East Coast Wrap-Up, August Litzer of the Month Peter Broda, and Greek Entries of the Week

East Coast Puzzle Extravaganza Wrap-Up

I've just returned from an amazing couple of weeks on the East Coast, where I spent four awesome days and nights in Portland, Maine, at MaineCon, the National Puzzlers' League convention!  I had a blast playing Bananagrams and Fluxx at midnight, meeting new NPLers and reuniting with old friends, trying new games such as Cluesome and Paperback, solving a brilliant Extravaganza with an equally brilliant team of runners, and exploring some of Portland's lovely restaurants!  On one of the days, I went to lunch with Stan Newman (a.k.a. Famulus) at a place that served sapid lobster pizza and other seafood treats; when we got back to the hotel, Stan gave me two references books that were used by many pre-Shortzian constructors:  the Longman Crossword Key and Funk & Wagnalls Crossword Puzzle Word Finder.  Both of these tomes are full of possible crossword entries sorted by letter pattern; the main differences are that the Funk & Wagnalls includes 2–6 letter words (whereas the Longman Crossword Key includes 3–15 letter words) and that the Funk & Wagnalls allows you to find words with more than one fixed letter.  The Funk & Wagnalls is particularly interesting since it describes a deliberate process for how words were selected for inclusion in the book, which has definite connections to modern-day word-list scoring.  Thanks again for these neat old references, Stan!

I was also delighted to have lunch in Philadelphia with Bernice Gordon, who has become my "adopted grandmother" of sorts!  She showed me some of her more recent constructions, and we had a lot of fun playing a game called Bookworm on her computer (which can be played online).  Bernice also gave me several beautiful books, a couple of which she bought in England years ago!  My favorite of these books, An Exaltation of Larks, contains the names for different groupings of people and animals, such as "a siege of herons" and "an untruth of summoners."  The book also has lovely illustrations to accompany many of the terms and etymological information about some of the more esoteric ones.  I look forward to looking through Bernice's books in more detail when time frees up and jet lag fully wears off!

I also spent a few days in Pleasantville, New York, where Will Shortz generously made his crossword book and magazine collection available.  Using his complete collection of Simon & Schuster volumes, along with countless other contemporary puzzle books, I was able to identify the first names and/or genders of many more pre-Shortzian constructors.  One of the most interesting discoveries I made was that Horiguchi (whose first name turned out to be Yurie) submitted her crosswords to the Times from Tokyo.  I wonder if English was Yurie Horiguchi's first language—if not, then her ability to construct quality American-style crosswords by hand is even more impressive!  Will also gave me a few extra copies of The Bantam Great Masters Winning Crossword Puzzles series, which has photos and bios of numerous pre-Shortzian constructors, and let me photocopy more extensive bios of certain puzzlers from his Four-Star Puzzler anthology.  I'm planning to scan these in the near future and make them available on Scribd.  Will and his assistant, Joel Fagliano, also gave me a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how New York Times puzzles are selected and edited, although I spent most of my time conducting research.  Thanks so much again for the books and for letting me do some great research, Will!

Finally, right before touring the college renowned in crosswords for calling its students ELIS, I was able to pay a visit to Noah Webster's grave—here's a picture:

Noah Webster's grave in New Haven, CT

Project Update

On the litzing and proofreading front, there was a lot of activity while I was gone!  Thursday the 17th, Alex Vratsanos sent in 1 litzed puzzle.  Saturday the 19th, Todd Gross sent in 11 proofread puzzles.  Sunday the 20th, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 7 reassigned litzed puzzles, and then early Monday the 21st, an anonymous litzer sent in 4 puzzles.  Later that morning, Denny Baker sent 31 proofread puzzles.  Tuesday the 22nd, Larry Wasser sent in 28 more proofread puzzles.  Saturday the 26th, Martin Herbach sent 7 more litzed puzzles, putting our total at 16,038 on the litzing thermometer!  Sunday the 27th, Denny sent in 29 more proofread puzzles.  Tuesday the 29th, Todd sent in 16 more proofread puzzles.  And over the past couple of weeks, Howard Barkin sent in 31 more proofread puzzles.  Thanks so much, everyone, for all this great work—we're making excellent progress and on track to finishing the litzing by the end of this month!

