Raymond Simon's Tribute to Bernice Gordon in GAMES, Awesome Crossword T-shirts, and Doug Peterson Another Three-peat Winner!

Project Update

It's been another busy week!  Todd Gross started us off this time with 10 puzzles (in which he found 22 mistakes) late Sunday afternoon.  Tuesday morning Denny Baker sent in 30, which were followed a few hours later by 31 from Mark Diehl and then, that night, 20 more from Mark.  Early Wednesday morning Todd sent in 11 puzzles with 22 mistakes and then 3 more with 4 mistakes a bit later on.  Late that night Mark sent 31 puzzles, then 29 more Thursday morning.  Great job, everyone—thanks so much again!  I'm hoping to have the 1958 puzzles ready for Jim Horne at XWord Info by early next week.

Doug Peterson Three-peat Blast! Winner

Congratulations to another three-peat Blast! challenge winner, Doug Peterson!  On Wednesday Doug sent in the correct answer, HAWAIIAN STATEHOOD, to the August 30, 1953, puzzle clue "This bill has passed the halfway mark."  What a contrast with the bills in Congress nowadays!

This week's challenge is now up in the sidebar—good luck, everyone!

Awesome Crossword T-shirts

Despite returning to a ton of work (not to mention college decisions!), I'm still basking in the aftermath of the ACPT, where, among other things, I received two awesome crossword T-shirts (see photos below)!  The first features the very cool XWord Info logo, and the second is from the 2006 ACPT (closer to the pre-Shortz era and, as you can see on the shirt, definitely the original Stamford era!)!  Thanks so much again, Jeff, Jim, and Lynn!

Raymond Simon's Tribute to Bernice Gordon in GAMES

Some time ago Raymond Simon, an editor at GAMES World of Puzzles, contacted me about possibly getting a photograph of legendary constructor Bernice Gordon for a piece he was writing about her crossword life.  His article is in the May 2015 issue, and with the magazine's permission, I've reproduced it below:

Thanks again, Ray, for this touching tribute to Bernice.

ACPT Wrap-Up, Unusual Entries, and Doug Peterson First to Solve Blast! Challenge

Project Update

What with the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), it's been a very busy two weeks, but we've still managed to make great progress on the proofreading front!  Starting off with the first week, on Saturday afternoon Mark Diehl sent in 31 puzzles and then 12 more, which were followed by 23 from Denny Baker that evening.  Sunday night Mark sent another 30 puzzles and then 25 more Monday night.  Tuesday morning Denny Baker sent 11, then Mark sent another 31 that afternoon.  Early Wednesday morning Mark sent 28 more and then another 31 that afternoon.  Thursday evening Denny sent in 24 puzzles—the last for that week.  This past week Mark sent 23 Sunday night.  On Monday Denny sent in 24 more, then 18 more Thursday morning and then another 6.  Friday morning he sent another 25 puzzles, which were followed by 10 from Todd Gross (who found 17 mistakes) later that afternoon.  Thanks so much again, everyone—terrific job once again!

Doug Peterson First to Solve Blast! Challenge

The Blast! challenge was up for two weeks this time but was solved with lightning speed by litzer Doug Peterson, who sent in the first correct answer on Sunday, March 22, with only two letters having been revealed—congratulations, Doug!  The clue from this April 3, 1955, puzzle was "Modern enigmas.," and the answer was FLYING SAUCERS.  I suppose flying saucers are still modern enigmas, especially with the advent of Photoshop, but seeing such a clue from 1955 was a real thrill from a historical perspective!  This week's Blast! challenge is up now in the sidebar—good luck, everyone!

ACPT Wrap-Up

As usual I had a blast reconnecting with old crossword friends and meeting new ones at this year's ACPT!  Legendary litzer/proofreader Denny Baker came to the tournament for the first time since 2006, so I had the pleasure of meeting him in person!  The last ACPT Denny attended was in Stamford, so he felt right at home with the tournament's move back this year from Brooklyn.  Interestingly, even though this was my first Stamford ACPT, I felt right at home, too!  Even better, as I was informed sometime after Puzzle 5, the coffee shop at the hotel happened to sell Afrin—had I noticed this, I would have had eight perfectly clean solves.  Unfortunately, I'd never heard of Afrin, so I ended up guessing AFRIT instead.  At next year's ACPT, I'll be sure to take full advantage of my surroundings!  For now, here's a picture of me and Denny:

And here's another one of litzer Tom Pepper and me—the New England cold was nothing compared to what Tom and other Minnesotans routinely experience!

