1974 Puzzles Up; Todd Gross on Tanaquil Le Clercq, Irene Smullyan, and Harold T. Bers; July Litzer of the Month Stephen Edward Anderson; and Crossword Talk

Happy 4th of July!  It's been slower going leading up to this holiday weekend, but we've still made good progress, and there's lots of news to report, starting with the puzzles.  On Wednesday morning, Denny Baker sent in 8 reassigned litzed puzzles; then I sent him another one, and late that afternoon, he sent the litzed puzzle back.  Then Friday morning, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 3 more reassigned puzzles, putting her personal total at exactly 1,200 litzed puzzles (congratulations, Nancy!) and the litzing thermometer at 16,012!  Thanks so much, Denny and Nancy!

In addition, I was able to finish assembling the proofread 1974 puzzles for XWord Info and, thanks to Jim Horne, they're now up!  Click here to see them.  Next week I'll have more on Jim's database discoveries!

Todd Gross's Pearls from the Past 

Tanaquil Le Clercq

Photo courtesy of pbs.org

Litzer, proofreader, and historian Todd Gross has been very busy recently continuing his research on pre-Shortzian constructors!  He remembered that Tanaquil Le Clercq had been on my original list of constructors whose genders I was seeking and wrote:

[T]here's a famous dancer by that name, so famous she has a Wikipedia page.  As you can tell, it is a she.  Sounds like her life was a real mixture of tragedy and triumph.  Someone even created a documentary about her.

OK, so I found someone with the same unusual name as our constructor.  Is it the same person?  Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I can confirm that it is.  Because of a comment made by a reader of an obituary of her in The Guardian.

Someone named Patricia Lousada added a lengthy comment to the obituary, including the following:

She was a talented portrait photographer, and an avid crossword puzzler from both sides of the grid; the New York Times published several of her invention[s]. 

Irene Smullyan

Photo courtesy of Dan Smullyan

And Todd also discovered more about pre-Shortzian constructor Irene Smullyan:

I found an online reference to a Daniel Smullyan working for the Columbia Daily Spectator.  Well, that's the paper [New York Times constructor] Finn Vigeland writes for, so I sent him a Facebook message (again, the magic of the Internet) asking if he knew Dan Smullyan.  Finn replied that not only did he know Dan, he knew that he was the son of a constructor!

With Finn's help, Todd was able to contact Dan Smullyan and interview him—here's Todd's writeup:

First of all, he corrected a mistake I'd made in the blog article.  Rema wasn't born in Russia.  The Lapouses actually left Russia in 1907 (Sophie and Alexander were revolutionaries) and moved to Paris before moving to the U.S. near Boston.  Rema was actually born in Paris.  By the way, you probably wonder why I mentioned Rema: it's because I saw several references to her online, though I hadn't really investigated them.  It turns out she was an M.D. who was prominent in the areas of epidemiology and mental disorders.  So prominent, in fact, that the American Public Health Association named an award after her.

That's why I was seeing her name so often.  While I'm here, I'll note that when her husband died (a prominent medical expert himself), the NYT ran an obituary on him that mentions Rema.

OK, enough about Rema.  Dan's mother, Irene, was, in his words, a brilliant woman who was always doing puzzles, including the Sunday NYT crossword, and one day had the idea to try her hand at constructing.  She started with daily puzzles, [and] like most of us she wasn't successful at first, but ETM saw potential and encouraged her.  As the "mother" puzzle shows, she was able to work her way up to creating Sunday puzzles.  She was excited to work with ETM (apparently the only person she submitted puzzles to), though he could be curmudgeonly.  Dan thinks she might have met ETM once in Florida (which would have been near when he passed away) but isn't sure.

Dan also mentioned that not only are Raymond Smullyan and Robert Sloan Smullyan first cousins (who were more like brothers with each other than cousins), but Raymond was the one who introduced Robert and Irene (though Dan isn't sure of the details).  By the way, Dan mentioned how his father has works in the Met and created one particularly famous war image, which you can see here.

So all around just a remarkable pair of families joined by marriage.

