Interview with Charles M. Deber, New Litzer of the Month John Farmer, Susan O'Brien's Research, Howard Barkin's Crossword Compiler 9 Tip, and More Publicity

Today I'm delighted to present a fascinating interview with pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor Charles M. Deber!  Charles is a research scientist in Toronto who has published 37 puzzles in The New York Times (35 of them Sundays!) and still builds his puzzles by hand.  To read his interview, click here or on the Pre-Shortzian Constructor Interviews tab above.

We also have a new Litzer of the Month:  John Farmer!  John is a New York Times constructor with many interests who runs more than 100 miles a month.  To read more about him, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

Shortly after last week's post came up, John sent in 8 puzzles.  Then Friday evening, I litzed a reassigned Sunday puzzle and put us at 15,900 on the litzing thermometer!  Saturday afternoon, new litzer George Barany sent in 1 puzzle.  Sunday afternoon, Todd Gross sent in 11 proofread puzzles, which were followed that evening by 3 litzed puzzles from Mike Buckley.  Monday morning, new litzer Jon Delfin sent 1 puzzle, which was followed by 2 more from Lynn Feigenbaum that afternoon.  Then Thursday morning, Tracy Bennett sent in another month of proofread puzzles, and late that night, Mark Diehl sent in 12 more litzed puzzles.  And this week Howard Barkin sent in two more months of proofread puzzles!  Thanks so much again, everybody—we're now at 15,919 on the litzing thermometer!

Great news:  Two more litzers decided to try proofreading this week and received their first packets:  Jeffrey Krasnick and Lynn Feigenbaum!  We have thousands of puzzles that need proofreading, so please let me know if you'd like to try the fun but diabolical proofreading self-test!

This week some new bios came in for the Meet the Litzers page—the following people now appear there:  Stephen Edward Anderson, George Barany, Tracy Bennett, Peter Broda, Ralph Bunker, Jeff Chen, Mark Diehl, Vic Fleming, Mangesh Ghogre, Todd Gross, Barry Haldiman, Angela Halsted, Garrett Hildebrand, Nancy Kavanaugh, Roy Leban, Matthew Mitchell (Braze), Adam Nicolle, Doug Peterson, me, Alex Vratsanos, Larry Wasser, and Brad Wilber.  Some litzers and proofreaders who don't have bios on the Meet the Litzers page have appeared on the Litzer of the Month page or in articles elsewhere on the site.  If you're a litzer or proofreader who hasn't yet sent in a bio and photo specifically for the Meet the Litzers page and would like to, please e-mail them to me.  (Also, if you'd like to update your current bio, please send me the new information, and I'll make the changes.)

This week I received an e-mail from litzer Susan O'Brien, who decided to research the missing pre-Shortzian puzzles by querying the New York Public Library to see whether it had the International edition of The New York Times.  Unfortunately, she received this response:

"The New York Public Library only subscribes to the Late City edition. Even the microfilm collection of The New York Times is that of the Late City edition, as is the various database platforms (such as, the "ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2010) with Index (1851-1993)."

Even though this was a dead end, it was still very helpful, because it's one potential avenue we can cross off our list.  Thanks so much again for checking this out, Susan!  I'll be doing some more research myself this summer on the missing puzzles, and I'm hoping to have better news to report at a later date.

I also received an e-mail from litzer (and now proofreader!) Howard Barkin this week in which he shared the following very timely tip about Crossword Compiler 9:

A helpful note, grid mistakes can be corrected (In Crossword Compiler 9, at least) without further clue issues by enabling the option in Options->Preferences, Clue Editing tab, "Changing grid does not delete clue".

I don't know how many times I've found a grid mistake while proofreading, then corrected it (which deletes the affected clues), and then had to retype in the clues!  This is a great tip, Howard—thanks so much again!

The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project got some more publicity yesterday!  It was part of an article Kasey Dallman wrote about the Davidson Fellows for Amazing Kids! Magazine—to read it, click here and scroll down.