Another highlight this year was meeting constructor Ed Stein, who had one New York Times puzzle published during the Maleska era but couldn't remember exactly when.  Ed did, however, remember some of the theme entries.  In just a few seconds, I was able to pull up Ed's puzzle on XWord Info and show it to him in person!  It turned out that his puzzle was published July 28, 1980; even better, it was one of the puzzles for which the constructor's first name hadn't yet been identified, which means that XWord Info will be one small step closer to perfect completion!  The puzzle itself has a rather subtle theme that I missed at first glance:  Each theme entry, such as ANNIE OAKLEY (clued as "Pass"), is eponymous—that is, it's a word or phrase that derives from someone's name.  Very cool!  Unfortunately, Ed stopped submitting to the Times for many years after his first publication, having received one of Maleska's infamous rejection letters in response to his second submission.  Ed's next Times puzzle appeared in 1994, and he has since gone on to have a handful more, most in collaboration with renowned constructor Paula Gamache.

A third project-related highlight of my experience was catching up with the ever-prolific Arthur Schulman, who now constructs more variety crosswords than standard ones.  Some of his more recent works have included a vowelless-esque puzzle, in which only the first half of the alphabet is entered into the grid, and a puzzle in which every entry is a consonancy.  Arthur claims such puzzles are easier to construct, though I suspect that he may just be so experienced that all crosswords and crossword variants come easily to him as a constructor!  Here's a picture of Arthur and me:

Finally, I gave a speech about the project again as part of the Friday evening events, this time about the computer program I wrote to try to identify the most likely constructors of crosswords without bylines using computational stylometry—the statistical analysis of variations in linguistic style or images using computers.  The program used seven factors, including block count, word count, and average clue length; although definitively determining the constructor of every puzzle without a byline won't ever be possible, through the use of computational stylometry guesses can be made—in some cases, quite accurate guesses!

Unusual Entries

After all the excitement of the ACPT, I decided to decompress by looking through my file of unusual entries from pre-Shortzian puzzles.  This file has grown exponentially now that the proofreading process is as streamlined as my preliminary scans of each puzzle!  The following salmagundi of seven entries came from June 1956 puzzles alone, all but one of which were litzed by Mark Diehl:

• ACONTIA clued as "Javelins of Ancient Greece."
• CANTRIP clued as "Trick or prank: Scot."
• CAPORAL clued as "Coarse tobacco."
• EUPHUES clued as "High-flown romance by John Lyly, 1753."
• HENEQUEN clued as "Yucatan rope fiber."
• KALONGS clued as "Flying foxes."
• ORONOKO clued as "Variety of tobacco."

My favorite of these entries is KALONGS, which, appropriately enough, appeared in Arthur Schulman's puzzle from June 27; here's a picture of one of these beasts:

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

10,000-Plus Pre-Shortzian Puzzles Now on XWord Info, Jane S. Flowerree's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Additions, and Doug Peterson First to Solve Blast! Challenge

Project Update

I'm delighted to report that late Friday night I received the following in an e-mail from Jim Horne of XWord Info:

Fun fact: now that 1966 is up, there are over 10,000 pre-Shortz puzzles now in XWord Info!

That's amazing—thanks so much, Jim!  And many thanks again to all the litzers and proofreaders who helped us get to this milestone!  To see all 10,000-plus puzzles, click here.

10,000-plus puzzles

This week was a bit quieter on the proofreading front, undoubtedly because of the holiday season and Matt Ginsberg's word list project, which continues to occupy many proofreaders!  Todd Gross sent in 10 puzzles Friday morning, though, with 17 mistakes, so we made some good progress—thanks again, Todd!

Next week the blog will be on hiatus because of Christmas, but I'll continue to process puzzles, so please do keep sending them in—and let me know if you'd like more (or to try your hand at proofreading!)!

Doug Peterson First to Solve Last Week's Blast! Challenge!

On Monday at 8:28 p.m. Doug Peterson was the first to guess the answer to the last Blast! challenge—congratulations, Doug!  The clue, from the June 14, 1959, puzzle, was "Current political issue," and the answer was INTEGRATION.  It's always interesting to see which issues are so significant that they get preserved in black and white!

Next week's challenge is a bit different:  Instead of providing the clue, I'm listing the entry, and the challenge is to guess the clue!  I'll announce the winner in two weeks—as usual, a new letter will appear each day.