I asked Dan what he wanted to readers to know about his mother that wasn't already covered.  He said that she was a  wonderful, intelligent, creative, amazing person, a "force of nature."

I'm including the photo Dan sent me, as well as an obituary of Irene from Harvard Magazine, which apparently his sister wrote.  She is apparently something of an expert on obituary writing, according to Dan.

One more thing I should say.  At the start of the interview, Dan said his mother would be thrilled with the interest in her puzzles.  So a thank you from the great beyond.

Harold T. Bers

Photo courtesy of The Violet.

Finally, Todd dug up some fascinating details about pre-Shortzian constructor Harold T. Bers:

I want to tell you about some more information I found.  This time, about legendary crossword constructor Harold T. Bers.  And I mean that literally.  You do a search on him in Google, you see an entry on him in the Encyclopedia Britannica.  Heck, you even see him mentioned in the article on crossword puzzles in EB.  And both credit him with creating the so-called "internal clue crossword."  An article in the Chicago Reader even says Margaret Farrar "credited constructor Harold T. Bers with inventing the themed puzzle."  Wow!

I don't know whether this is true or not (I'm not yet familiar with the early days of themed crosswords), but it sure sounds like a tall tale to me.  So I'm really curious to see what I can find out about him.  I found some stuff on him in Ancestry.com, but I found more interesting stuff in other places.  A 1949 blurb that mentions a promotion he got at the ad agency he was working for at the time:

A short list of some fiction he wrote (which maybe could be looked up somewhere):

I found another article that apparently mentions Mr. Bers, this time in The New Yorker magazine.

And, most significantly, an obituary from The New York Times.  The obit credits him with "the so-called inner clue feature in crossword puzzles."  I really like how they called that into question there . . . while admitting that yeah it's out there.  But I also really like how the obituary talks about the man more generally, including mentioning his family (who maybe could give a clearer picture of the man).  Note he passed away at 47, which can certainly add to one's legendary status.

Todd also found the above photo of Bers, which was originally from the 1933 edition of the New York University yearbook, The Violet.  The photo shows "what the man looked like . . . before he became a legend."

Thanks so much again, Todd, for all this great research!  It really brings the pre-Shortzian constructors to life!

July Litzer of the Month

We're in a new month, and New York Times constructor Stephen Edward Anderson, who lives what sounds like an idyllic life in Italy, is the July Litzer of the Month!  To read more about Stephen, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.  Grazie, Stephen!

Crossword Talk

I was delighted to give a talk recently about the project and crosswords in general at the Newport Beach Public Library, where I saw solver extraordinaire Eric Maddy!  The audience was small but engaged, and I even spotted a couple of people solving puzzles before the talk began!  Here's a photo that was taken at the library's entrance:

Crossword Talk in Newport Beach, Theme Challenge Solution and Solvers, and Todd Gross's Irene Smullyan Find

On Monday I'll be giving a crossword talk about the project and other cruciverbalist matters at the Newport Beach Public Library—if any of you are in the Orange County area, I hope to see you there!  For more details, click here.

This past week I put out a call to litzers with puzzles—my hope is that we'll have all the litzed puzzles back by the end of August.  Todd McClary sent in 4 litzed puzzles Saturday morning, putting the litzing thermometer total at 15,965.  Then early Tuesday morning, Denny Baker sent 31 proofread puzzles, which were followed by 9 from Todd Gross on Wednesday morning.  And this week Howard Barkin sent in 30 proofread puzzles.  Now that summer vacations are getting under way, the puzzles may come in a bit more slowly, but we're still making great progress!  Thanks so much again, everyone! 

Last week I also wrote about the pre-Shortzian theme challenge Jim Horne had suggested.  I think this one stumped a lot of solvers—Tyler Hinman was the first of only 7 people who wrote in with the correct solution!  Congratulations to the following ace puzzlers, listed in the order in which I received their responses:

Tyler Hinman
Jeffrey Harris
Howard Barkin
Nicholas Harvey
Todd Gross
Lynn Feigenbaum
Ben Zimmer

For everyone who's still wondering about this poser, here's an explanation:

Each of the "theme words" in this Mother's Day puzzle can follow the word MOTHER if a letter is added:

Theme word #1:  (M)ACHREE

Theme word #2:  GO(O)SE

Theme word #3:  (T)ERESA

Theme word #4:  EART(H)

Theme word #5:  TONGU(E)

Theme word #6:  OF PEA(R)L

The six missing letters spell MOTHER.  The title refers to the song lyric "Put them altogether and they spell mother."  I found a link to the song on YouTube.