August Litzer of the Month Peter Broda

Now that we're in August, we have a new Litzer of the Month—Peter Broda!  Peter is a New York Times constructor who hails from Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.  To read more about him, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

Featured Puzzle

Today's featured puzzle, "Fabrication," was constructed by Diana Sessions; published August 26, 1962; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Mike Buckley.  This 21 x 21 tour-de-force features 16 symmetrical theme entries that contain a type of fabric, such as WOOL GATHERER (clued as "Idle fancier.").  All the theme entries are elegantly arranged in either stacks of two or, in the center, mind-boggling interlocking webs; to top off the eye-pleasing gridwork, the constructor mostly included theme entries that don't directly tie into the types of fabric they contain!  My favorite theme entry is LAME DUCK ("Act of 1933."), which completely disguises its original fabric, lamé, though FLANNEL CAKE ("Menu item.") and CREPE PAPER ("Party decoration.") are close runners-up.  Cramming in 16 stacked and interlocking theme entries is no easy task, but the constructor made it look like a piece of cake by producing such a consistently smooth fill!  The central entry, SCARFED, is a lovely touch that subtly gets at the theme, and entries like CHARCOAL, CHAPLIN, and WALRUS add a nice bit of zest to this puzzle's 146-word grid.  Speaking of 146 words, I really appreciate that the constructor opted for a word count slightly above the modern New York Times limit of 140 rather than throwing in some lengthy partials and additional obscurities in a more open grid.  I don't see any pairs of black squares that would have been particularly easy to remove, and the grid certainly doesn't feel chunky and sectioned off as a result of the higher word count.  Most of the less-than-stellar entries that did wend their way into the grid appeared in numerous other pre-Shortzian puzzles—the only one that really irks me is BTS ("British titles: Abbr."), but this entry too was used as recently as the Maleska era.  I much prefer the way old Los Angeles Times and Merl Reagle puzzles treated BTS (by cluing it as the abbreviation for boats and beats, respectively).  In all, this is a standout pre-Shortzian puzzle, and I look forward to seeing more from Diana Sessions as I slowly make my way through litzed packets!  Below is the answer grid with highlighted theme entries:

Entries of the Week

The July 22, 1962, crossword, "All Greek to Me" by Jules Arensberg, contained scads of unusual words purportedly from Greek as theme entries.  I've listed an ennead of my favorites below:  

• UCALEGON
• Neighbor whose house is on fire.
• SCHOENOBATIST
• Tightrope walker.
• HYPOCORISMS
• Pet names.
• GYASCUTUS
• Imaginary lopsided beast adapted for circling hills.
• CHICHEVACHE
• Lean monster that feeds on patient wives.
• DEIPNOSOPHIST
• One skilled in table talk.
• LULLILOO
• Whoop by slapping hand against mouth.
• POGONOTROPHY
• Beard growing.
• AICHMOPHOBIA
• Fear of being stuck with needles.

I knew the word deipnosophist from a previous entry of the week and ucalegon from hearing Will Shortz list it as his favorite word so many times, but the rest of these were new to me.  The two words on this list that intrigued me the most were gyascutus and Chichevache—here are some beautiful pictures of these two imaginary beasts I found on DeviantArt!

Gyascutus image courtesy of DeviantArt

Chichevache image courtesy of DeviantArt

Litzstarter Goal of 13,000 Puzzles Reached 1 Week Early, 6 More Days of Contest, In 1958, PuzzleNation Interview, and Margaret Farrar's Delightful Invitation

Great news:  Late last night—a week early!—we reached the Litzstarter goal of litzing 13,000 puzzles by the end of October!  At 10:57 p.m., Mark Diehl sent in 21 puzzles that put us over the top—awesome job, everyone!  We've now litzed exactly 13,021 puzzles, 356 of which came in this past week!  The puzzle deluge started off very early Saturday morning, with Mike Buckley sending in 7.  Later that morning, Ralph Bunker sent in 28 more puzzles, putting us at exactly 12,700 on the litzing thermometer!  Saturday evening, Vic Fleming sent in 14 puzzles.  Then Sunday morning, Mark Diehl sent a 42-puzzle mega-batch, which was followed 17 minutes later by 28 more from Ralph . . . and then another 28 from Ralph that evening, putting us over 12,800 on the litzing thermometer!  Monday morning, Brian Kulman sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed that night by 28 more from Mark.  Tuesday afternoon, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in another mega-batch of 41 puzzles, putting us over 12,900 on the litzing thermometer (and her regular total at more than 800 and contest total at more than 300!)!  That night, Vic sent in 6 more puzzles.  Wednesday morning, Denny Baker sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed one minute later by 28 from Ralph.  That afternoon, Vic sent in 1 more puzzle, and then in the evening, Todd Gross sent in 7 proofread puzzles.  Thursday afternoon, Vic sent 7 more puzzles.  A short while later, Tracy Bennett sent in 7 more puzzles, which were followed 23 minutes later by 7 more from Vic.  A few hours later, Ralph sent in 28, then Mark sent in 21 more, putting us over 13,000 on the litzing thermometer (and his own regular total at more than 3,900!)!  Late this afternoon, Mike sent 7 more, and Howard Barkin sent in an additional 14 this week as well—thanks so much again, everyone!  We're now on our way to 14,000!

