2,355 Puzzles Litzed During Litzstarter, Nancy Kavanaugh Wins ACPT Grand Prize, Mark Diehl Tops 4,000, New Litzer Extraordinaire Ralph Bunker, November Litzer of the Month C. G. Rishikesh, and In 1957

Litzstarter is now officially over, and it's been a tremendous success!  With an ambitious goal of reaching 13,000 on the litzing thermometer in just two months, we not only met that goal but surpassed it, hitting 13,363 by 11:59 p.m. PDT on October 31.  A total of 2,355 puzzles (counting 97 of my own, which weren't listed in the contest totals) were litzed—an astounding achievement!  Thanks so much again to everyone who participated—awesome job!

And many thanks again too to our generous sponsors:  the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), American Values Club Crossword (AVCX), Crossword Nation, Fireball Crosswords, Puzzazz, Rex Parker Does the NY Times Crossword Puzzle, and XWord Info.  The awards were terrific incentives and helped make this the most successful Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project contest ever!

The winner of the Grand Prize drawing for free admission to the 2014 ACPT was Nancy Kavanaugh—congratulations, Nancy!  Contest litzers were assigned numbers between 1 and 2258 based on the number of puzzles they'd litzed during Litzstarter, and a random-number generator produced the winning number.

Now for a recap of Litzstarter's final six days:  Ralph Bunker got us off to a fast start on Saturday morning with 28 puzzles.  Late that night, Mark Diehl sent in 25 more.  Then Sunday morning, Ralph sent in another 28, putting us over 13,100 on the litzing thermometer (and his personal totals at more than 500!)!  Sunday night, Denny Baker sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed by 20 more from Mark.  Monday evening, Vic Fleming sent in 21 puzzles.  Then Tuesday afternoon, Brian Kulman sent in 7, which were followed by 28 more from Ralph that night, putting us over 13,200 on the litzing thermometer!  About half an hour later, Mark sent in 35 more puzzles (putting his contest total at more than 600!).  On Wednesday afternoon, Tracy Bennett sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed a little over an hour later by a mega-batch of 42 from Nancy Kavanaugh.  That night, Mark sent in 28 more puzzles, putting us over 13,300 on the litzing thermometer (and his contest total at 650 and regular total at more than 4,000!)!  Very early Thursday morning, Todd Gross sent in 11 more proofread puzzles, then later, Brian sent in 7 litzed puzzles.  Thursday night—the last night of the contest—Todd McClary sent in 7 more puzzles, which were followed by 24 more from Mark about an hour and a half before the midnight deadline.  And Howard Barkin sent in an additional 21 puzzles this week as well!  Great job, everyone—thanks so much again!

As I mentioned, Mark Diehl reached a major milestone this week in his regular total, which now comes to 4,036—nearly one-fourth of the total pre-Shortzian puzzles!  Congratulations, Mark, on this amazing achievement!

And many of you may have noticed the sudden appearance of new litzer extraordinaire Ralph Bunker, who first contacted me on September 14 (two weeks after Litzstarter had begun) about litzing and who has since litzed an astounding 539 puzzles—in just six weeks!  Ralph has written programs to speed up his litzing, and next week I'll be publishing a fascinating piece he wrote about that.  Thanks so much again, Ralph!

In other news, we have a new Litzer of the Month:  C. G. Rishikesh (Rishi)! Rishi lives in India and is a prolific constructor of cryptic puzzles.  His response to my question about which aspect of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project database he was most excited about was particularly eloquent:

To be able to go to old puzzles and see those old references.  To marvel at some things that are still fresh.  To mourn over things that have died a silent death.  To recall a half-forgotten quote, to be reminded of a movie that you saw years ago with a cousin who is no longer alive, to find an echo from a distant song. . . .  The possibilities are endless.

To read more about Rishi, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

With all this litzing, we've whizzed into another year:  1957.  This was a year of many major historical events, but in honor of the speed at which we've zipped through the litzing, I've decided to highlight the record-setting run by British race car driver Stirling Moss on August 23, 1957, in the MG EX181.  Reaching a speed of 245 mph—almost as fast as litzers!—Moss broke the class F world land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.  Here's a picture of the MG EX181:

Photo courtesy of Auto Heritage

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!