Today's featured puzzle, "Playing the Angles," which can be solved on XWord Info, was constructed by Charles M. Deber, published April 4, 1982, and litzed by Barry Haldiman (or one of his former team of litzers).  This brilliant, complex construction, which was Charles's New York Times debut, features ten in-the-language, symmetrically arranged theme entries that relate to directions, bending around corners, or overcrowding, such as UP AGAINST THE WALL, AROUND THE HORN, and MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY.  The catch is that each of these entries turns 90 degrees midway through the entry and continues in a different direction!  I've seen puzzles with entries that twist and turn in more recent years, but I believe this puzzle is the earliest example of such a clever gimmick.  What's even more amazing is that this puzzle was constructed entirely by hand—it must have been a real challenge to produce a grid that accommodated for both the vertical and horizontal components of each theme entry!

Deber not only produced such a grid but also was able to make the fill largely junk-free!  I don't love the partials MILE A, AT EIGHT, or TO HER, and UME, RIE, RESCH, and GLOSSIC seem a bit tough, but these entries are a small price to pay for the groundbreaking theme and fun entries like HOT SPOT, TOUCANS, and PULSATES.  I also find it funny that 1-Across starts with a C and 5-Across is DEBAR (sort of like C. Deber!)—I wonder if this was intentional!  And although I'm not familiar with BOUFFES (clued as "Comic operas"), it's a lot of fun to say and looks really cool in the grid!  Merriam-Webster notes that BOUFFE is short for opéra bouffe, which means "a satirical comic opera" and ultimately derives from the Italian opera buffa.  The etymology of the word TRULL ("Strumpet"), an old-fashioned term for a woman of loose morals, is also fascinating—it ultimately derives from the Old French troller, which meant "to hunt for game without a scent or path."  At some point in the 1500s, someone must have interpreted the aimless hunter as the woman with loose morals and the game as the men she interacted with!  In all, this is a thematically exceptional pre-Shortzian puzzle that added several new words to my vocabulary.  The puzzle can be viewed and analyzed on XWord Info, where Jim Horne made this unusual gimmick look awesome!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can also be seen below, although the grid is numbered slightly differently in the PDF (and XWord Info) versions.

Crossword Centennial Talks at the Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library and San Diego Central Public Library, New Litzer of the Month Ralph Bunker, and Jeffrey Krasnick's Links to Toronto Star Crossword Articles

It's been another busy week on the litzing front!  Saturday night, an anonymous litzer sent in 6 puzzles.  Then Sunday afternoon, Lynn Feigenbaum sent in 7 more, which were followed by another 7 that night from Mike Buckley, putting us over 13,800 on the litzing thermometer and Mike's own total at more than 200!  Monday morning, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in a mega-batch of 42 puzzles, bringing her total to more than 900 puzzles!  That afternoon, Todd Gross sent in 10 proofread puzzles.  Tuesday morning, Denny Baker sent 7 puzzles, and very early Wednesday morning, Todd sent in 10 more proofread puzzles.  Thursday morning, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed that afternoon by 7 more from Denny, and a bit later, 11 more proofread puzzles from Todd.  Finally, this morning Mark Diehl sent in 14 puzzles.  Great job, everyone—thanks so much again!

I'm delighted to announce that Ralph Bunker is the December Litzer of the Month!  Ralph is an avid cyclist who has litzed more than 700 puzzles in just 10 weeks!  To read more about him, click here.

Event alert:  In two weeks, I'll be giving a talk at the Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library on the crossword centennial and the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project!  To see the details, click here.

And litzer Todd Gross recently told me about another crossword centennial talk by verbivore Richard Lederer this coming Monday at the San Diego Central Public Library; for details, click here.

Litzer Jeffrey Krasnick posted links to three awesome Toronto Star articles on Facebook today, including one about pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor Charles M. Deber and the history of the crossword, "The crossword is 100 years old and thriving."  If you click on the link, you can also watch a fascinating video of Charles discussing his construction process.  Jeffrey himself is featured in the second article, "Canadian trio are rivals at American crossword contest"—congratulations, Jeffrey!  And the third article, "Canadiana crosswords compete with U.S. puzzles," is an interesting look at Canadian crosswords geared to Canadians.  Thanks so much for letting everyone know about these articles, Jeffrey—great weekend reading, eh?