For those of you reading this who haven't been able to litz during the contest, there's still time!  By litzing 2–3 puzzles a day for the remaining 6 days of Litzstarter, you can be eligible for the Grand Prize drawing of free admission to the 2014 ACPT!

With all this litzing, we've moved into another year:  1958!  In searching for a representative event from that year, I discovered that 1958 was the year 14-year-old Bobby Fischer won the U.S. Chess Championship.  At 14, he was the youngest to have done so, and even after all these years, his record still stands.  Arguably the greatest chess player who ever lived, Bobby Fischer died in 2008.  Below is a photo of the young Bobby Fischer:

Photo courtesy of chesshistory.com

In other news, yesterday PuzzleNation published an interview with me in which I discuss the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, among other things.  To read it, click here.

A few days ago, I received another e-mail from Lyn Silverstein, the daughter of pre-Shortzian constructor Jules Arensberg.  She had attached a copy of a charming invitation—decorated with crosswordese!—Margaret Farrar had sent to Lyn's mother 10 years or so after Jules died.  The invitation was to a celebration of 50 years of Simon & Schuster crossword puzzle books (April 10, 1924, to April 10, 1974).  This amazing event took place at the Private Dining Room of The New York Times—here's the invitation:

Thanks so much again, Lyn!  If anyone remembers attending this party, please comment!

Today's featured puzzle (whose constructor is unknown) was edited by Will Weng, litzed by Todd McClary, and originally published on April 1, 1969.  I think Will Weng started the tradition of running an unusual puzzle on April Fool's Day each year, as the April Fool's Day puzzles I've seen so far from the Farrar era seem like ordinary puzzles.  If so, then this was the first of the bizarre April Fool's Day puzzles!  This wacky and novel crossword features 12 theme entries that contain actual apostrophes in them, such as ENTR'ACTE, DON'T, and WE'RE, a gimmick not reused in The New York Times for many years thereafter.  In fact, this is the earliest puzzle I've seen with punctuation marks in the grid!  Aside from the interesting theme, the nonthematic fill has some very nice longer entries, such as WINE TASTER, ADORABLE, and RESEMBLING.  The rest of the fill, however, feels rather strained, which is most likely a by-product of the theme density.  The not-so-great entries include a host of pre-Shortzian crosswordese (SAIC, ANANA, ARADO, et al.); MARMORA (clued as "Turkish sea."); ABT ("German composer."); ONE O ("___'clock), which, in addition to being an awkward partial, also has an apostrophe that isn't in the grid; and MSTA ("River to lake Ilmen.").  Despite these clunkers in the fill, I appreciate that Will Weng took a risk and published this ground-breaking April Fool's Day puzzle!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

I've come across several clues with debatable stereotypes about teenagers in crosswords from the middle to late 1960s, which makes sense since teenagers were heavily involved with the counterculture back then (much to the chagrin of their parents).  There is some truth to these teenage-stereotype clues, though I was disappointed not to see a clue referencing teenagers who build crossword puzzles!  In any case, here are the clues I've found, along with a 21st-century teenager's assessment of each one:

• April 29, 1967 (constructed by Louis Sabin, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Almost any teenager.
• Answer:  REBEL
• Commentary:  Almost is the key word here!
• June 26, 1967 (constructed by Dorothy M. Hall, litzed by Martin Herbach)
• Clue:  Teen-agers' monopoly, in many homes.
• Answer:  TELEPHONE
• Commentary:  I can count the number of times I've used a telephone, as opposed to a cellphone, on my fingers.
• January 31, 1968 (constructor unknown, litzed by Mike Buckley)
• Clue:  Teen-age preoccupation.
• Answer:  DATING
• Commentary:  No comment. ;)
• April 4, 1968 (constructor unknown, litzed by Denny Baker)
• Clue:  VIP in the family.
• Answer:  TEENAGER
• Commentary:  Darn straight!
• January 29, 1969 (constructor unknown, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Member of the go-go set.
• Answer:  TEENAGER
• Commentary:  You mean the set of teenagers who have used GO-GO as a crossword entry?