Over 12,600—and Mark Diehl's New Random Factoid Clue

It's been an awesome week on the litzing front, with more than 300 puzzles sent in—probably the most ever!  As I write this, we've now litzed 12,665 puzzles, so we're definitely on track to hit the 13,000 mark by the end of this month.  The week started off with a whopping 28 puzzles early Saturday morning from Ralph Bunker.  That afternoon, Vic Fleming sent in 7 more, then in the evening, Ralph sent in another 28, putting us over 12,400 on the litzing thermometer (and his own total at more than 200!)!  Sunday morning, Mark Diehl sent in 21 puzzles, then late that afternoon, a mega-batch of 42 puzzles came in from Nancy Kavanaugh (putting her in the number 3 position in the regular totals, after Mark Diehl and Barry Haldiman et al.!).  Sunday evening, Ralph sent in 28 more puzzles, which put us at more than 12,500 on the litzing thermometer, and Monday morning, Todd Gross sent in 10 proofread puzzles.  Monday afternoon, Vic sent 7 more litzed puzzles, then a little over an hour later, 7 more came in from Denny Baker.  Tuesday morning, Brian Kulman sent in 7 more.  Wednesday evening, another 28 puzzles came in from Ralph, and then early Thursday afternoon, he sent 28 more!  Thursday evening, Vic sent in 14 puzzles, putting us over 12,600 on the litzing thermometer, then another 28 came in 9 minutes later from Mark (putting his personal total at more than 3,800 litzed puzzles—he should be topping 4,000 soon!).  Friday morning, Ralph sent another 28 puzzles (making a ginormous total from him of 168 for the week and 315 overall!), which were followed less than half an hour later by 7 more from Brian.  Terrific work, everyone—thanks so much again!

To those of you who haven't sent in any puzzles so far during Litzstarter, there's still time!  In addition to all the great rewards starting at 25 or more puzzles, after litzing just 14 you become eligible for the Grand Prize drawing for free admission to the 2014 ACPT!  Though your chances increase the more puzzles you litz, anyone who's litzed at least 14 puzzles could win this awesome prize!

In other news, Mark Diehl came across another clue that's a bit vague, to say the least!  The clue, for the entry SMITH, read "2,457 girls."  Well, I'll bet that one became outdated pretty fast!

Today's featured puzzle (whose constructor is unknown) was edited by Margaret Farrar, litzed by Mark Diehl, and originally published on May 14, 1968.  This nifty construction features six symmetrically interlocking theme entries that start with a color and end with an animal, such as WHITEHORSE and PURPLE COW.  As a bonus, the theme entries aren't simply more specific varieties of their respective animals—that is, the constructor passed up on entries like GRAY WHALE and YELLOW WARBLER that have very limited cluing options.  The puzzle definitely feels a cut above its contemporaries in terms of theme—it was rare to see a puzzle with even a simple animals or colors theme back in the late 1960s, let alone a combination of the two!  The only theme entry I don't like is BLACKHAWKS, and the only reason I feel it's weak is because of its clue ("Indian chief and namesakes.").  I would have much preferred a reference to the Chicago ice hockey team—I can't imagine Blackhawk has very many namesakes.  The fill also feels less than stellar in places—although DAYTON, FOAM, and UNDERAGE are nice, I could do without MANU (clued as "By hand: Prefix."), PPL ("Verbal form: Abbr."), ORRA ("Not matched: Scot."), RATAS ("Timber trees of New Zealand"), MILLA ("Mile: Sp."), HERAS ("Namesakes of a goddess."), and AH AH ("Sounds of appreciation.").  The rest of the fill relies more on uninspired crosswordese than would be ideal per modern standards, and I'm rather ambivalent about some of the longer nonthematic entries (STRAW MAN ["Scarecrow."] and DAWN PATROL ["Flying mission."]).  One entry that really stood out to me, however, is APOLOGISTS (clued as "Defenders of the faith."), a word I've never come across before.  Webster gives a more detailed definition of apologist:  "a person who defends or supports something (such as a religion, cause, or organization) that is being criticized or attacked by other people."  What an interesting term!  In sum, although the fill feels a bit esoteric in places, the well-researched and interesting theme makes this puzzle shine!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below.

