Todd Gross's Research on Pre-Shortzian Constructors—Plus, Solve His Litzed Copy of "The Toughest Crossword Puzzle Ever," by Jordan S. Lasher!

It's been another very busy week on the proofreading front!  Late Friday night, Mark Diehl sent in 31 puzzles, then Saturday night, Todd Gross sent in 8.  Sunday night, Mark sent 30 more, and Monday night, Todd sent another 7!  Tuesday evening, new litzer Spencer Pasero sent in 1 puzzle, which was followed by 31 more proofread puzzles from Mark.  Thursday night, Mark sent another 31 puzzles, and Friday morning, Larry Wasser sent in 7 more.  And this week Howard Barkin sent 31 proofread puzzles too.  Terrific job, everybody—we'll be done with 1975 very soon!

On the litzing front, there are still many puzzles out with litzers, so even though the thermometer hasn't gone up much recently, it will eventually—my hope is that we'll have all these puzzles in by the end of the summer!

Information about many pre-Shortzian constructors' lives has been lost to the sands of time, but litzer and proofreader Todd Gross has done a tremendous job recently of unearthing new details about some of the more prolific early New York Times constructors!  He also found a copy of Crossword Puzzle Compendium by Norton Bramesco and Jordan S. Lasher, about which he wrote the following:

It's actually really good.  The content is similar to other crossword books, talking about the history and format of crosswords, how to construct and how to solve, and giving bios on editors and constructors.  What separates this book is how good the content is.  They didn't just repeat what's out there, they did their own investigation.  They didn't just give their opinions of top constructors (including the aforementioned Hume R. Craft), they got quotes from many/most of them.

Maybe best of all, there are lots of puzzles in here.  Most of them by Jordan Lasher, but also one from each of the constructors profiled, also I believe one each by Maleska (first Stepquote puzzle!), Weng, and Margaret Farrar (!).

I've ordered a copy of Crossword Puzzle Compendium myself, and I'm hoping to post constructor bios from it on Scribd this summer.  (I have constructor bios from several other books and publications as well that I plan to post there too—I'll announce them here as they appear.)

Todd noted that the final puzzle in Crossword Puzzle Compendium was Jordan S. Lasher's "The Toughest Crossword Puzzle Ever."  He decided to litz it and look up every entry, adding notes to the CCW file.  He wrote:

The puzzle is 25x25 with 208 entries (Jordan specifically wanted it to be at least 200).  Over half of these have never appeared in a Shortzian NYT crossword.  When I do an analysis using XWord Info, almost the entire grid is red!  The Freshness Factor is I believe 86.2 (that's the factor, not the percentage).  I've found a few small errors in the clues, but so far there's only 1 or 2 I haven't been able to verify online.  It's an amazing construction, especially given how he's trying very hard not to use the sort of bread and butter entries crosswords then and now are filled with.

Here's a piece Todd put together about the puzzle when he was finished:

This puzzle was created by Jordan Lasher for the First World Class Crossword Puzzle Marathon, held over 24 hours on 15–16 Sep 1978.  The puzzle was commissioned by a bookstore in Beachwood, OH, and intended to be so difficult that no one would submit a correct answer, even with 24 hours in a 30,000 volume bookstore.  Some competitors even went to a local library to do further research . . . something Mr. Lasher himself did in constructing this puzzle, on top of the 50 reference works he borrowed from said bookstore.

The puzzle, at 25x25 with 208 entries, lived up to expectations.  Out of 186 entrants, no one submitted a fully correct solution.  The winner (Michael Donner, former editor of GAMES magazine) was 88% correct.  Only 32 even submitted anything, and some of those had negative scores [meaning they got more answers incorrect than correct]!

Before litzing the puzzle (and looking up all the obscure entries online, notes on which are included in the CCW file), I decided to try my hand at this monster of a puzzle.  I gave myself one hour, with no research, books or otherwise.  So, how did I do?  Remember, there are pretty good solvers who got a negative score with 24 hours and a bookstore to research in.  I don't know what their scoring system was, but I had 16 correct entries (7.7%), with 3 incorrect entries, which really amazed me.

But more amazing was how Jordan created this puzzle by hand, trying his darndest to squeeze in as many obscure (but findable) entries as he could.  About half of the entries have never appeared (to date) in a New York Times crossword, with about 2 dozen more appearing only in Pre-Shortzian puzzles.  It must have been tough avoiding using standard tricks and entries, working with rarely-if-ever seen letter combinations.  All in all, I'd say he did a superb job.

My advice to anyone who tries to solve this: using Google isn't just OK, it's strongly encouraged.  Also, many of these entries use variant (or older) spellings, and you don't always get told about them in the clues.  And finally, enjoy!

If you'd like to try doing the litzed puzzle, you can access it in either Crossword Compiler (complete with Todd's comments) or Across Lite on the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project Google Drive by clicking on one of the links below.:

Crossword Compiler version

Across Lite version

Awesome job, Todd—thanks so much for making this classic puzzle available with all your notes!

While researching, Todd also found several obituaries for pre-Shortzian constructors.  One (behind a paywall) was for Josephine Felker—likely our current "J. A. Felker"—confirming that she was a New York Times crossword constructor.  Another was for Jay Spry, whose wife apparently created puzzles too.  And a third was for the legendary Ernst Theimer.  Todd noted that Theimer passed away in 1994—the same year his Shortz-era puzzle was published.  Todd also found an Associated Press article about a Tap Osborn crossword puzzle on a T-shirt.

In addition, Todd's research suggests that the constructor we have listed as "Higgins" is actually Anne Higgins Petz, who wrote a book of Bible crossword puzzles.  Todd notes that her August 6, 1976, puzzle has some Christian references and that her Web site indicates that she constructed New York Times crosswords.  I've written to her, and I'm hoping to confirm this information.