Any blog about pre-Shortzian New York Times crosswords would feel incomplete without highlighting a Stepquote, one of the most iconic and controversial theme types published in the Farrar, Weng, and Maleska eras!  The Stepquote was first introduced in 1964 by none other than Eugene T. Maleska himself; in subsequent years, New York Times solvers saw many more Stepquotes and variations on this twisty gimmick, such as the Slidequote and the Boxquote, in their Sunday magazines; the vast majority of these were constructed by Maleska.  In recent years, the Stepquote, which declined in popularity after Will Shortz became editor, has become the epitome of a substandard pre-Shortzian puzzle.  Critics have denounced the Stepquote for having low theme density and unchecked theme squares in the quote; also, many modern solvers and editors feel that quote themes as a rule are hackneyed.

The Stepquote certainly isn't my favorite type of pre-Shortzian puzzle, but I do appreciate how Maleska shook things up with a novel gimmick and produced some of the earliest examples of puzzles with entries that bend around corners.  Today's featured puzzle, which was titled "Stepquote, Punny Style," was constructed by (drumroll, please!) Eugene T. Maleska; published on September 25, 1966; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Martin Herbach.  This Stepquote features a particularly amusing and tongue-twisting quip:  IS IT HARDER TO TOOT OR TO TUTOR TWO TOOTERS TO TOOT?  The rest of the puzzle plays out like a themeless, though Maleska did manage to toss in the quote's author CAROLYN/WELLS, albeit asymmetrically.  The wide-open corners allowed Maleska to incorporate many fresh and interesting entries into the grid.  My favorites include SCHISM, AIR-COOL, DRIES UP, DESIDERATA, RADIATOR, STAIRCASES, SKEETERS, CASHEWS, and TREMOLO—what a lovely ennead!  On the other hand, the puzzle does include a handful of entries I'm not so fond of:  the partials COP ON (clued as "The ___ the beat."), IDES OF ("___ March."), and RULES OF ("___ order."); the roll-your-own entries DENUDERS ("Strippers."), DEPARTER ("Goer."), SNARER ("Man with a gin."), and RERIDE ("Go cycling again."); poetic spellings OERTAKE ("Catch up with: Poet.") and ERENOW ("Previously: Poet."); and an olio of lesser-known entries such as OMBERS ("Mediterranean food fish."), TRENAIL ("Wooden peg."), and SAI ("Capuchin monkey.").  Also, AASA ("Initials of school group.") probably isn't the most famous of organizations, though I'm not surprised Maleska used it, since he was also a school administrator.  In all, this is a solid pre-Shortzian puzzle—it doesn't knock my socks off, but I certainly enjoy seeing it more than another themeless Sunday.  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

1989 Puzzles on XWord Info, More Publicity, Contest & Progress Updates, and Poll Results

The 1989 puzzles have now been posted on XWord Info!  Our proofreaders did an excellent job, and Jim Horne made some of the more unusual 1989 puzzles look fantastic!  My favorite puzzle Jim fixed is Frances Hansen's FACE rebus—he was able to insert images of a happy face where they belonged and, as in the original puzzle, even put in an image of a sad face for the entry PULL A LONG FACE!

In other news, the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project received some more great publicity this week!  Amy Reynaldo blogged about it on Tuesday, and Jim Horne wrote another blog post with an awesome Pre-Shortzian crosswordese quiz (which I'm ashamed to say I failed miserably!).

As the month winds to a close, the October litzing contest is still going strong!  Mark Diehl remains in the lead with 187 litzed puzzles; Jeffrey Krasnick, who is in second place, has litzed 73 puzzles so far; and our current third-place litzer, Bob Jones, has litzed 61 puzzles.  C. G. Rishikesh has moved up in the ranks very fast and is only a few puzzles behind Bob, and Nancy Kavanaugh isn't far behind Rishi.  There are still 11 more days to continue litzing—third, second, and even first (well, not likely!) place could easily change over this time period.  Keep up the great litzing, everybody—the contest should have a very exciting finale!