Today's featured pre-Shortzian entry, HOWGOZIT CURVE, originally appeared in the October 5, 1968, puzzle (constructor unknown), which was edited by Margaret Farrar and litzed by Martin Herbach.  This unusual term, which was clued as "Running graph of flight, in aviation parlance," has yet to be reused in a Shortz-era puzzle.  Webster defines a howgozit curve as "a running graph of the progress of an airplane flight involving the distance covered, fuel consumed, and time elapsed and enabling the pilot to determine the equitime point."  Webster also mentions that howgozit is an alteration of "how goes it?," which makes sense in theory but is never something I would've guessed.  "Howgozit curve" gets just 3,950 Google hits, which makes it quite an unusual entry.  Since I couldn't find any great pictures of a howgozit curve, below is a picture of a howgozit page:

Image courtesy of The Boeing 737 Technical Site.

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!

Mark Diehl's 91-Puzzle Batch Puts Us Over 12,000 (Litzstarter's Halfway Point!), In 1961, October Litzer of the Month Mike Buckley, Davidson Institute Brings Project to Capitol Hill, and Meeting Bernice Gordon

Great news:  We've just passed the halfway point in Litzstarter, and we're also more than halfway toward the goal of reaching 13,000 litzed puzzles by the end of October—as I write this, we're at 12,088!  The week started off with 28 puzzles sent in by Ralph Bunker on Saturday morning.  Sunday morning, Denny Baker sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed by another 28 from Ralph that evening, putting us over 11,900 on the litzing thermometer!  Very early Monday morning, Mike Buckley—our October Litzer of the Month—sent in 7 more puzzles, which were followed a bit later on by 11 proofread puzzles from Todd Gross.  That afternoon, Vic Fleming sent in 7 more, then Tuesday morning, Denny sent in an additional 7.  Early Wednesday morning, Mark Diehl sent in a whopping 91 puzzles—yes, 91!—the most I've ever received at one time!  This batch also put us over 12,000 on the litzing thermometer—the halfway point for the Litzstarter contest—and Mark's total for the contest at more than 300!  Then Wednesday afternoon, another humongous batch came in from Nancy Kavanaugh—42 more puzzles!  Thursday evening, Tracy Bennett sent in another 7 puzzles, and less than an hour later, Mark sent in 14 more puzzles.  Awesome, awesome job, everybody—thanks so much again!

The years have been zipping by, and we actually reached 1961 last week.  Although this was a year of many important events—including the Bay of Pigs, the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States, and the start of construction of the Berlin Wall—perhaps the most memorable one occurred on April 12, 1961, when Soviet pilot and cosmonaut YURI Gagarin became the first human in space.  Here's a photo commemorating that event:

Image courtesy of The Paltry Sapien

In other news, we also have a new Litzer of the Month:  Mike Buckley!  Mike has litzed more than 160 puzzles and also enjoys playing bass guitar in concert and jazz bands.  To read more about Mike, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

As I wrote last week, I was in Washington, D.C., for the Davidson Institute for Talent Development's awards ceremony and reception for the 2013 Davidson Fellows.  This was truly an amazing event, which started off Thursday night in a "Hang Out Room" for Fellows at the Washington Court Hotel.  Not everyone had arrived yet, so I didn't get to meet all the other Fellows that night, but we all still had plenty to talk about!  Friday morning, everyone went to a delicious breakfast buffet, where I met most of the other Fellows, and then we all headed off to our individual appointments on Capitol Hill.  I was honored to present the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project to Senator Barbara Boxer's staffer Anne Clement that morning at the Hart Senate Office Building.

In front of the Capitol.

With Senator Boxer staffer Anne Clement.

I had several hours in between my meeting with Anne Clement and my next scheduled event, so I went to the Library of Congress to look into the possibility of obtaining old New York Times crossword books there.

Outside the Library of Congress.

Inside the Library of Congress.

I discovered that I'd have to arrange in advance to see whatever books they had.  I'd checked the catalog before leaving for Washington, and the Library of Congress does have some of these books, so I'm hoping to take a look at them the next time I'm in D.C.