Todd also found the Web site of pre-Shortzian constructor and chemist Mary Virginia Orna, who wrote a fascinating chapter, "Always a Cross(ed) Word," in A Festival of Chemistry Entertainments.  I had hoped to post this chapter on Scribd, but unfortunately that wouldn't be allowed by the American Chemical Society.  I've linked to the abstract, though, and you can either purchase the full text or see if your library has access to it.  Todd also found the following quote from Orna's college magazine:  "If you crossword fans were wondering, this is also the Mary Virginia Orna who teased your brains for years with the puzzles she authored for The New York Times.  But even now, with more time to spend outside the classroom, she's just too busy to get back down (and across) to that old pastime."

Finally, Todd found an excerpt from a great article from the September 1981 Attenzione magazine (an Italian-American publication) that discussed the process of creating crosswords and included quotes from Jack Luzzatto and Alfio Micci.  I'll try to get a copy of the full article to post on Scribd.

Outstanding research, Todd—thanks so much again!

1977 Puzzles Up on XWord Info, New XWord Info Feature, Todd Gross's Research, Barry Haldiman's Find, Inquiry from a Solver, and the One-Puzzle Litzing Challenge!

It's been another busy week, starting off with 10 more proofread puzzles from Todd Gross on Saturday morning.  Early Sunday, new digitizer Roy Leban sent in 1 puzzle, which was followed by 2 from Lynn Feigenbaum that afternoon and 1 more from Roy that night.  Monday evening, Peter Broda sent in 1 puzzle.  Early Tuesday morning, Todd sent 10 more proofread puzzles.  Wednesday morning, Barry Haldiman sent in 8 litzed puzzles, which were followed by 4 from Susan O'Brien that afternoon.  Early Thursday morning, Todd sent 10 more proofread puzzles, then that afternoon, Lynn sent 2 more litzed puzzles, and Susan sent another 6.  And this week Howard Barkin sent in 8 puzzles.  So we're now at 15,747 on the litzing thermometer—thanks so much again, everyone!

Great news:  We've finally finished proofreading the 1977 puzzles, and Jim Horne has now posted them on XWord Info, where they can be viewed, solved, and analyzed.  This year contains the first two months of Will Weng–edited puzzles, so enjoy!  Thanks, Jim!  

Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from Jim, who announced that he'd created a new feature that allows you to search for keywords in clues as well as entries!  This very useful feature recently allowed Will Shortz to quickly locate all crosswords with word ladder themes (by searching for "word ladder" in puzzle clues) to help a friend with a book.  Jim suggested that I do a similar clue search for "Stepquote," which turned up a surprising number of pre-Shortzian Stepquotes that weren't constructed by Eugene T. Maleska and, even more significant, that were confined to daily puzzle grids!  The clue search also makes researching how current events played into New York Times crosswords much easier.  I did a clue search for "U.S.S.R." and was able to see how crosswords reflected developments in and changing attitudes about the Cold War, which was truly fascinating!  I can't wait to explore the clue search in more detail—thanks so much again for creating it, Jim!

In other news, litzer and proofreader Todd Gross recently uncovered some very interesting articles. He found three on pre-Shortzian constructor James A. Brussel, who, in addition to being a crossword constructor, was also a psychiatrist and a criminologist who helped track down the Mad Bomber!  Todd also found two articles on Jordan S. Lasher, one of which erroneously listed him as Joseph Lasher!  On top of all this, Todd came across a fascinating early article on late crossword puzzle editor and ACPT judge Doug Heller.  Great finds, Todd!  Links to the articles about James A. Brussel and Jordan Lasher can be found on the Pre-Shortzian Constructors page.

This week I also received an e-mail from Barry Haldiman, who noticed that several of the 1940s puzzles he'd litzed disguised a "headline" in the top row!  Here are two he pointed out, along with the clues for each word in the headline.  Both puzzles were constructed by the legendary Jack Luzzatto:

• February 4, 1945
• BOMBING
• "War of attrition."
• ATTACK
• "Onset."
• GROWING
• "Expanding."
• March 4, 1945
• NAZIDOM
• "Hitler's world."
• FINALLY
• "At long last."
• DOOMED
• "Is kaput."

Barry also observed that the March 4 puzzle contained the clue "Hitler's next title." for HERR and said he found it odd that Margaret Farrar hadn't steered the puzzles to be a diversion from the war news.  Even with the rampant war references, though, I can see how the puzzles would have been considered diversions—it's hard to think much about the war when many clues obligate you to pore through hefty tomes to get the name of one of the Azores Islands or of an obscure arrow poison!

A couple of days ago Jeff Chen of XWord Info forwarded an e-mail he had received from a solver who had been trying to find a couple of puzzles on XWord Info, one by Frances Hansen and the other by Maura B. Jacobson.  The solver's 200-puzzle omnibus of Maleska-edited puzzles indicated that these puzzles had all originally run between 1979 and 1985, yet he couldn't find them on XWord Info.  I was able to search through my data and find the exact dates for both puzzles, which had actually first appeared in 1976—the year we are currently proofreading.  The solver also wondered why some of the puzzles in his book had different titles than the ones on XWord Info.  I explained to him that puzzle titles, clues, and even grids were often changed in the versions that were reprinted in books and that, where possible, the litzed puzzles on XWord Info reproduced whatever was in the original puzzles, not in reprinted versions later on.  It was gratifying to be able to find the Hansen and Jacobson puzzles quickly for this solver and was yet another instance of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project being able to serve as a resource for the community at large.

On Saturday while I was at the Latin convention, I received an e-mail from Roy Leban of Puzzazz.  Roy is very busy but wanted to digitize at least one puzzle before we were through.  I took one puzzle out of a packet and sent it to him, along with instructions.  Even though one puzzle may not seem like much (especially, as Roy noted, when compared to Mark Diehl's litzing achievement!), it still helps a lot.  Welcome, Roy!

I got to thinking that other people in the crossword community who've been too busy to litz might be interested in trying one puzzle too before we're all done, so I'm officially launching the One-Puzzle Litzing Challenge!  If you'd like to digitize one puzzle to see what it's like and help along the project, just let me know.  If you end up liking it, you can always ask for more puzzles, but if one is enough, that's fine too!