Jane S. Flowerree Adds to Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Treasures

In the December 6 post, I reported on and linked to Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame treasures.  This week Jane S. Flowerree, the subject last week's post and Todd Gross's interview, sent in several more American Crossword Puzzle Academy items, including the missing Report 3, which was published in May 1990 and can be seen here (scroll down after clicking)!

Jane also sent the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame Bylaws of the Board of Governors, dated December 21, 1989; to read them, click here.

Interim Notice

In addition, she sent an Interim Notice, dated October 27, 1989, about a meeting that was to be held on Saturday, November 18, 1989.  To see a larger version of the above image, click here.

Thanks so much again, Jane, for these great additions!

I find it fascinating that there could be so many bylaws for an institution like the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame; at the same time, however, I wonder whether such bylaws were necessary.  Perhaps the complexity of the organization  contributed somewhat to its downfall!  I also very much enjoyed reading Report 3 of the newsletter, though I once again wondered whether these reports were the best way to inspire interest among members.  All the letters to the editor are interesting historically in that they can be considered predecessors of crossword blogs, but were they of real interest to members back in the day?  My guess is that the Academy would have survived longer had its bulletins contained puzzles to solve, as Crossworder's OWN and Crossw_rd did.  If the American Crossword Puzzle Academy had used its funds to launch another crossword market rather than to hold meetings, constructors from around the country, rather than just those in New York, would have been able to feel involved.  Then again, the letters may indeed have been fascinating for constructors since they'd never really seen such fan mail before.  Perhaps modern constructors are more jaded now that both wanted and unwanted feedback about their published work can be accessed with the click of a button.

Fun Vocabulary Test, New Litzer of the Month Doug Peterson, New Thermometer, PuzzleNation Publicity, and Constructor Genders

Happy New Year!  It's been a great year for the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, and to celebrate, I've put a special New Year's vocabulary test treat at the end of this post!

I'm also delighted to start off 2014 with an interview with new Litzer of the Month Doug Peterson!  Doug is not only a litzer but also a top-notch constructor—to read more about him, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

On the litzing front, we've had a very busy week, starting off with 7 puzzles from Jeffrey Krasnick early Saturday morning.  Sunday morning, he sent in 7 more, which were followed about an hour later by 6 from Lynn Feigenbaum.  Sunday evening, Jeffrey sent in an additional 7, which were followed by 10 proofread puzzles from Todd Gross.  Monday afternoon, Denny Baker sent in 6 more puzzles.  Early Tuesday, Jeffrey sent in 7 more puzzles, which were followed in the afternoon by 28 puzzles from Ralph Bunker and 7 more from Lynn. The first puzzles of 2014 were 10 proofread ones from Todd early Wednesday morning.  Jeffrey sent in 7 more litzed puzzles a few hours later, then in the afternoon, Vic Fleming sent 28 puzzles, putting us over 14,300 on the litzing thermometer!  Denny sent in 7 more puzzles that afternoon, which were followed by 7 more from Jeffrey—a great start to the New Year!  Thursday morning, Lynn sent in 7 more puzzles.  A few hours later, Nancy Kavanaugh sent a mega-batch of 42 puzzles, putting her total at more than 1,000 litzed puzzles—congratulations again, Nancy!  That afternoon I received 4 puzzles from Denny and then 7 more puzzles from Mark Diehl.  This morning, Todd sent in 11 more proofread puzzles (the last from 1979!), which were followed by 4 more litzed puzzles from Denny this afternoon.  And Howard Barkin sent in 14 puzzles this week too!  So we're now over 14,400 on the litzing thermometer!  Terrific job, everyone—thanks so much again!

You may have noticed that we have a new litzing thermometer image.  On Monday the thermometer wasn't showing up on the site—this has happened before but has always resolved itself.  Early Tuesday morning, however, litzer Jeffrey Krasnick told me the thermometer still wasn't there.  Since it hadn't appeared when I checked again several hours later, I went to the thermometer's site, where I discovered that our original image had been replaced by new options, so I chose one of those.  R.I.P., old thermometer.

In other news, the project received some more publicity yesterday on PuzzleNation—click here and scroll about halfway down the page to see it.  Thanks, PuzzleNation!

Some of you may have seen my recent post on Cruciverb-l asking for help in identifying the genders and full names of some pre-Shortzian constructors.  A few people have responded, which has been very helpful, but there are still many unidentified constructors left.  I've listed the remaining names, with the range of years in which the constructors published in the Times, below—I'm particularly interested in identifying the genders of C. J. Angio, Dale O. Burgener, W. E. Jones, S. A. Kay, J. F. Kelly, and Patterson Pepple.  If you have any information on these constructors or any of the others in this list, please e-mail me (click on the Contact tab above for the address)—thanks!