After grabbing a quick lunch, I headed for the International Spy Museum, which I was very excited about seeing.  I didn't have much time, but what I saw of the exhibits was fascinating, and I bought an awesome Rubik's Cube safe, as well as a cool T-shirt!

I rushed back from the museum for a group meeting with Davidson Institute co-founder Bob Davidson, where I got to know more about the exciting projects my fellow Fellows were working on!  I had to leave a bit early to get to my next appointment, which was back at the Hart Senate Office Building with Senator Dianne Feinstein's staffer Crystal Martinez.  Two other Fellows from California, Natalie Ng and Michael Janner, and I met with her at the same time, and hearing them present their projects (which were very different from the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project!) was fascinating.

With Senator Feinstein staffer Crystal Martinez (second
from left) and Fellows Natalie Ng (far left) and Michael
Janner (far right).

Friday night all the Fellows gathered again for an informal group dinner, after which most of us headed back to the Hang Out Room.  Getting to know all the other amazing Fellows was one of the highlights of my trip, and we had a blast in the Hang Out Room talking about much more than just our projects!  I found that we all had a lot in common, despite our different interests and backgrounds.

Saturday morning we met again for another SAPID breakfast buffet, after which we were free to do whatever we wanted to until the reception that evening.  I spent a short while at the National Postal Museum, which was near our hotel and very interesting.  I particularly enjoyed a ZIP code–entering game, which reminded me a lot of litzing because you had to be accurate as well as quick!  I also enjoyed looking at some of the many stamps the museum had in its collections—maybe someday there'll be a crossword puzzle stamp, if there isn't one already!

Then, since I'd arranged to have lunch with litzer Barry Silk, I met up with him at Union Station and spent a couple of delightful hours at Pizzeria Uno talking about crosswords!

With Barry Silk at Union Station.

After lunch I went back to the National Postal Museum briefly to finish up my visit and then headed for the Museum of Crime and Punishment, which was especially interesting after having seen the International Spy Museum the day before!  I particularly appreciated the exhibit about Prohibition-era criminals and gangsters, since their names show up so much in crosswords and I hadn't really known their significance.

At the end of the afternoon, all the Fellows and their parents took shuttles to the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian for the Davidson Fellows reception.  After having our pictures taken, we chatted with each other and guests over delectable hors d'oeuvres and a wonderful dinner.

With Fellow Thabit Pulak on the shuttle to the reception.

Outside the Museum of the American Indian.

After dinner was the awards ceremony, at which Bob Davidson gave an inspiring speech and introduced each 2013 Davidson Fellow in turn.  All of us gave short speeches about our projects, after which Bob Davidson presented us with beautiful trophies.  Hearing the Fellows present their projects in more detail was a humbling experience—I felt very honored to have been included in such an amazingly accomplished group of my peers, most of whom had carried out very sophisticated scientific or mathematical projects.  The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, in the "Outside the Box" category, was one of just three nontechnical projects and the only one to win an award in that category.

The three-day event ended with another marathon session in the Hang Out Room, this time bittersweet, since we knew it was the last time we'd probably all be together.  Even though I had only just met the other Fellows, most of whom were still in high school, we had bonded very quickly.  I think we'll see each other again in the future, perhaps in whatever colleges we end up attending.  Thanks so much again to the Davidson Institute for this unforgettable event and for this honor to the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project.

Although the Davidson Fellows reception had ended, I had another major event in store the next day:  meeting legendary constructor Bernice Gordon!  Bernice and I collaborated on a puzzle celebrating age differences; that puzzle was published in The New York Times on June 26, 2013, and you can see it here.  At 99, Bernice is currently the oldest constructor publishing in the Times, and at 16, I am currently the youngest.

Bernice and I had corresponded for months but never met each other, so I made a special trip up to Philadelphia for that purpose.  It was wonderful finally getting to meet her—Bernice is just as friendly and interesting in person as in her e-mails, and we had a lot of fun discussing crosswords, the puzzle community, and crossword history.  Bernice lives in a spacious, light-filled apartment near The Franklin Institute that is filled with books and her own amazing art and needlework.  After a yummy lunch of crab cakes and pistachio ice cream, we spent the rest of the afternoon talking and playing word games on her computer.  We also looked at some Web sites, including XWord Info, as well as part of the video of Will Shortz's recent talk in Minneapolis.  Here are some pictures from my visit:

Showing Bernice the project's database.