Today's featured pre-Shortzian puzzle was published on March 3, 1964; constructed by Diana Sessions; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Tracy Bennett.  This impressive construction features a five-part Space Age theme in a 70-word grid!  The theme consists of five asymmetrically arranged entries containing a planet (or what was considered a planet at the time this puzzle was published), most of which are clued in a way that doesn't relate to the planet in question.  Thus, this puzzle's constructor largely passed on entries that would directly reference the planets (such as SATURN'S RINGS and NEPTUNE'S MOON) in favor of ones that would more subtly reference them (such as SATURNINELY and NEPTUNE'S CUP).  My favorite theme entry is EARTH MAN, which was clued as "Future moon visitor."  Talk about an optimistic outlook!  What really makes this puzzle stand out, however, is the cleanliness of the nonthematic fill, given the open grid and constraints imposed by the theme.  I particularly like the entries PRANCES, NEPHEW, MOSCOW, SPEAK UP, PRALINE, YOSEMITE, and PUPPET—that's a lot of fun fill!  UNITO (clued as "Joined: It."), UNIOS ("Fresh-water mussels."), and MUR ("Wall: Fr.") are the only real trade-offs, making this pre-Shortzian puzzle very successful in my books!  I look forward to seeing what other masterpieces Diana Sessions has in store as I continue to review packets sent in by litzers.  I've already seen a few Sundays by her that have amazingly open centers and unusually clean fill, such as this one from 1983!  For now, here's the solution to this week's featured puzzle:

Over 10,000 Puzzles, Metapuzzle Update, and Will Weng Crossword Trends

I'm thrilled to announce that we passed the major milestone of 10,000 litzed puzzles this week!  Friday night after the last blog post went up, Todd Gross sent in 7 puzzles; late the next day, Mike Buckley sent in another 7.  On Sunday, Denny Baker and Todd McClary each sent in 7 puzzles, and Mark Diehl sent in 28.  Yesterday Alex Vratsanos sent in 10, and Mark sent in another 14.  Just a few hours ago, Denny sent in 7 more puzzles (putting himself over the 500 mark!); shortly thereafter, Alex sent in 6 more, putting himself over 100 and us over 10,000!  Congratulations, Alex, on being the one to get us past this major milestone!  And thanks so much, everybody, for all the awesome litzing—we're definitely on the downhill stretch now, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much terrific progress we make over the summer!

On the proofreading front, Todd Gross finished a month of 1982 puzzles this week and is busy on another—I'm hoping to have 1982 completed by the end of this month, if not before.

At the end of last year, I dropped a hint about a forthcoming 23x Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project metapuzzle.  Over the past few weeks, I've finalized the concept and found all the theme entries (which involved writing a specialized Java program); I also designed and filled the grid.  I'm currently working on writing the 172 (!) clues, which will definitely keep me busy for the next few days!  The metapuzzle should be ready in time for the project's first official anniversary on June 29.  I'll post more details on the blog next week, so be sure to check in!

Now that I've reviewed almost all the Will Weng–era puzzles and we've started litzing into the Farrar era, I figured it would be a good time to elaborate on trends I've noticed in Weng's editorial style.  First and foremost, Weng was willing to take risks as an editor.  He published the whole gamut of gimmicks, ranging from nudist-camp puns to extra squares outside of grids to thematic images formed by block arrangements.  Weng was willing to bend the rules slightly for innovative gimmicks and to publish clever themes that had slight inconsistencies.  I've encountered several 15x puzzles with 50+ blocks and handfuls of others that have asymmetric theme-entry arrangements and/or grids.  Nevertheless, almost all thematic Weng puzzles boasted incredible theme density and interlock.  Jordan S. Lasher was one of the many Weng-era constructors whose puzzles were exceptionally theme-dense—one of his masterpieces contained bi-stacks of 15-letter theme entries!  And A. J. Santora constructed some puzzles with phenomenal theme-entry interlock—some of his dailies contained more than 12 theme entries!

Themeless Weng puzzles often dipped below the 70-word mark, an incredible feat for the time period!  They frequently included Scrabbly letters (particularly in puzzles constructed by William Lutwiniak and Arthur Schulman) and multiple-word phrases.  Weng even published a few themeless Sundays (mostly 21x), which featured shockingly low word counts (often in the 120s) and wide-open grids.  Constructors Jack Luzzatto and Diana Sessions specialized in these themeless Sundays—Diana Sessions did several puzzles with staircases of 9-letter entries in the center, while Jack Luzzatto preferred stacking lengthy entries!

The thing that really differentiates Will Weng from Eugene T. Maleska, however, is that the puzzles Weng edited reflected the time period in which they were published.  Weng published puzzles about man landing on the moon, national concerns in the 1970s, the 1972 chess championship, the 1972 election, and, of course, hippies!  One current (but somewhat bizarre) 1971 daily included the theme entries THIS YEAR (clued as "1971"), LAST YEAR ("1970"), and LEAP YEAR ("1968").  Weng revolutionized crossword clues as well.  He not only published puzzles without periods after each clue but also started to mix clever, punny clues in with the vast sea of straight-definition clues, such as "His contracts had escape clauses" for HARRY HOUDINI and "Visitor from outer space" for METEORITE.  This new style of cluing flourished throughout the Maleska era and is still in use today.

Weng's willingness to publish unusual themes with such incredibly high theme densities did have a drawback, though.  The nonthematic fills of themed Weng puzzles tended to be significantly iffier than those of both the small selection of Margaret Farrar–edited puzzles I've seen and the Maleska puzzles.  Weng's puzzles were riddled with pre-Shortzian crosswordese, flat-out obscurities, lengthy partials, awkward word forms (such as OUTMIME), and contrived multiword phrases.  One multiword nonthematic phrase, MORE LARKS AROUND ("What a birdwatcher might want"), is so implausible that it's almost "risible"!  I can't image this entry appearing anywhere other than Trip Payne's Something Different puzzles these days!

Even though Weng puzzles frequently had fill problems, I've had a blast looking through them over the past few months and have learned a lot about how crossword puzzles evolved during his groundbreaking editorship.  I love how unpredictable looking through Weng puzzles is—I never know what unusual gimmick will crop up next (unless, of course, a litzer has mentioned a certain puzzle in his or her e-mail!).  I'll miss Weng's sense of humor as we continue into the Farrar era, but I'm also really looking forward to seeing how the Farrar-edited puzzles compare.