I didn't have to look too far to find a picture of a teenager—in fact, I even found a picture of one carrying a telephone in his backpack like his contemporaries did before cellphones were invented!

Image courtesy of teenagecruciverbalists.com!

Reminiscence of Jules Arensberg by Lyn Silverstein, Louis Sabin's Article on "Roman Holiday," Over 12,300, Zipped Through 1960 and Now Into 1959, Update on Bernice Gordon's Scrapbooks, and Book of the Week from Stan Newman's Treasures

Last week I received an e-mail from Lyn Silverstein, to which she had attached a delightful piece she wrote 15 years ago about her father, legendary New York Times constructor Jules Arensberg.  Jules published at least 94 puzzles in The New York Times during the Farrar era (82 under his own name and 12 under the pseudonym Helen Bernard, which was a combination of Lyn's given name and his wife's maiden name), and he built many more that appeared in other venues, such as this week's featured book.  Here is Lyn's piece:

Daddy

by Lyn Silverstein

  Daddy was a man of many words.  No, he wasn't redundant or repetitive, nor even reiterative.  His vocabulary was extensive and he was intrigued by language—words, expressions, and colloquialisms.  He knew about origins of words and derivations of phrases through his constant research, always enjoying the process of learning.
  One major player in his quest for knowledge was the well-thumbed Webster's Unabridged dictionary that graced his desk in the living room.  Dictionaries weren't a big part of his working life but were important tools in his leisure activities.  The 1961 edition—his last one—still serves me well.  Of all my dictionaries, it is the one of choice, and when it's idle, it rules the upstairs hallway from its prominent wooden throne.
  Daddy never finished college because he had to go to work, but he had a boundless passion for knowledge.  He thrived on the challenges of my high school and college homework assignments.  During the first few months of my sophomore year of high school, I anguished over geometry.  Daddy studied the textbook, and over Christmas vacation, we spent many hours learning geometry together.  His logical mind quickly grasped the concepts and he managed to teach me all we had covered in class so far, plus much of the material I needed to know during the school year yet to come.
  Occasionally daddy would ask what we were covering in history.  The way it worked is he'd say, "What are you reading about?"  I'd answer.  He'd look it up in the Columbia Encyclopedia, read about it, and tell me the highlights.  He didn't stop there but continued looking up related topics.  For example, if the book sent him to one reference, on to [it] we would go, which in turn might lead to another, etc.  Sometimes it seemed we'd spend all night, me on the couch, he on a chair, following all the references, one leading to the next like a never-ending interrelated network of facts.
  All the Arensberg boys had a knack for language and words.  Sid was a cryptographer who during W.W. II decoded secret messages, and Harry "spoke Spanish like a Spaniard," according to my mother.  Leo, the multilingual youngest brother, taught several languages at a military prep school.
  English wasn't their parents' native tongue.  Louie and Anna spoke Yiddish, for they were from the old country.  But maybe living in the melting pot of NY where varied languages and dialects were spoken is how their sons' fascination for languages emerged.
  But my father was the one who embraced the English language.  Nobody could tell a story like Jules.  Articulate, witty, and entertaining, my father was the premier raconteur.  He enjoyed communicating with people.  Based on the occasion, he could also come up with an appropriate quip or pun, or even quote excerpts from one of the many poems he'd committed to memory.
  His love for words consumed him in a "novel" way.  No, he didn't write fiction; he constructed crossword puzzles.  Many evenings would find him sitting at his desk in the living room, sharpened pencil in hand, fastidiously filling in a grid with either letters or squares on their way to becoming part of a challenging puzzle for the Herald Tribune or the NY Times.  He was a celebrity of sorts to his loyal following of cruciverbalists and received lots of fan mail.  Some people were frustrated by his cleverness; most were impressed.
  He also co-wrote puzzles with Herb Ettenson, a high school English teacher, and his best friend.  One evening a week or so, they had meetings to toss around ideas for puzzle themes.  When they met in my house, I did my homework in the living room where they worked.  I would curl up quietly with my books on the living room couch and try to be invisible so I could stay and bask in their creativity.
  The February 1992 NY Times magazine section had a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the [Times] crossword puzzle.  In this featured article, 12 Sunday puzzles were chosen to represent highlights of the past half-century of NY Times crosswords.  Daddy would have been thrilled to see that one of his was selected.
  Although he hadn’t attained a college degree, it was not for lack of scholastic ability.  One of our favorite fan letters was from a man who had bet a friend whether daddy had graduated from Harvard or Yale.  A family story recounts that when he was in the sixth grade, he took a national teacher's exam and scored near the top.  Although I can't personally account for the veracity of that tale, I do recall the many times he was paid by the TV networks as a consultant.  He'd play a contestant in simulations of proposed quiz shows and would give feedback on considerations like ease of playing, scoring, and question difficulty.
  My childhood was filled with word games and learning activities of all kinds, most of which required some reference materials and a pencil and paper at most.  We played games in the house, walking outside, and riding the subways.  To this day, I can entertain myself with these same games when I’m waiting on a line or in a doctor's office—anytime I have a few minutes of idle time and want to exercise my mind.
  Each day when I relax with the NY Times puzzle, I think about my father and thank him for his special legacy—the love for language that now lives within me.