I'm also happy to report that we just sent out the first few packets from 1980!  In addition, we're rapidly approaching the 5,000 mark on the litzing thermometer—we whizzed past the 4,800 and 4,900 marks earlier this week.  At this rate, we should hit 5,000 before the end of next week!

In addition, the fourth poll has come to a close.  The poll asked readers which features of the weekly blog posts they liked best (or wanted to see, if the features didn't already exist).  No feature received all 7 votes, though funny typos came awfully close with 6 (85%).  Other popular features, each with a total of 5 votes (71%), included project news updates, trends in old puzzles, and the still-to-be-developed clue of the day (which I've decided to make a regular feature because of the poll!).  Publicity updates, poll results, and the puzzle of the day received 4 votes apiece (57%), while only 3 respondents (42%) voted for the entry of the day.  Overall, the results of this poll are inconclusive—it seems like all the features in the weekly posts are generally well liked.  Thanks to everyone who voted!

I've just posted a new poll, which asks you to vote on whether you'd rather read shorter posts twice a week or longer posts once a week.  If you have an opinion about this, be sure to vote!

As the proofreading has continued, we've come across many more humorous typos!  Below are a few of the funnier mistakes we've caught over the past few weeks:

• A clue for OVENS was accidentally typed as "Oasis" instead of "Oasts"
• A clue for ENTER should have read "Join a competition" rather than "Join a composition"
• A clue for STRIPS was entered as "Airport runaways" instead of "Airport runways"
• A clue for WONT was supposed to read "Custom" but was accidentally typed as "Cushion"
• A clue for CLEO should have been entered as "Goldfish in 'Pinocchio'" rather than "Golfdish in 'Pinocchio'"

Perhaps the most amusing recent typo was a clue for LOPE that was entered as "Easy cantor" rather than "Easy canter"!  I can't think of a single legitimate entry for the clue "Easy cantor"—if you have any ideas, please comment, and I'll post a recap next week!

Today's featured puzzle, "Fractured Phrases," was constructed by Charles M. Deber.  It was originally published on October 30, 1988, and was litzed some time ago by Barry Haldiman (or one of his former litzers).  I'm a huge fan of Charles M. Deber puzzles, and this one was certainly no exception.  It features ten symmetrical phrases about fracturing that are "broken" with blank squares.  Even better, all the breaks literally occur within the word being fractured.  Best of all, the five blank squares are consistent with the Across and Down entries!  For example, DIVISION OF LABOR is fractured between the "L" and "A"; crossing it is PART COMPANY, which is fractured between the "M" and "P."  The fill is almost spotless and very lively in parts—CRANBERRY and LOTTERY are particularly fun entries.  This is definitely one of the best pre-Shortzian puzzles of all time, and I hope to encounter many more like it as we continue to approach the Will Weng era!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

In lieu of an entry of the day, today's featured clue originally appeared in the June 7, 1984, puzzle by Edward Bobb, which was recently litzed by Barry Haldiman.  The clue for WIRE was "Litz, e.g."  According to the Ginsberg database, this clue has never appeared outside of pre-Shortzian puzzles!  Webster defines "litz wire" as "a wire composed of individually enameled copper strands braided together to reduce skin effect and consequent high-frequency resistance."  Litz derives from the German litzendraht (not from Litsoft, as one would like to believe!).  "Litze" means braid, cord, or lace; "draht" means wire.  Below are pictures of the two different definitions of litz.  Litz as a noun appears on the left; litz as a verb appears on the right.

Image courtesy of Mark Diehl.

Image courtesy of RU Rail.

Contest Update, New Litzer of the Month, Publicity, Poll Results, and Some Funny Litzing Mistakes

Great news:  The October litzing contest has been a real success so far!  It's incredible that litzers have sent in 161 puzzles in just five days—I have a feeling it's going to be a real tooth-and-nail battle for the free Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project T-shirts!  This rapid spurt of litzing pushed us way past the 4,400 mark; as of right now, Mark Diehl is in first place with 36 litzed puzzles, Barry Silk has 25, and Joe Cabrera has 21.

October's Litzer of the Month is super-fast typist Angela Halsted!  In addition to being a New York Times crossword constructor, Angela has also found time to litz 199 puzzles—great job, Angela!