An old puzzle Bernice constructed by hand.

Calendar at Bernice's complex listing her crosswords class.

Saying goodbye after a wonderful day.

In addition, I was able to go through two old scrapbooks of Bernice's puzzles and record the dates they were published, which I'll be able to add to my database.  Bernice also gave me many old crossword paperbacks, which I was thrilled to receive since I think some of them will help fill in more gaps in the database.  Every time I see an old crossword book with daily New York Times puzzles containing bylines, I check it against my database to see whether there are additional names I can match up with puzzles.  I'll be going through all of these books in the coming weeks, and I'm hopeful that at least some of the "Unknown" constructors will finally become known.

It was an amazing day, and I will treasure my meeting with Bernice forever.

Litzstarter Update

This will be a short post since I'm out of town for a few days—in fact, I just spent a couple of hours today talking about the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project to congressional staffers in Washington and to other Davidson Fellows!  It's been very interesting and a lot of fun explaining the project to people who aren't familiar with crossword history.

My absence certainly didn't slow down the litzing—as I write this, we're now at 11,850 on the litzing thermometer!  The week started off with Ed Sessa sending in 7 puzzles on Saturday morning.  That afternoon, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 18 more, putting her contest total at more than 100!  And Saturday night, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in an additional 6.  Sunday morning, Jeffrey sent 5 more, putting us over 11,700 on the litzing thermometer!  Then half an hour later, Denny Baker sent in an additional 7, putting his regular total at more than 600 litzed puzzles!  A few hours later, Todd McClary sent in 7, putting his regular total at 200 litzed puzzles!  Sunday evening, Jeffrey sent in 1 more puzzle.  A few hours later, Ralph Bunker sent in 23 more puzzles; an hour later, Mark Diehl sent 35 more, and about an hour and a half after that, Mike Buckley sent in 7 more!  That came to 85 puzzles in just one day!  Monday night, Jeffrey sent in 6 puzzles, then less than an hour later, Vic Fleming sent in 7 more, putting us over 11,800 on the litzing thermometer!  A few hours later, Todd Gross sent in 10 more proofread puzzles.  Wednesday morning, Denny sent in 7 more puzzles; that afternoon, Nancy sent in an additional 21 puzzles.  Thursday evening, Vic sent 14 more puzzles.  Very early Friday morning, Todd sent in 10 proofread puzzles.  And then this afternoon, new litzer Brian Kulman sent in his first 7 puzzles.  Awesome week, everyone—thanks so much!  I look forward to seeing another deluge of puzzles this week!

Over 11,600, In 1962, Will Shortz Event, Litzers at BAC Fill, and the First Annual Bad Fill Razzies

This is almost the end of Litzstarter's third week, and we're now at 11,663 on the litzing thermometer!  This past week was phenomenal, with more than 200 puzzles coming in!  Howard Barkin got us off to a fast start for the week on Friday night with 14 puzzles.  A few hours later, C. G. Rishikesh (Rishi) sent in 6 more.  Saturday morning, I received an e-mail from Ralph Bunker, who wanted to start litzing—welcome, Ralph!  A few hours later, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 18 puzzles, putting her regular total at more than 600 litzed puzzles!  That afternoon, Vic Fleming sent in 7 puzzles.  Very early Sunday morning, Rishi sent 1 more puzzle, which was followed by 7 more from Jeffrey Krasnick a few hours later and then an additional 7 from Denny Baker.  Sunday night, Ralph sent in his first batch of 6 puzzles.  A few hours later, Mark Diehl sent in 35 puzzles, putting us over 11,500 on the litzing thermometer and his own personal total over 3,500!  Early Monday morning, Jeffrey sent in 7 more puzzles.  Tuesday afternoon, Ralph sent in another 6.  That evening, Vic sent in 6, which were followed by 18 more from Mark.  Early Wednesday morning, Mike Buckley sent in 7 puzzles, putting us over 11,600 on the litzing thermometer!  That afternoon, Denny sent in 7 more, and in the evening, Jeffrey sent an additional 7.  Late Thursday morning, Howard sent in 14 puzzles.  That afternoon, Vic sent in 7 more puzzles, putting his regular total at 200 litzed puzzles!  Then early this morning, Mark sent in another 6 puzzles, which were followed late this afternoon by 7 from Tracy Bennett.  Whew—it makes me tired just writing about it!  Awesome job, everybody!