Lyn also sent me a fascinating article written by pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor Louis Sabin about a puzzle constructed by her father.  The article, "The Gol-dangest Crossword Puzzle Ever," appeared in the September 1962 issue of Pageant magazine and contains the puzzle "Roman Holiday," which was originally published in the Times on December 8, 1957.  To read the article and see the puzzle, click here.  Thanks so much for both these wonderful pieces, Lyn!

In other news, it's been a very busy week on the Litzstarter front—as I write this, we're at 12,350 on the litzing thermometer!  Friday night, Ralph Bunker sent in 28 puzzles, putting us over 12,100!  Then Sunday morning, he sent in another 28 puzzles, which were followed an hour and a half later by 7 from Denny Baker.  Sunday evening, Todd (T) McClary sent in 7 puzzles, and a few hours later, Mark Diehl sent in 35 more (making his regular total more than 3,700 puzzles!).  Just over an hour later, Brian Kulman sent in 7 more, putting us at exactly 12,200!  Then Monday morning, Howard Barkin sent in 21 puzzles, which were followed on Tuesday morning by 7 more from Vic Fleming, 14 more from Mark, and 7 more from Brian.  In the early afternoon, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in a mega-batch of 42 puzzles (putting her contest total at more than 200 and regular total at more than 700!).  That evening, Mike Buckley sent in 7 more puzzles.  Then Wednesday morning, Denny Baker sent in 7 puzzles (putting us over 12,300 on the litzing thermometer!), which were followed an hour later by 7 from Ed Sessa.  Thursday evening, Vic sent in 7 more, then late that night, Mark sent in 28 more (putting his contest total at more than 400 litzed puzzles!).  Thanks so much, everybody—great job!

Thanks in part to one massive shipment of puzzles, this week we not only zipped through the rest of 1961 but also through all of 1960.  Though many people may remember 1960 for the Kennedy-Nixon debates—the first televised presidential debates in U.S. history—1960 was also the year that Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Psycho was released, on September 8.  I just recently saw this movie for the first time, and it was definitely on the creepy side, especially at the climax near the end!  Here's its poster:

Image courtesy of The Conduit Speaks

We're now in 1959, and one of the more notable events of that year was the March 9 appearance of the first Barbie doll.  Though I've never owned a Barbie, I did use BARBIE (clued as "She wears very little clothing") in a Fireball puzzle from earlier this year.  Other very clever clues from the Ginsberg clue database include "50-year-old stunner" and "She's a doll."  Here's a picture of a very early Barbie:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Last week I wrote about going through two of Bernice Gordon's scrapbooks to record the dates her puzzles were published.  Since then I've compared that list with my records, and out of 111 puzzle dates filling four pages, I found 7 previously unattributed daily puzzles, plus a discrepancy in the June 18, 1980, puzzle (in which Bernice was listed as the author, though according to Maleska's log, Jack L. Steinhardt was the author).  Most of the puzzles on the list were already in my database, and many others had question marks next to them, indicating that the puzzles did not look like they had been published in the Times (and, in fact, none of those marked that way had been).  Finding just 7 (possibly 8) new puzzles out of 111 doesn't seem like a lot, but this one-puzzle-at-a-time process is likely how the remaining gaps will be filled in.