Recently the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project received some more publicity!  Jim Horne wrote another interesting blog post featuring Bert H. Kruse's brilliant "Please Think Twice!" puzzle!  And Tuning Spork announced the project on his Blather Review blog.  Finally, Ray Hamel added the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project blog to his list of crossword-related blogs.  Thanks so much, everyone!

In other news, the results of our second poll came in on Tuesday!  The poll asked which pre-Shortzian editor published the best puzzles.  Coincidentally, we had the same number of respondents to this poll as to the last poll.  Of the seven readers who voted, one (14%) preferred Eugene T. Maleska.  Will Weng and Margaret Farrar got three votes (43%) each.  I'm a little surprised that only one respondent voted for Eugene T. Maleska, especially since we've primarily been litzing Maleska-edited puzzles.  As we've seen, very high quality puzzles can be found throughout the pre-Shortzian era.  Thanks to everyone who voted!

I just posted a new poll, which asks you to vote for pages and gadgets you like and would like to see continue on this site.  Be sure to vote for all your favorites—pages and gadgets that don't receive any votes may end up on the chopping block.  If you have suggestions for additional pages or gadgets, please comment or shoot me an e-mail (for the address, please refer to the Contact page).

Before getting to the puzzle of the day, I thought I'd share a few more funny typos our proofreaders have caught:

• A clue for ABCDE was typed as "F's foregunners" instead of "F's forerunners"
• A clue for AERO was supposed to read "Kind of plane or dynamics" but was accidentally typed as "Kind of plane or gymnastics"
• A clue for MANTA was entered as "Devilish" instead of "Devilfish"
• A clue for SAFE EDGE should have been entered as "Kind of file" rather than "Kind of life"
• A clue for STEVES should have read "Martin  and Allen" but was mistakenly typed as "Martin and Alien"

My personal favorite of the recent litzing typos, though, was the clue "Telepathic sounds," rather than "Telegraphic sounds," for DITS!  Usually litzing mistakes are few and far between—in fact, our proofreaders have come across many error-free puzzles.  But it's always a nice change of pace when we find humorous typos!

Today's featured puzzle, "No Big Deal," was constructed by Charles M. Deber, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the ACPT this year!  The puzzle was originally published on August 22, 1982, and was litzed by Barry Haldiman (or one of his former litzers).  This brilliant puzzle features ten symmetrically interlocking pairs of theme entries with card-related clues but with no connection to cards!  Each pair of theme entries is divided up by an ampersand.  For example, "Pair of queens" leads to MARIE & ELIZABETH, and "Pair of jokers" leads to HOPE & BALL.  Some other very clever theme entries/clues are "Pair of aces" for EVERT & BORG and "Pair of jacks" for SPRAT & KENNEDY!  There is hardly any obscurity in the nonthematic fill, which is very impressive considering the quantity of intersecting theme entries.  I'm not overwhelmingly fond of ACIDE (clued as "Tart, in Toulouse") or SORB (clued as "Service tree"), though the awesome entries LIBIDO and WINE LIST certainly make up for the more arcane ones.  All in all, this Sunday puzzle is a masterpiece!  The answer grid with highlighted theme entries can be seen below:

Today's featured pre-Shortzian entry is DEIPNOSOPHIST.  Not surprisingly, DEIPNOSOPHIST has never been reused in a Shortz-era puzzle (though it has appeared in a pre-Shortzian 1993 puzzle).  DEIPNOSOPHIST originally appeared in the June 23, 1984, puzzle by I. Judah Koolyk, which was recently litzed by Garrett Hildebrand.  The clue for DEIPNOSOPHIST was "One adept at table talk."  Webster defines a deipnosophist as "a person skilled in table talk."  Deipnosophist is derived from "Deipnosophists," a work published in 200 A.D. by the Graeco-Eygptian author Athenaeus about a banquet where long discussions  take place.  Etymologically it comes from the Greek words "deipnon" (meaning "meal") and "sophistes" (meaning "wise man").  Since I couldn't find a great picture of a deipnosophist, below is a picture of an ancient banquet:

Image courtesy of The Garden of Eaden.