I was looking through my list of crosswords to feature on this blog and discovered that I had marked down three puzzles containing symmetrically interlocking 15-letter foods!  All three puzzles contain amazing theme density and interlock for their time, especially given that the constructors didn't have access to computer software to find 15-letter food names with three letters in particular positions.  Also, I find it fascinating that all three puzzles contained PEACH PIE A LA MODE—its letters must have lent themselves well to crossing!  Unfortunately, though, the constructors of these mouth-watering masterpieces are all unknown.

The first puzzle chronologically was published February 9, 1968; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Joe Cabrera.  This puzzle's constructor focused mostly on desserts, though he/she did mix CHICKEN CHOW MEIN and CREAMED POTATOES into this sapid omnium-gatherum for variety.  The puzzle is beautifully executed—the constructor even managed to toss a bunch of food-related entries into the surrounding fill, including SALADS, TOM (clued as "Kind of turkey."), BLE ("Wheat: Fr."), SHOOTS, DANE ("Maker of pastry."), MESAS ("Tables: Sp."), ROES, BULB ("Onion, for one."), DROP ("Piece of candy."), and SPUD.  Wow—that's a mouthful!  My only quibble with the theme is that two of the 15-letter theme entries contain the word PIE, but in all honesty, my complaint is trifling.  The answer grid (with highlighted 15-letter theme entries) can be seen below:

The second puzzle was published June 1, 1970; edited by Will Weng; and litzed by Mark Diehl.  This puzzle has a more even distribution of flavors than the first one did, though in exchange, there's one less 15-letter theme entry.  Removing a central theme entry also allowed the constructor to add some sparkle to the nonthematic fill—I particularly liked the entries CHARYBDIS and OBJET D'ART, though I also appreciated seeing the Latin-derived word PRESIDIAL ("Having a garrison").  As in the first puzzle, the surrounding fill also contains an extensive assortment of food-related entries, which include PEAS, IRISH ("Kind of stew or coffee"), PIT ("Prepare fruit"), CHEWS ("Works on caramels"), and PEARS.  I could complain about leftover PEACH PIE A LA MODE and CREAMED POTATOES, but these foods are so delicious that the repetition doesn't bother me very much.  The contrived plural SPCAS and the partial TÊTE A ("___ tête") did give me mild indigestion, but the rest of the fill was nice and smooth.  The answer grid (with highlighted 15-letter theme entries) can be seen below:

The third puzzle was published December 28, 1971; edited by Will Weng, who has shown himself to be quite the gourmand; and litzed by Howard Barkin.  This puzzle, which contains just 28 blocks, boasts a more impressive grid than did either of its predecessors.  The constructor also included some fresh fruit (WILD BLUEBERRIES) to complement the high-calorie foods elsewhere in the grid!  The theme as a whole, however, feels slightly less consistent than in the previous two puzzles—I was disappointed that FEAST OF LANTERNS was inedible, and ROAST LOIN OF PORK sounds a bit roll-your-own (or should I say PARKERHOUSE ROLL your own?).  In addition, I was dismayed to find just two other food-related entries in the surrounding fill:  LOTUS and HUSKED.  I was so impressed by the 28-block grid and mind-blowing theme entry interlock, though, that I couldn't help enjoying this one!  Here's the answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) for this puzzle:

After such a lovely feast of words, what could be more refreshing than testing your vocabulary on some of the most bizarre words I've encountered in pre-Shortzian puzzles?  I've prepared a fun 10-question multiple choice quiz modeled after the vocabulary tests in Eugene T. Maleska's A Pleasure in Words.  Each question is an unusual entry that appeared in a pre-Shortzian puzzle; the correct answer choice is the original clue (and accurate definition), while the other three are made-up distractor clues.  I left the puzzle dates and authors off of each entry to make the quiz more challenging for litzers who may have encountered these entries.  Answers are below.  Please feel free to post your scores as comments!