Today's featured puzzle was constructed by Jules Arensberg.  It was originally published on October 11, 1953; it was litzed by Andrew Feist and edited by Margaret Farrar.  This masterful construction features six symmetrical theme entries that contain a kitchen utensil, such as KETTLEDRUM and PANHANDLER; as a bonus, none of the theme entries is a direct instance of its respective utensil.  In other words, Jules Arensberg eschewed theme entries like SILVER SPOON or TEAKETTLE, since they are merely more specific examples of the utensils they're derived from.  This differentiation adds a nice level of elegance to an already spectacular-for-its-time theme!  In addition, this puzzle boasts a relatively clean nonthematic fill, which is especially challenging when working with stacked pairs of theme entries.  I particularly like the entries PIPELINE, TRIDENTS, QUIRKS, and CHIMP.  The puzzle also contains a handful of devious or thought-provoking clues, such as "Vixen's driver." for SANTA, "Wartime cloak-and-dagger outfit." for OSS, and "Outlawed terrorist group." for KLAN (which is no longer accurate).  To me, the OSS clue stands out the most, since it feels like an exceptionally fresh take on an otherwise stuffy piece of crosswordese!  There are a few entries in the nonthematic fill that I'm not as fond of, such as the partial QUA NON, the lesser-known term FEIS (clued as "Gaelic music or literary meeting."), and the unpleasant entry KLAN.  The construction probably could have been improved by changing KLAN/KROON to CLAN/CROON.  Nevertheless, this is a particularly strong pre-Shortzian puzzle and a real standout in the swaths of news- or repeated-word themed daily puzzles from the early 1950s—I look forward to seeing many more Jules Arensberg puzzles as litzing continues!  For now, here's the answer grid (with highlighted theme entries):

Since Stan Newman sent me so many fascinating old puzzle books, I've decided to add a Book of the Week feature to this blog!  I'll be featuring a new pre-Shortzian treasure every third week (with the other two weeks containing the usual Clue or Entry of the Week section)—I doubt I'll run out of new books to highlight anytime soon!  That said, this week's featured book, a small green paperback titled 50 American Authors, was written by Eugene T. Maleska and Albert Buranelli.  It was first printed in August 1963 and was part of a collection called "The Educational Crossword Puzzle Series."  Each of the 50 American authors is profiled in a one-page biography, a high-quality crossword by a top constructor, and a mini-quiz using information from the biography and crossword puzzle.  The crosswords themselves are designed like modern-day Celebrity Crosswords in that they're jam-packed with theme material about their subjects—a single 15x focusing on Henry James and built by crackerjack constructor A. J. Santora contained 32 theme entries!

So how were these top-notch constructors able to incorporate so much theme material?  I've determined that the answer lies in several fundamental differences between these crosswords and modern ones.  The most notable difference is the use of what Maleska dubbed the part-word technique, which I've never seen before.  The part-word technique involves using thematic fill-in-the-blank clues for short words instead of cluing them in a traditional fashion.  For example, in the Henry James puzzle, DUC is clued as "*James was e _ _ _ ated privately by tutors" rather than something along the lines of "French nobleman."  This cluing style is indeed very effective for cramming large amounts of information into a crossword puzzle, but it also feels sort of tacky, since many words don't have proper clues; also, it allows constructors to get away with an increased amount of less-than-stellar fill (particularly prefixes and suffixes) by disguising it as theme material.  In other words, the part-word technique seems tantamount to the timeworn ruse of disguising vegetables as chicken nuggets in the hope that kids will be more likely to eat them.  The other two differences I noticed are that two-letter words were allowed and that the grids weren't all 15 x 15.  In fact, many grids were rectangular to allow for an even greater number of theme entries.  The use of rectangular grids in top-notch crosswords was almost unheard of when this book was published and didn't really catch on until a few years ago; this innovation alone places 50 American Authors way ahead of its time!

