Shortz era.

Most of those I'm glad to see aren't in circulation.

They're still using "sea eagle" (ERN/ERNE/ERNES) and the anti-Crosswordese faction hates it. Me, I just shrug and fill it in because it's part of the culture. SNEE and SMEE remain frequent.

Wasn't that the email of Will's assistant, celebe✧✧✧@fu✧✧✧.c✧✧? Let me check.

celebesox

As seen here: https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/american-crossword-puzzle-tournament-brooklyn-or-stamford-a-special-message-from-will-shortz/

Old school variant spelling: FIORD. Although four uses in the Shortz era.

Now I want to call a trivia team or suchlike
CELEBE SOX. DO U SEE?

I doubt anyone will want to follow me down this rabbit hole, but really enjoying doing these Dawn of the Shortz Era puzzles.

Do you mean like deep 90s stuff? More power to you, JR+tB. I have only dabbled in that area.

Currently I am working my way backwards into the archive, year by year. Currently on 2012, generally doing Wednesday through Saturday. (I usually don't bother with Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday except to keep the streak alive.)

2012 has a couple of decently clever Thursdays and some tough Fridays, but it's all pretty recognizable Shortziana. Looking forward to some baffling stumpers and Celebes Oxyness as the project proceeds. I am getting a graduate-level education in baseball-playing Alous.

At the same time I am trying to nurse a decent streak of current puzzles. Hope to hit a year in March or April.

The only time I think of ANI Difranco is when I do the crossword.

November 21st, 1993 was the beginning of the Shortz Era, which began with a splash with a Sunday puzzle by Peter Gordon, who therefore has a Shortz Number of one. I have yet to encounter Celebe’s ox or even DRNO himself.

Actually I must have seen him on December 27, 1993, but won’t see him again for a year.

Kind of like the retro nature of doing puzzles that are from before the blogs and before XWord Info comments, but still in the database so I can see the stats along which answers and clues are still used.

You can even solve the Pre-Shortz puzzles if you want, but I don't want.
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Calendar/1993?type=pssolve

I have a book of Eugene Maleska-era puzzles, and trying to solve them is like getting ice water thrown in your face. They’re so insane you wonder how people actually finished them back then.

In Infinite Tuesday, Mike Nesmith talks about how he had an uncle who would do the Sunday crossword pretty quickly– presumably some Texas paper– and then throw it away. One day young Michael fished the paper out of the garbage and saw all these unpronounceable nonsense words. It was like that moment in the documentary when R. Crumb finally looks at his brother’s sketchbook to see his latest work.

Part of the enigma that was Uncle Chick came into a degree of focus one Sunday after he had finished the crossword puzzle and left for the golf course. It didn’t make sense to me, this extraordinary word skill, and Chick didn’t really discuss anything with me that gave any hint about his thought processes. So on this Sunday I pulled the paper out of the trash, where he had thrown it, and looked at the puzzle, searching for clues. When I first looked at the filled-in puzzle, it seemed normal. Words like moon and igloo and kayak were in their proper place. Then I started to notice words like fonqi and nmfberhng and qplltrkller. Then I finally saw that most of the words were unrecognizable, and weren’t words at all. As this sank in, I was glad I was alone in the house. I carefully folded the paper up, put it back in the trash, and backed away.

That is funny. I bet Maleska could find a way to clue fonqi though.

I remember being able to do early week puzzles and even a leisurely Sunday puzzle solve back in those days, although I never attempted to speed solve and barely even tried Friday and Saturday.

Interesting to see how the cluing of EGAN has evolved.