Today's featured puzzle, titled "Heritage," was constructed by Sylvia Baumgarten.  According to my incomplete records, this is the only puzzle she published in The New York Times, which is a shame, since it's certainly one of the best Will Weng–edited Sundays I've seen to date.  This 23x puzzle was originally published on July 4, 1971, and was recently litzed by Howard Barkin.  It features ten symmetrically interlocking theme entries related to American history (mostly to Paul Revere), two of which contain rebuses of numbers in the grid.  But what really makes this puzzle stand out is its ultrasmooth nonthematic fill and wide-open grid, both of which are amazingly clean considering the lack of computer software and that this appears to be the constructor's debut!  Some of my favorite entries are THE 8 BALL, CHEETAH, HANDBAG, SHOOT UP, SEA FOAM, ANAHEIM, BEET RED, EYELASH, and TORPEDO.  Also, both the upper center and lower center feel particularly elegant in that they flawlessly fill around three theme entries each.  I'm not as fond of 5OTHS, the partials A DOUBT and END OF IT, the Nazi camp DACHAU, OUTMIME (which I mentioned above), RERAMS, the variant spelling ABISS, or the theme entries BOSTON TEA and CONCORD MASS.  I'm partial to the 1-Across entry QUINQUE because I take Latin, though I have to admit, it wouldn't be my first choice for that position, despite its 2 Q's.  Notwithstanding these small flaws, this is a revolutionary pre-Shortzian Sunday (pun intended)—I'm sure it lit up many a solver's Independence Day!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

If you thought HELLBOX was an unusual-sounding typographical entry last week, you'll get a kick out of this one:  ETAOIN SHRDLU (and no, this isn't misspelled).  ETAOIN SHRDLU originally appeared in the June 6, 1971, puzzle by Fay L. Gieschi (another constructor with only one puzzle on record) entitled "Type Casting," which was edited by Will Weng and recently litzed by Denny Baker.  It was clued as "Popular line for printers"; Webster gives a much more detailed description of this unusual term, however:

a combination of letters set by running a finger down the first and then the second left-hand vertical banks of six keys of a Linotype machine to produce a temporary marking slug not intended to appear in the final printing

This devious constructor decided to cross ETAOIN SHRDLU with OELLA, a Maryland town that is also a very challenging entry.  What a printer's devil!

Not surprisingly, I wasn't able to find a good graphical representation for etaoin shrdlu, so below is a picture of a general linotype slug:

Image courtesy of Codes that Don't Count.

Halfway There!—and Crossword Compiler's Insert Character Window

We did it—we've now litzed more than half the pre-Shortzian puzzles!  On Monday, I litzed 3 puzzles to put us at exactly 8,000, then Thursday Mark Diehl sent in 16 puzzles to get us to 8,100, and this morning Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 7, which put us over the halfway mark of 8,113!  It hasn't even been 8 months since I began recruiting volunteer litzers, and in that time we've accomplished an amazing amount!  Awesome job, everybody!

Plus, I've just learned about something that may speed up our litzing even more!  A few days ago, Todd Gross wrote to me about a discovery he'd made by accident while in the clue window of Crossword Compiler.  If you type Ctrl-S, a window appears that will let you select special characters to insert into your clue.  He noted that this was a lot faster than looking up Alt codes.  Here's the example he sent me:

After typing Diarist Ana in the clue window (image bottom), I typed Ctrl-S (hold down the Control key while typing S) and got the Insert Character window you see at the the top.  Notice I selected the ï button in the lower right, and that ï appears in the clue now.

As for Alt codes...you really don't need to know about this for Macs, but here goes:  to get that ï in this window, I need to type Alt-0239.  Which is a shortcut for the following:

1. Hold down the Alt key
2. While the Alt key is depressed, type 0 2 3 9  {yes the 0 is part of the code}
3. The character ï now appears, and I can release the Alt key

Great discovery, Todd—thanks so much!  I have a Mac and a PC but do all my crossword construction on the PC because I use Crossword Compiler.  Until now, whenever I'd come across a special character in a clue, I'd just look for an example of it online and then copy and paste the character into the clue.  I bookmarked examples that occur frequently, such as é.  Before that, I was copying and pasting them from a Word document I'd created that had just about every special character that exists.  Unfortunately, Word did something weird to the formatting—even though the characters transferred fine into Crossword Compiler, sometimes they didn't when I later exported the files as Across Lites.

Todd wondered how many other people knew about the Insert Character window and whether there was anything else in Crossword Compiler that most people might not be aware of, and I'm wondering the same thing!  This was a very useful discovery—if you know of some other capability Crossword Compiler has that you think most people probably don't know about, please e-mail me or comment below.  I'll post any tips that come in next week.  In the meantime, I've created a poll, which you'll find beneath the litzing thermometer in the righthand column.  I'll be interested to see what percentage of people knew about Crossword Compiler's Insert Character window—results next week!

Today's featured puzzle, "Doing the Scales," was constructed by Jordan S. Lasher.  It was originally published on September 22, 1974, and was recently litzed by Howard Barkin.  Once again, Lasher managed to add a whole new twist to a standard type of theme (repeated word, in this case)—the whole center block arrangement in this 23x looks like a set of staircases!  Also, many of the theme entries feel particularly fresh and lively—I especially like THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS and ROGER BANNISTER.  I also like that the constructor placed the theme entry ESCALATOR DOWN running straight down the center of the puzzle.  The nonthematic fill has a handful of really nice entries, but it also has some that feel particularly contrived and/or obscure.  On the positive side, the grid includes ROPE LADDER (which may or may not have been intended as a theme entry), BASTILLE, IN A FLASH, TORPEDOES, and B COMPLEX.  The weaker entries include IAO (clued as "Wattlebird"), ISHES ("Exits, in Scottish law"), SICES ("Dice numbers"), TESTONES ("Old Italian coins"), and SNELLY ("Chilly, in Scotland").  My least favorite entries, however, are the more-than-five-letter prefixes SINISTRO and GRAECO, partials THREE ON A and ENTER AT, IIOOIO ("Twice 55,005"), and MRS. ASTAIRE ("Fred's wife"—this may have been a homophonic theme entry, especially since it balances ROPE LADDER).  Despite these shortcomings, this is still an exceptional Jordan Lasher puzzle with an innovative visual gimmick!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