1. chandoo  a. Old World monkey.  b. Assam measure.  c. Oriental land form.  d. Opium preparation.
2. golliwog  a. Tadpole: Var.  b. 18th-century fright wig.  c. Tamarisk.  d. Grotesque doll.
3. breccia  a. A composite rock.  b. Branch: It.  c. Beetle genus.  d. Forearm muscle.
4. horehound  a. European polecat.  b. Striped marble.  c. Coughdrop ingredient.  d. Cur.
5. holluschick  a. Heavy wooden club.  b. Young male seal.  c. Screech owl.  d. Wax sculpture.
6. euphroe  a. Andiron loop.  b. Mediterranean whirlwind.  c. Sliding stick for tightening tent ropes.  d. Heraldic band.
7. janizary  a. Turkish soldier.  b. Arabic title of respect.  c. Ambassador, old-style.  d.  European honey buzzard.
8. elaeometer  a. Greek sundial.  b. Oil-testing device.  c. Unit of measurement, equivalent to a vara.  d. Surveyor's tool.
9. stickjaw  a. Quiet  b. Curved knife for deboning fish  c. Praying mantis feature  d.  Caramel candy, for instance
10. zobo  a. Yak hybrid  b. Shield embossment  c. Lens shield  d. Wagnerian dwarf

To fill the spoiler space, here's a picture of A Pleasure in Words:

Answers:  1-d, 2-d, 3-a, 4-c, 5-b, 6-c, 7-a, 8-b, 9-d, 10-a

Score Converter:

0–3:  [Insert scathing Maleska insult here.]
4–7:  You know more words than I do!
8–10:  You are a word wonder!

Contest Results, 186 More Litzed Puzzles, and Laurence Perrine

The winner of last week's "A Challenge from the Army" contest was litzer Doug Peterson!  Doug correctly solved the puzzle and will receive a free Puzzazz e-book of his choice—congratulations, Doug!  There were six other correct entries submitted, along with some incorrect or incomplete ones, and everyone seemed to enjoy this pre-Shortzian challenge.  Thanks again to Jim Horne for hosting the puzzle on XWord Info and to Roy Leban for donating the Puzzazz e-book!

An interesting note about this puzzle is that there was an error in the Times's published solution to the grid.  The incorrect entries were DEEIDE/SEAT, which I changed to DECIDE/SCAT.  All submitted contest entries contained DECIDE/SCAT—the correct solution appears below:

Also, Jim Horne wondered whether it might be possible to track down Privates Laurence D. Perrine and Henry F. Holbrook after all these years.  Although I wasn't able to find anything about Henry F. Holbrook, I did find a Wikipedia page about a Laurence Perrine (1915–1995), who was a professor of English Literature at Southern Methodist University and, according to Wikipedia, "the basis for the fictitious poetry textbook author J. Evans Pritchard in the movie Dead Poets Society."  He was also known for his books of limericks.  I don't know whether this was the same Laurence Perrine, but he may well have been.

On the litzing front, we had a phenomenal week—186 more puzzles came in!  Last Friday, right after the post went up, Mark Diehl sent in 19, putting his litzed total at more than 2,600!  Then on Saturday, Denny Baker sent in 7 puzzles, followed on Sunday by 7 from Todd McClary and 35 from Martin Herbach, who put us over 9,500!  On Monday, Mark sent in 34 more puzzles, and Denny sent in 7 more.  Then on Tuesday, Martin sent in 35 more, followed by 7 on Wednesday from Todd Gross and 7 from Jeffrey Krasnick.  Thursday Joe Cabrera sent in 7, putting us over 9,600!  Finally, Thursday night Mark sent in another 21!  This is certainly way up there with the totals during litzing contests—awesome job, everybody!  It won't be long before we're at 10,000!

Today's featured puzzle, whose constructor is unknown, was originally published on October 31, 1972.  It was edited by Will Weng and was recently litzed by Mike Buckley.  This tour de force is relatively light on theme entries, but the ingenuity of the theme and the wide-open grid certainly make up for it.  The two main theme entries are APPLE TURNOVERS and UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE—the catch is that both these entries are INVERTED and read from top to bottom!  Reversing the direction of particular grid entries is a theme that has grown and developed throughout the pre-Shortzian and Shortz eras (such as in this puzzle featured a few months ago).  I have yet to see an earlier example of theme-entry reversal.  Anyway, this puzzle's mild theme density allowed the constructor to include many fresh and lively entries in the nonthematic fill—some of my favorites include TRES BIEN, TAKES ON, EXEMPTS, and CATER TO!  I'm not as fond of the four six-letter-plus partials (SAIL ON O, A RAGE TO, AUTO DA, and A SENSE); nevertheless, I'm sure solvers enjoyed this tricky treat on Halloween 1972 just as much as I did on May 17, 2013!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