Thanks again, Jim, for this great idea, and I'll definitely be adding an explanation in the PS Notes section of this puzzle's XWord Info page soon so future generations of solvers aren't at sea!

This week Todd Gross wrote in with another update on his research about pre-Shortzian constructors—specifically, Irene Smullyan, the pre-Shortzian constructor who authored last week's challenge!  Here's his report:

I took this opportunity to try looking up Irene Smullyan on Ancestry and elsewhere on the Internet.  I found several things, but it started with a quote from her in the NY Times Sunday Crossword Tribute to ETM.  Here's the quote:

I am delighted to pay my tribute to Dr. Maleska, whom I admired tremendously.  Although our relationship always stayed professional, he managed to infuse it with a personal quality that made me feel as if I knew him as a friend.  When I was a beginner, his generous advice and encouragement enabled me to become a published puzzlemaker.

He was unique in his perfect integrity and uncomprising [sic] adherence to the highest standards.  His literacy, his vast knowledge, and his obvious love of language made me, in creating my puzzles, always strive for perfection, and his praise (rare enough) was an absolute triumph.

—Irene Smullyan, Mamaroneck, NY

So that was my starting point.  I found several scattered bits of information, it took some time (and luck) to piece it all together.  So here's what I can tell you.

She was born Irene Lapouse on 24 Jan 1917 to Russian immigrant parents near Boston.  She had an older sister Rema who was born around 1912, so Rema emigrated Russia with her parents Alexander and Sophie in 1914.  So right about 100 years ago . . . and right about when WW I started.

Irene majored in biology at Harvard and later went on to do cancer research.  I found a few research papers that mentioned her.  The first one I'm linking to says she gave "technical assistance," so I'm guessing she was working at Sloan Kettering at the time (1980).

The second one has her as a co-author . . . but all I've got is the title.  If I join Research Gate I might be able to get the full article.  That paper was from 1973.

In her personal life, she married Robert Sloan Smullyan in Maine in March of 1940.  Robert was an artist of some renown.  Enough to have his own web site.

That site says he "continues to live" in Duxbury, MA . . . but actually, he doesn't.  He passed away on 30 Nov 2013.

Irene passed away 22 Apr 2007 in Duxbury.  Alas, I haven't found an obituary for her yet.  But I found something else that might just be better.  A book she wrote.  A book of poetry.

The book came out in 2005, so not long before she passed away.  In the introduction (you, as I did, can read from it by clicking on the book cover image [on Amazon.com]), she thanks Eugene Maleska, so no doubt this is the right person.

Finally, a question I was hoping to answer when I started this search.  Was she related to the puzzle legend Raymond Smullyan?  I knew him from a book he did called The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, which was a book of retrograde analysis chess problems.  Of course, I know now they're not blood relatives, but Robert's obit mentions a Raymond Smullyan.  Raymond was born in 1919 in Far Rockaway, NY; Robert was born in NYC in 1915.  So they might be related.  But I can't tie the Raymond I know to Elka Park, so at this point I'm skeptical.

Thanks so much for this fascinating update, Todd!  It is indeed very interesting that Raymond Smullyan was a puzzler too.

Pre-Shortzian Theme Challenge . . . and a Look at the Changing Times

It's been another busy week on the proofreading front!  Friday night, Mark Diehl sent in 11 proofread puzzles, then another 11 Sunday morning and another 28 that night!  Monday night, he sent 23 more puzzles, which were followed by 10 from Todd Gross Tuesday morning.  Tuesday afternoon, Barry Haldiman solved and sent 3 litzed puzzles for which we didn't have solutions.  Early Thursday, Mike Buckley sent in 7 more litzed puzzles that had been reassigned, and then that afternoon, Denny Baker sent in 4 more litzed puzzles, putting us at 15,961 on the litzing thermometer.  Thursday night, Todd sent in 11 more proofread puzzles.  We're making terrific progress—thanks so much, everyone!