The Will Weng–edited March 3, 1973, puzzle (constructor unknown), which was recently litzed by Todd Gross, contains two very unusual entries, so I'm featuring both of them this week.  According to the Ginsberg database, these entries—PEPSISSEWA and ASAFOETIDA—have never been reused in Shortz-era puzzles.  PEPSISSEWA was clued as "Evergreen shrub"; Todd Gross noted that this shrub is sometimes used as a flavoring in root beer.  Webster defines pepsissewa as "any of a genus (Chimphila, especially C. Umbellata) of evergreen herbs of the wintergreen family with astringent leaves used as a tonic and diuretic."  ASAFOETIDA was clued as "Gum resin used medically"; Todd Gross researched it and reported that it is mainly used for breathing and digestion problems.  Webster lists asafoetida as a variant of asafetida, which it defines as "the dried fetid gum resin of several west Asian plants (genus Ferula) of the carrot family used as a flavoring especially in Indian cooking and formerly used in medicine especially as an antispasmodic and in folk medicine as a general prophylactic against disease."  Below are pictures of pepsissewa and asafoetida:

Image courtesy of VisitRainier.

Image courtesy of  lookfordiagnosis.com.

We're in 1974, 7,200-Plus Litzed Puzzles, Contest Updates, and Missing PDFs

Just minutes after the last blog post was published, Howard Barkin sent 21 more puzzles, putting us over the 6,900 mark on the litzing thermometer and himself in first place in the litzing contest.  But not for long—by Sunday night, Mark Diehl had reclaimed first place and put us over the 7,000 mark!  (Coincidentally, just two days before, on January 18, Deb Amlen reported in Wordplay that the 7,000th daily puzzle edited by Will Shortz had just appeared!)  Since Sunday, though, we've blown 7,000 out of the water—the litzing thermometer now reads 7,203, and we're sending out packets from mid-1974.

As I write this, Howard Barkin is in first place with a total of 227 litzed puzzles since January 1!  Mark Diehl is at 212, but I have a feeling he'll regain his lead soon!  Jeffrey Krasnick continues to hold a solid third place, with a total of 121 litzed puzzles, and Denny Baker, with 77, isn't far behind.  The remaining litzers who've sent in puzzles in January have litzed 217 puzzles all told, so each and every puzzle definitely helps!  Thanks, everyone, for making this contest such a success so far!

In other news, Barry Haldiman recently volunteered to help track down missing and illegible puzzles.  Although ProQuest is supposed to have everything, it doesn't, and sometimes what it does have is impossible to read.  Barry has done an outstanding job of tracking down 21 puzzles and/or solutions so far on the microfilm at his library (which is a lot better than the microfilm here!) and will be working on finding the remaining problematic puzzles.  Below is a picture of an almost completely illegible solution from ProQuest—there's no way anyone could litz this puzzle's solution without solving it (or possibly hunting it down in a book, though the puzzles in books aren't always exactly the same as the originals):

Thanks so much for helping with this, Barry!

Today's featured puzzle is another Jordan S. Lasher masterpiece.  This Maleska-edited puzzle was originally published on April 1, 1977, and was recently litzed by Barry Haldiman.  The theme entries UPPER LEFT TO/BOTTOM RIGHT and READ THE DIAGONAL are clued as "Diagonal course" and "How to get this puzzle's absurd message," respectively.  The letters on the diagonal starting at the first square read WE FOOLED YOU HA HA.  I find it amazing how the diagonal message perfectly intersects READ THE DIAGONAL—it must have taken hours to get the wordings of both phrases perfect so that they could cross like this!  Even with both horizontal and diagonal constraints, the constructor still managed to include some lovely entries in the nonthematic fill, such as MAN TRAP, CURE-ALL, and NONSTOP.  I have yet to see an IYNX ("Wry-necked woodpecker") on its GENU ("Knee: Lat.") playing STH. ("Bridge seat: Abbr.") on the ALPH ("Xanadu's river"), but nevertheless, this is a phenomenal pre-Shortzian puzzle!  The answer grid, with highlighted theme entries, can be seen below:

Today's featured pre-Shortzian entry is FUZZY-GUZZY.  FUZZY-GUZZY originally appeared in the September 26, 1976, Will Weng–edited crossword by . . . you guessed it, Jordan S. Lasher!  According to the Ginsberg database, this bizarre entry has never been reused in a Shortz-era puzzle.  I'd be surprised if FUZZY-GUZZY showed up in any other pre-Shortzian puzzles because of its challenging letter pattern and relative obscurity (FUZZY WUZZY, just one letter different, is much more well-known)!  FUZZY-GUZZY was clued as "Balsamweed"; Webster defines fuzzy-guzzy as "a balsamweed (Gnaphalium Obtusifolium) with glandular villous stem."  Below are two pictures of fuzzy-guzzy:

Images courtesy of StillwaterWoods.net

Contest Standings, Almost at 6,900, More Publicity, Politically Incorrect Terms

We're making terrific progress in the second litzing contest!  Currently Mark Diehl is leading the pack with a total of 130 litzed puzzles, Howard Barkin is hot on his heels with 123 litzed puzzles, and Jeffrey Krasnick holds a solid third place with 87 litzed puzzles.  On Thursday, Jeffrey put us over 6,800 on the litzing thermometer, and we're now almost at 6,900—well on our way to the halfway-point goal of 8,113 litzed puzzles by the end of February.  Every litzed puzzle helps, so thanks and great job, everybody!

The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project received some more publicity recently, first in Tyler Hinman's article "Touch of Genius:  Puzzazz Brings Puzzles to Your Touchscreens" in Wired, in which he interviews Puzzazz founder Roy Leban, who mentions the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project.  Then, in Amy Reynaldo's Diary of a Crossword Fiend, the project was lauded by T Campbell for The Honorary Orcas award for best work in crossword scholarship.  Thanks, Roy and T!