Today's featured pre-Shortzian entry is PHANTASMAGORIAL, which, according to the Ginsberg database, has never been reused in a Shortz-era puzzle.  PHANTASMAGORIAL originally appeared in the March 24, 1971, puzzle (constructor unknown), which was edited by Will Weng and recently litzed by Jeffrey Krasnick.  The clue for PHANTASMAGORIAL was "Like some dreams"; Webster's online dictionary does not contain a definition for this word.  It seems that The New York Times might have been in error—accepted forms of the adjective are limited to phantasmagoric and phantasmagorical.  My Webster word list in Crossword Compiler contains phantasmagorial; regardless, the clue for this entry should have at least contained a variant tag.  In any case, the primary definition of a phantasmagoria is "an exhibition of optical effects and illusions."  Its derivation can be traced back to the French roots fantasme and agorie.  Webster mentions that agorie might come from the Greek agora, a repeater in both pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era crosswords!  Below is a picture of a phantasmagori(c)al fractal:

Image courtesy of Tech Tips 4 Educators.

Bernice Gordon Interview, Over 9,000, In 1969, Marbles Tournament, and Pre-Shortzian Stumpers

Today I'm delighted to present another interview with a pre-Shortzian constructor, the amazingly creative and prolific Bernice Gordon!  At 99, Bernice is the oldest constructor in the history of The New York Times; according to my (incomplete) records, she published 112 puzzles in the pre-Shortz era and has published 18 under Will Shortz's editorship, but she reportedly has published more than 150 puzzles in the Times.  To read my interview with Bernice Gordon, click here or on the Pre-Shortzian Constructor Interviews tab above.

I'm also thrilled to announce that we've now litzed more than 9,000 puzzles!  On Sunday, Todd McClary sent in a batch that put us over 8,900, and then, in very short order, more puzzles came in—including a batch of 34 from Mark Diehl—that put us over 8,950!  Finally, on Wednesday, Martin Herbach sent in five batches totaling 35 puzzles, putting us well over 9,000!  Thanks so much, everybody—great job!

We also reached another milestone this week:  On Tuesday, litzer Nancy Kavanaugh received the first batch of 1969 puzzles!  Here's a representative photo from that very eventful year.  It's of astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, which, on July 20, 1969, landed the first humans there:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Although there won't be any pre-Shortzian puzzles to solve, I wanted to help spread the word about this weekend's Marbles 5th Annual Crossword Tournament at various locations throughout the country.  This should be a very fun event, and litzer Doug Peterson and I will be judges at the one taking place in Sherman Oaks, California!

Finally, if you haven't checked out the Pre-Shortzian Stumpers on Twitter, many of the previous stumpers are listed there under #psstumpers.  Litzers Jeffrey Krasnick, Martin Ashwood-Smith, and Denny Baker have come up with some doozies, and I'm sure there'll be more to come!

Today's featured puzzle was constructed by the legendary Bernice Gordon.  As Bernice mentioned in her interview, this puzzle caused something of a controversy—in fact, Margaret Farrar initially rejected it!  The puzzle, titled "Words and Words," was published on May 30, 1965.  It features ten common phrases containing a word, AND, and then another word; the catch is that AND is squeezed into a single square, making this puzzle the earliest Sunday rebus I've seen so far.  This puzzle is way ahead of its time thematically—Sunday rebus themes didn't catch on until much later during the Maleska era!  In addition to using a completely innovative theme, Bernice also chose a wide-open grid and did a lovely job filling it.  Some highlights of the nonthematic fill include RASPBERRY, CONDUCTOR, QUAKING, and AESTHETES, but perhaps the most interesting/unusual entry is ODTAA.  At first, I thought it had to be a mistake—litzers have found several errors in the solutions to Times puzzles recently.  But ODTAA, clued as "Masefield novel, 1926," is indeed a legitimate entry.  My first thought was that the title had something to do with TAA, a piece of pre-Shortzian crosswordese commonly clued as "Chinese pagoda"; I couldn't have been more wrong, however—ODTAA is an acronym for "One Damn Thing After Another!"  In sum, this is a very futuristic and creative pre-Shortzian puzzle!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

A few months ago, one of our proofreaders came across a very clever clue in the Maleska-edited Saturday, June 7, 1986, puzzle, constructed by Irene Smullyan.  The clue, for the entry SMASHED, was "Under the alfluence of incohol."  This clue, like the featured puzzle, feels way ahead of its time—both are exceptionally clever!  Below is a picture of SMASHED in a different sense of the word:

Image courtesy of 123RF.