In other news, numerous people have written to Jim Horne and Jeff Chen of XWord Info about Irene Smullyan's "Put Them All Together" crossword, which was published late in the Maleska era on May 9, 1993.  This puzzle has a bizarre theme that has stumped many people (including me and Jeff), but Jim was able to figure it out, and he suggested that I challenge readers of this blog to provide a complete explanation of the theme!  If you're able to figure out this puzzle's enigmatic theme and haven't previously seen or solved this puzzle, send me an e-mail.  In next week's blog post, I'll list the names of everyone who submitted a correct solution!

Today's featured puzzle, "Then and Now," was constructed by Ted Dombras; published May 19, 1963; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Mark Diehl.  This fascinating construction reflects on the changing times via numerous clues containing the words "then" (referring to the '20s) or "now"/"today" (the '60s)—I counted a mind-blowing 37 theme entries, including four stacked "pairs" that provide a direct comparison between these two decades!  Below, I've listed the fascinating "then" and "now" clues/entries in the order in which they appear in the puzzle, as well as the direct comparisons and other decade-specific entries that don't necessarily contain "then" or "now"/"today" in their clues:

Beatniks' rendezvous. (COFFEEHOUSE)
Jazz Age rendezvous. (SPEAKEASIES)
Garb of the 1960's. (WASH-AND-WEAR)
Garb of the 1920's. (RACCOON COAT)
Actor today. (LADD)
Actor today. (COTTEN)
TV name today. (LAWFORD)
Wife of 16 Down. [F SCOTT FITZGERALD] (ZELDA)
Poet and critic then and now. (TATE)
"The Bridge of ___ Luis Rey," 1927. (SAN)
Front page name then and now. (ROCKEFELLER)
Singer then and now. (SINATRA)
Irish author then and now. (O'CASEY)
Famous fielder now. (MAYS)
Paavo Nurmi then. (ATHLETE)
Mrs. Kennedy then. (BOUVIER)
Lindbergh's flight. (SOLO)
Ring name now. (SONNY LISTON)
Ring name then. (PANCHO VILLA) [Very nice use of two meanings of "ring"!]
Comic then and now. (MICKEY MOUSE)
Comedian then and now. (EDDIE CANTOR)

Sailor then. (GOB)
Sound of the 1920's. (ROAR)
"Story of ___ Whiteley," 1920. (OPAL)
Jazz Age name. (F SCOTT FITZGERALD)
Front page name, May 21, 1927. (SPIRIT OF ST LOUIS)
Astaire's partner then. (ADELE)
Big shoulder item then. (PAD)
Tax burden now: Abbr. (IRS)
Front page name now. (CASTRO)
Popular role then. (LIL)
Actor then, actor now. (DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS)
Dancer then. (SALLY RAND)
Best seller, 1923. (ANTIC HAY)
Coalition today. (SEATO)
The Twenties. (YEARS)
Dr. Kildare then. (AYRES)

The constructor did an amazing job of squeezing in so many theme entries, but what's even more impressive is that he produced a clean nonthematic fill around them!  I particularly like TORQUE, SNIFFLE, MOTORCARS, YES SIR, and RAZZED, and I appreciate how this puzzle is relatively free of obscurities, partials, and contrived words/phrases, although there are a few ugly abbreviations, such as ULTO ("Relative of inst.") and SMC ("Printer's abbreviation.").  The strangest entries in the grid are FIORITO ("Flowery: It.") and CONATUS ("Striving."), but FIORITO has a nice sound to it, and I was immediately able to recognize that CONATUS came from the Latin conor, meaning "I try."  All in all, this is an excellent pre-Shortzian puzzle from the solving, construction, and historical perspectives!  The answer grid (without highlighted theme entries, thank you very much!) can be seen below:

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.