Recently I've received numerous comments from litzers about politically incorrect terms that found their way into Weng-edited crosswords.  One litzer noted a puzzle that contained the entries MORON (clued as "One of low I.Q."), MANIC ("___-depressive"), and HOLO ("Prefix for caust")!  In the same batch, the litzer found a puzzle with its entire theme based on negativism, as well as a puzzle that contained the entry COOLIES.  Another litzer commented that he'd litzed Weng-edited puzzles with references to the Nazis, the KKK, and even fill-in-the-blank clues for racial slurs.  I took a look through Maleska's clues on XWord Info for potentially offensive terms and found that he bent over backwards to avoid cluing them like Weng did—he only clued MORON in reference to an Andalusian city, HOLO as the combining form for complete, and MANIC as a synonym for frenzied.  It should be interesting to see how Margaret Farrar approached clues for such entries—I'm a little leery, though, since I've already seen that she referred to the Japanese as Japs.  But that seems to have been common back then; in general, the clues and entries seem to have become more politically correct over time, no doubt reflecting changes in our society as a whole.

Today's featured pre-Shortzian puzzle was constructed by Jordan S. Lasher.  It was originally published on November 29, 1975, and was recently litzed by Todd Gross.  On the surface, this puzzle looks like a pretty typical Lasher opus—the grid is very open, the theme is concise, and the fill is better than average.  When I looked more closely, however, I realized that there was much more going on in this one—in addition to the theme entries WEIGHTLIFTER, PAUL ANDERSON (who, as Todd pointed out, once lifted more than three tons on his back!), and BARBELL, the blocks in the center of the grid are shaped like a weight!  This ingenious construction is a surprisingly early example of grid art in a standard 15 x 15!  The complexity of this puzzle's theme blows me away—Lasher seems to have been decades ahead of his time.  As I mentioned above, the nonthematic fill is admirable—I especially like the entries CHASSIS, HAIRCUT, RUN AMOK, and GATLING (a type of gun one of my teachers described to our class in lurid detail).  All in all, this is a groundbreaking pre-Shortzian puzzle—I hope to see many more Weng-edited crosswords that are this innovative!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

I was recently looking through some Margaret Farrar–edited puzzles from the 1950s and came across the historically significant clue "Cause of chaos in the entertainment world" in the December 9, 1950, puzzle.  The answer?  COLOR TELEVISION!  Wikipedia notes that back when color television was first being developed in 1950, there were many technical glitches and inaccurate color reproductions; also, at one point, just one hour of color television was shown per day!  On top of all this, the prototype color receivers were only available in the New York area.  I can definitely see why color television might have caused a lot of chaos back then.  Nowadays we'd laugh at a clue like this!  Below is a picture of an early color television set:

Image courtesy of CT-TV Vintage Television.

Reminiscences of Constructor Fred Duda by Al Weeks, Second Litzing Contest Under Way, Over 6,600 (and in 1975!)

This week I'm delighted to present a profile of pre-Shortzian constructor Fred Duda written by his longtime friend Al Weeks.  A few weeks ago Al's wonderful reminiscences of Alfio Micci appeared here; if you haven't read his piece, be sure to check it out.  According to my (still incomplete) records, Fred published two crosswords in The New York Times when Eugene T. Maleska was editor, the first on October 18, 1986, and the second on November 8, 1986.

Fred Duda (1937–2012), Puzzle Constructor

by Albert L . Weeks

          When one of Fred's crosswords was first published in a large paperback collection of crosswords, I was the person who brought this event to his attention.  The puzzle, titled "Star Fare," No. 144, was  published in Simon & Schuster's Super Crossword Book (edited by Maleska and Samson, 1992).  The puzzle—from 1-Across to 131-Down—was one of his best.  One clue:  "Fare for Miss Duke?"  Solution:  "Pattycakes."

          That was one book of crosswords containing a Duda puzzle.  But I remembered that Fred had appeared in other puzzle anthologies—pardon me, constructors, anas.  In one of those, under the editorship of Margaret Farrar, Fred punned on movie titles.  "To Catch a Thief" became for Fred "To Catch a Fief," a medieval, pre-Hitchcock version.

          The creator of such gems was born in semirural New Jersey into a first-generation Polish family.  He was the only offspring to go to college (at his expense—he worked his way through) and to receive a graduate M.A. degree (in Library Science).  From then on, for him it was per aspera ad astra.  Fred wound up heading personnel management for one of the world's largest libraries, Butler, at Columbia University.  He was there in the roaring 'Sixties when radical students broke up classes and wrecked furniture and books.  Calm, cool, and collected, Fred was one of those administrators on the chaotic campus who personally helped to calm things down—from the very steps of the library.  Eventually students returned to their classes and took out books as things returned to normal.  Amid the mayhem, people recalled how Fred had been so instrumental at Butler in protecting all the collections.  He didn't get much sleep in those days.

          In the 55 years we were friends, I saw that in his spare time Fred had numerous hobbies.  His favorite—besides sailing his Sunfish during summers on Nantucket Sound or catching up on the latest Broadway shows as a theatergoer—was solving, and eventually creating, large-size crosswords.  Needless to say, his greatest diversion as a solver came on Sundays.  This was when he tackled The New York Times Magazine's premium challenge.  The last Across grid number might run over 130.

         A great inspiration to Fred in transitioning into construction was his friendship with Alfio Micci.  Fred and Alfio would put their heads together during summers on Nantucket, as well as during winters in Nokomis, Florida, where Alfio and his wife, Martha, vacationed near Fred's own retirement town of Sarasota.  All four of us became close friends (please see the previous portrait of Alfio Micci).  On a swatch of Nantucket sand, known quaintly as "Teacher's Beach," Fred and Alfio would deeply discuss puzzle construction.  Al soon realized that Fred had tremendous talent with crosswords.  Like Diaghilev promoting Nijinsky in the field of ballet, Alfio eagerly lent Fred a hand in taking the publishing route for his crosswords, which was no easy achievement.  Somewhat later, Fred took the plunge on his own.  His puzzle was accepted and published in the Times.  He also published two books, one called Bib-Triv, the other a weighty text on library administration that became a college textbook standby.