There are a few other noteworthy aspects of this puzzle book.  First, Maleska constructed just one of the puzzles, which is surprising since he was also a major constructor in 1963 and is listed as co-author of the book.  It can therefore be presumed that Maleska did much more work on the biography-assembling and quiz-writing, which isn't a huge surprise, given his literary and educational background.  It can also be assumed, however, that Maleska was the editor of these crosswords, making this volume a fascinating glimpse into what his pre–New York Times editing style looked like.  In addition, none of the clues have periods after them, a stylistic choice not widely used until Will Weng became editor of the New York Times crossword six years later.  Finally, Maleska mentioned that he hoped the Educational Crossword Puzzle Series books would become supplementary materials for high school and college students.  I'm always rather skeptical of crossword puzzle books targeted at younger audiences, as editors often forget that most students are unfamiliar with the crossword puzzle argot.  As a test, I created some multiple-choice questions for my friends at school to see how accurately they would be at guessing the meanings of different pieces of pre-Shortzian crosswordese.  To them, it seemed like I was speaking Greek!  Anyway, I was surprised to discover that this book is not only accessible to a wide range of solvers (largely because of the part-word technique) but is also helpful.  I recently finished reading The Scarlet Letter for my English class and remember that one of the test questions asked what year the novel was published in.  I had no idea and ended up guessing a random year in the 19th century!  It turns out that the Nathaniel Hawthorne section of 50 American Authors mentions that The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850.  Go figure!

In sum, 50 American Authors was fascinating to look through from both a historical and practical standpoint.  Thanks again for sending this book, Stan, and I look forward to featuring a new book in three weeks!

1992 Puzzles on XWord Info, 2,600 Litzed Puzzles, and More Publicity

Great news:  Jim Horne has just posted all the proofread 1992 puzzles on XWord Info!  He's still trying to fix up a couple of tricky puzzles, but the rest are ready to go.  Jim has also created a separate section of links for the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, which now has its very own FAQ page and a link to this website.  You can view the pre-Shortzian puzzles here and solve them here.  Thanks so much, Jim!

Needless to say, this certainly couldn't have happened so quickly without the help of all our litzers!  Thank you, everyone!  Together we've now reached 2,600 litzed puzzles!

We've also received some more publicity:  T Campbell posted a wonderful write-up of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project on Amy Reynaldo's Diary of a Crossword Fiend blog, which you can read here!

Today I am featuring two puzzles with very outdated but historically interesting themes.  The first was constructed by Bernice Gordon, who, incredibly, is still publishing crosswords at 98!  This puzzle originally appeared on January 23, 1955, and was litzed by Barry Haldiman (or one of his former litzers).  The title for the puzzle is "Household Words."  It features four appliances that were considered novelties back in the day but that are so commonplace now that we don't even think about them.  My favorite theme clue is "Work of a modern kitchen appliance" for GARBAGE DISPOSAL—it made me laugh out loud!  The nonthematic fill was very clean for the 1950s—I especially like SQUEEZING, NEW YORK, and CYNICAL!  The answer grid with highlighted theme entries appears below:

The second puzzle was constructed by Jules Arensberg.  It was originally published on July 11, 1953, and was recently litzed by Nancy Kavanaugh.  This puzzle was published before Hawaii became a state (ironically the fiftieth, not the forty-ninth) in 1959.  Its main theme entries are FORTY NINTH STATE (clued as "Subject of pending legislation.") and HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (brilliantly clued as "Star on the flag?").  The puzzle also included the bonus theme entry MAUNA LOA and had a very nice nonthematic fill.  My favorite nonthematic entries are OPERA HAT and SLAVE ANT.  The answer grid with highlighted theme entries can be seen below:

Today's featured pre-Shortzian entry is KAKAS.  According to the Ginsberg database, KAKAS has never been reused in a Shortzian puzzle, though KAKA appeared in a Shortzian BEQ puzzle (clued as the soccer star).  KAKAS originally appeared in the October 7, 1989, puzzle by Bernard Meren, which was recently litzed by Todd Gross.  The clue for KAKAS was "New Zealand parrots."  I've disliked parrot clues ever since I got naticked at the Silicon Valley Puzzle Fest because I didn't know KEAS!  (And recently I came across an entire 1993 Maleska puzzle with a parrot theme!  The puzzle, which can be seen here, even included KEA—gasp!—as one of its theme entries!)  In any case, Webster defines a kaka as "an olive-brown New Zealand parrot (Nestor meridionalis) with gray and red markings."  Kaka comes from Maori and was first introduced into our language in 1774.  Below is a picture of a kaka:

Image courtesy of New-Zealand-Holidays.