          Fred, at 75 years of age, passed away from lung cancer last September.  I began to wonder why I had only one of his puzzles on my bookshelf.  Too, none showed up in his own bookcases.  Fred was a very modest person.  He made no attempt to collect his puzzles.  His creations were difficult to construct—I myself am capable of constructing only mini-puzzles for a local condo association—and were unique in their wit and inventiveness.  They certainly deserved a honored place on the constructor's bookshelf.  I wanted to recall them for memory's sake and to share them with his friends who hadn't known about Fred's "sideline."

          So last fall I went searching online.  Via a certain cue in Google, up came the URL for one David Steinberg.  Not knowing who he was, I soon discovered that he knew a lot about crosswords and was himself a talented constructor.  Moreover, he eagerly volunteered to track down any and all Frederick Duda puzzles.  Such generosity by a stranger online!  Later I was surprised and pleased to find out that this helpful, skillful person was a "mere" 16-year-old "stripling," as we used to say (an understatement—young Steinberg is a virtual prodigy).  David found a couple of Duda puzzles; thanks to him, I now have a sort of memorial to Fred in the form of these unique creations.

          Maybe Fred can look down from heaven and be permitted a show of temperate pride over his timeless achievements here below.

Thanks so much again, Al, for this lovely tribute to Fred.

As we continue our litzing, more and more gems like the ones Fred and Alfio constructed are coming to light.  The second litzing contest is already well under way and, like the first contest, has significantly increased the rate at which litzed puzzles are coming in!  This morning Mark Diehl put us over 6,600 on the litzing thermometer, as well as into 1975 with the puzzles being sent out for litzing!  As I write this, we're at 6,621 puzzles—that's 423 more than the 6,198 we started with on January 1!  Our goal is 8,113 litzed puzzles by the end of February, so we're definitely on track to achieve that.  If you haven't ever litzed and would like to try it out, contact me and I'll send you some puzzles—we always need more litzers!  If you have already litzed but have been taking a break for a while, now would be a great time to litz another batch, especially since when you litz one full week, you become eligible for a year's subscription (or renewal) to XWord Info!  More information about the contest can be seen on the Contest Totals page.  Thanks again, everybody!

Today's featured puzzle, which was edited by Will Weng, was constructed by Sidney L. Robbins.  It was originally published on February 25, 1977, and was recently litzed by Jeffrey Krasnick.  Sidney published at least 150 crosswords under Weng, Maleska, and Shortz and was renowned for his far-from-ordinary Monday and Tuesday puzzles.  One unique feature common to many of his constructions (particularly the pre-Shortzian ones) was a nonthematic 15-letter entry running down the center of the grid.  For example, his puzzle published on September 17, 1990, included the theme entries HAIR RAISER, SCISSORING, CLIP JOINTS, and BARBERSHOP.  DISSATISFACTION, a completely unrelated 15-letter entry, ran down the center of the grid, crossing two of the theme entries.

This fascinating Sidney L. Robbins construction, published just two days before Eugene T. Maleska became editor, might have been a humorous tribute to Will Weng but could simply have been a retirement-related theme.  1-Across is WILL, and its symmetrical counterpart is WEND, which is only one letter different from WENG.  The constructor probably chose not to use WENG, since the only way to clue it would have been to reference Will himself, which this puzzle artfully avoids doing.  (WILL is clued as "Where there's a ___ . . . .")  The long theme entries and their clues include SIGNS OF SENILITY ("Infirmity, forgetfulness, etc."), RETIREMENT PARTY ("Traditional send-off"), PARTING PRESENTS ("Gold watches for departing war-horses"), and FAREWELL ADDRESS ("Speech of a sort").  There are several other entries in the fill that might also be thematic:  QUIT, REFORM, WISE, and EXIT.  Perhaps these are merely coincidences, though.  Nevertheless, this is a very historically significant pre-Shortzian puzzle; the answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

Today I am featuring two bizarre pre-Shortzian entries that appeared in the same puzzle.  The puzzle, a product of master constructor Jordan S. Lasher, was originally published on June 28, 1977, and was recently litzed by master litzer Mark Diehl.  The first entry, TU-WHIT TU-WHOO, was clued as "Owl sounds"; the second entry, HASENPFEFFER, was clued as "Rabbit stew."  Not surprisingly, neither of these entries has been reused in a Shortz-era New York Times puzzle, though the Ginsberg database does show that HASENPFEFFER was used in a CrosSynergy puzzle from 2002.  TU-WHIT TU-WHOO stood out to me the most; I was shocked to discover that this entry is actually in Webster's, defined as "the cry of an owl"!  Webster goes on to note that the origin of the entry was "imitative" and that it was first introduced into our language around 1595.  Webster defines hasenpfeffer as "a highly seasoned stew made of marinated rabbit meat."  It comes from the German words hase (meaning "hare") and pfeffer (meaning "pepper") and was first introduced into our language around 1892.  Yuck!  Below are pictures of an owl and of hasenpfeffer:

Image courtesy of Birds Guide.

Image courtesy of Random Cravings.

T-shirts Arrived, More Publicity, Link to Pennsylvania Gazette Profile of Bernice Gordon, Interview with Husband-Wife Litzing Team Barry Haldiman and Beth Welsh

The October litzing contest T-shirts have finally arrived, and they look totally awesome!  Everyone who won or ordered a T-shirt should be receiving it soon—below is a picture of me in my T-shirt:

The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project received some more publicity this week, first in an article in the Palos Verdes Patch, then a write-up in The Puzzler (which can also be seen on Tumblr).  Thanks, everybody—it's great that more and more people are finding out about the project!

In other news, my family gets The Pennsylvania Gazette, the alumni magazine of the University of Pennsylvania, and I was thrilled to discover a profile of the amazing pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor Bernice Gordon in this month's issue!  "Longtime Puzzler (2 words, 13 letters)" was written by Penn alumna Molly Petrilla, who also directs readers to a crossword created by Bernice especially for the Gazette titled "Across the Green and Down the Walk."

And now for my interview with Barry Haldiman and Beth Welsh, the first husband-wife litzing team for the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project!

Beth Welsh and Barry Haldiman, not litzing

Barry, how does it feel to have Beth litzing and proofreading now too?  You're the first husband-wife litzing team ever!

Initially, a bit annoying.  She’s helped occasionally in the past when I came across particularly thorny conversion issues or whenever I really needed a second look at puzzles.  But she never showed much interest, especially if they were Maleska puzzles.  At least I have my beer-tasting hobby that she won’t join in.   ;)

Beth, you started litzing and proofreading for the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project relatively recently.  What got you interested in it?

I thought it was pretty interesting from the time Barry first told me about it (when he originally got involved), but it didn't occur to me at the time to participate.  I guess it finally occurred to me that, since I already knew how to litz and I'm very good with details, plus I have the time to help since I work part-time—why shouldn't I volunteer?

Do you prefer litzing or proofreading, and why?

Litzing is more active, since you're typing a lot, and I feel a little bit like I'm creating something when I litz an old puzzle.  However, my typing skills have gone way downhill, and I make too many mistakes to be efficient.  Proofing is fun in its own way because it's like a treasure hunt:  finding each error is a little reward.

Barry, you litzed/obtained some of the puzzles Beth has been proofreading a long time ago.  Do you remember and discuss the puzzles?

I think Beth would come across particular puzzles in a collection that she thought were particularly good and she’d mark it “to litz.”  I don’t recall her converting very many, as we know it’s pretty labor intensive.  None of the puzzles come to mind, as it’s been quite a few years since then.

Do you ever litz together, or do you basically each stick to your own tasks on your own machines?

BETH:  Really, it never occurred to me to litz together.  I suppose we could try it, but I'm sure it's more efficient working separately like we do now.

BARRY:  Nope.  I’m pretty sure we litz differently anyway.  I put in the answer grids for the whole week of puzzles first, then enter the clues later and solve the puzzle regularly as an editing check.  I think Beth does more of a copy editor type of review.

Do you usually solve crosswords separately or together?

BETH: We solve certain crosswords together—tough ones.  Barry collects the printouts, and we usually do them when eating out, while we're waiting for our food to arrive.

BARRY:  And [we solve] many of the variety crosswords seen as the second Sunday New York Times puzzles and in the Saturday Wall Street Journal, though I’ve not gotten her to solve cryptics.  Finally, we do the New York Times and Wall Street Journal acrostics online together as well.  Still, we solve the large majority of our crosswords separately.

Beth, Barry already answered this question in his Litzer of the Month interview, but which aspects of the eventual pre-Shortzian database are you most excited about and why?  

The scale of the project itself is the most impressive thing to me.  I'm not a constructor, so the database won't be of practical use to me—although, who knows?  By the time it's done, I may have taken up constructing. . . .


Thanks so much, Barry and Beth—it's great to have you both on board!

Before the puzzle of the day, here are a few more funny typos our proofreaders have caught:

• A clue for PALM was typed as "Lifetime location" instead of "Lifeline location"
• A clue for OCARINA should have read "Wind instrument" but was accidentally typed as "Wing instrument"
• A clue for POMADES was supposed to be "Hair ointments" instead of "Hair ornaments"
• A clue for SOHNE should have been entered as "His boys, to Vater" instead of "His boys, to Water."
• A clue for TRIGRAPH was entered as "Cluster of three leaves" rather than "Cluster of three letters."

Today's featured puzzle was constructed by William Lutwiniak.  It was originally published on July 28, 1979, and was recently litzed by Mark Diehl.  This puzzle's gimmick is so subtle I almost missed it altogether, though it is very clever!  It features eight theme entries with the same letter four times in a row, clued as if they were sounded out.  For example, UUUU is clued as "Woolly beasts?" (ewes), and CCCC is clued as "Understands?"  The nonthematic fill certainly makes up for lack of symmetry in some of the theme entries—I love the entries CORN POPPER, MATADORS, HOT PLATE, and SAWED OFF!  Overall, this puzzle is a real gem—to my knowledge, its brilliant theme wasn't reused until well into the Shortzian era!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

Instead of highlighting a single entry or clue of the day, I'm featuring several theme entries that appeared in the February 17, 1980, puzzle by Jordan S. Lasher.  This puzzle, titled "The Name of the Game," was recently litzed by Mark Diehl.  It featured the names of eleven unusual games beautifully woven into one of Jordan Lasher's signature wide-open, well-filled grids!  Below are four of the more bizarre-sounding games:

NINE-MEN'S MORRIS

Original clue:  Version of a game also called mill or merels

Further description:  Webster didn't define nine-men's morris very well, so I did some more research.  Nine-men's morris is a two-person strategy board game.  Players first take turns placing their nine game pieces on the board's twenty-four spaces.  If a player places three pieces in a row (called a mill), he can remove one of his opponent's pieces from the board.  After all the pieces are placed, players take turns moving their pieces to try to form more mills.  The first person down to just two pieces (or with no legal moves) loses!  Below is a picture of nine-men's morris:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

SNIPSNAPSNORUM

Original clue:  Card game also called "Earl of Coventry"

Further description:  According to Webster, snipsnapsnorum is "a game in which one player lays a card on the table, the others in turn must match its rank if able, the first to do so says snip, the second snap, and the third snorum, and the winner is the one who gets rid of all his cards first."  Below is a picture of snipsnapsnorum:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

HOUSEY-HOUSEY

Original clue: British keno or lotto game

Further description:  Webster lists housey-housey as a variant of the British card game house.  I hadn't heard of house either, so I looked into it some more.  Apparently house is a gambling version of bingo or lotto played with paper and a pencil.  The game was usually played by soldiers.  Below is a picture of housey-housey:

Image courtesy of Book Drum.

BUMBLEPUPPY

Original clue:  Poorly played whist

Further description:  Webster defines bumblepuppy as "whist [a trick-taking card game that was a forerunner of bridge] played poorly or without regard for the rules."  Who knew there was a special word for an unusual card game played badly?  Since I couldn't find a good picture of bumblepuppy, below is a picture of what whist is supposed to look like:

Image courtesy of NewMachar.