We're now in 1962, a year many people who were children then remember for atomic bomb drills ("duck and cover") in schools during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and many who were adults remember for the death of Marilyn Monroe.  But on a lighter note, 1962 was also a landmark year in the history of late-night television, when Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show.  Heeere's Johnny!

Photo courtesy of raisedbytv.com

In other news, Will Shortz recently gave a talk in Minnesota in which, among other things, he discussed the history of American crosswords and told the audience about the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project!  Thanks so much, Will!  This very entertaining event, "Will Shortz:  An Evening with the Puzzle Master," was recorded in its entirety and can be seen here or on YouTube:

Also, last Saturday I flew up to Oakland for the 6th Annual BAC Fill, where I saw litzers Mark Diehl, Todd Gross, and Andrew Laurence (who was also the tournament's organizer)!  Here are a couple of photos from this awesome event, which was a ton of fun:

Mark, me, and Todd taking a break from litzing!

Andrew and me after discussing litzing

Today's featured puzzle was constructed by Anthony Morse.  It was originally published on January 1, 1955; edited by Margaret Farrar; and recently litzed ahead of schedule at Litzing Headquarters since it's such a standout construction!  This lovely 15 x 15 features a jaw-dropping 18 mostly symmetric theme entries related to bridge, eight of which contain rebus squares with one of the four bridge suits!  The interlock is very elegant—I'm amazed that the constructor was able to work the long down theme entries CUT AND DEAL, DUPLICATE BRIDGE, and TOURNAMENT into the grid so elegantly, despite the constraints posed by the rebus squares.  Also, I love all the short bonus theme entries like SLAM, JACK, and JOKER!  On top of all this, what little nonthematic fill there is is jampacked with Scrabbly letters (surprisingly not to the detriment of the fill's overall quality) and even lively in parts.  My favorite nonthematic entry is SILLABUB (clued as "Frothy mixture of wine and cream.")—although I've never heard of this unusual term, it's a lot of fun to say!  Webster mentions that the primary spelling is actually syllabub, which it defines as "milk or cream that is curdled with an acid beverage (as wine or cider) and often sweetened and served as a drink or topping or thickened with gelatin and served as a dessert."  The etymology of this term is unknown, though it was apparently first used by English writer John Heywood in 1537.  JORUM ("Large drinking bowl") is also a very interesting word, which I erroneously assumed came from Latin.  According to Webster, the most probable etymology is from the Biblical character Joram, who "brought with him vessels of silver" in 2 Samuel 8:10.  Back to the puzzle:  The only nonthematic entry that caused me to raise an eyebrow was A TAR ("Ralph Rackstraw, for instance."), which I would have much preferred to see clued as the variant of attar or even as the Salieri opera.  One could also complain about the plural suffix INGS and the hard-core crosswordese ALATE ("Having wings."), ITEA ("Virginia willow."), AINU ("Hokkaido inhabitant"), and ORLE ("Border of an escutcheon."), but all of these entries (with the exception of INGS) were common in the pre-Shortzian era.  In all, this is an exemplary pre-Shortzian puzzle and a true model for how to squeeze theme entries into a 15 x 15 grid (albeit one that's slightly over the maximum word count)!  I look forward to seeing what other gems constructor Anthony Morse has in store!  For now, here's the solution grid (with highlighted theme entries):

I've seen many iffy entries in pre-Shortzian puzzles, but a handful have stood out to me as being particularly outrageous, thus earning them a nomination in the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project's First Annual Bad Fill Razzies, which focuses on 1968, 1969, and 1970!  I've left the specific dates and constructor names off these entries, but all of them appeared in puzzles from these three years:

• Clue:  "___ Sheboygan."
• Answer:  MENTION MY NAME IN
• Clue:  ___ armor.
• Answer:  CHINK IN MY
• Clue:  "Must'a been somethin' ___"
• Answer:  I ET
• Clue:  Start of a letter to Mr. Boone.
• Answer:  DEAR DAN [which has since assumed a more legitimate cluing angle thanks to behavioral economist Dan Ariely's column]
• Clue:  Scared out ___.
• Answer:  OF OUR SKINS
• Clue:  They ___ cry from (different).
• Answer:  ARE A FAR
• Clue:  A. ___, English writer.
• Answer:  A MILNE
• Grand Finale:  Four very iffy entries from the same puzzle, which already included 8-plus partials longer than 7 letters:
• Clue:  Latecomer's penalty
• Answer:  NO SEAT
• Clue:  Hostess's oversight
• Answer:  NO ASHTRAYS
• Clue:  Party disappointment
• Answer:  NO SONGS
• Clue:  Result of being trod on
• Answer:  NO TOENAIL

And the winner for the worst piece of nonthematic fill in 1968, 1969, and 1970 New York Times puzzles is  . . . NO TOENAIL!  This entry and its clue are so contrived (and even a bit gross) that I couldn't help cracking up, which was probably Will Weng's intention!  Below is a picture of some painted toenails, which clearly didn't get trod on:

Photo courtesy of Our Hopeful Life

Litzstarter Update and a Random Factoid

The second week of Litzstarter is coming to an end, and as I write this, we're at 11,433 on the litzing thermometer—which means that more than 400 puzzles have been litzed in just 13 days!  An hour or so after I posted last week's update, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 7 more puzzles, which were followed a few minutes later by 7 from Vic Fleming.  Saturday morning, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 14 puzzles, which were followed a few hours later by 7 from Ed Sessa.  Saturday night, 10 proofread puzzles came in from Todd Gross; a few minutes later, Jeffrey sent in 7 more litzed puzzles, and then Mark Diehl sent in 21 more.  An hour and a half later, Tracy Bennett sent in 7 litzed puzzles, putting us over 11,300 on the litzing thermometer!  Sunday evening, Jeffrey sent in 7 more, which were followed a bit later by 7 from Todd.  Monday morning, Mark sent in 21 more.  Early Tuesday morning, Jeffrey sent in 7, which were followed a couple of hours later by 14 more from Mark (whose contest total came to more than 100!).  Tuesday evening, Nancy sent in 21 puzzles.  Wednesday night, 11 proofread puzzles came in from Todd.  And then Thursday night, Jeffrey sent in 7 more puzzles, putting us over 11,400 on the litzing thermometer and his regular total at exactly 700!  A few hours later, Mark sent in 21 puzzles, and very early Friday morning, another 7 litzed puzzles came in from Todd.  It's been a truly amazing litzing week—great job, everyone!

Last night when Mark sent in his batch of 21 puzzles, he told me about a "random factoid" that made me laugh out loud:  One of the 1963 puzzles had the clue, "Where 140,353 farms are."  How many of you knew the answer for that one off the top of your head?  Not me, that's for sure!  Turns out the answer is OHIO.  I'm sure that figure has changed over the past 50 years, though!

So far, this blog has almost exclusively featured themed puzzles.  But I've also been keeping track of particularly good themeless puzzles I've come across.  Some of my favorite pre-Shortzian themeless constructors are Jack Luzzatto, Joseph LaFauci (whose work will be featured in a future post), and Arthur Schulman.  This week's featured puzzle, which was constructed by crossword legend Jack Luzzatto, edited by Eugene T. Maleska, litzed by Mark Diehl, and originally published on July 23, 1977, may be the best themeless I've seen in the entire pre-Shortzian era!  First off, the 64-word grid Luzzatto chose is lovely—there aren't too many blocks in any one region, and there are just two three-letter entries in the whole puzzle.  On top of that, the grid is jam-packed with both interesting entries and Scrabbly letters!  Highlights in the fill include HOT POTATO, FLEA TRAP, ALKALIZES, MOBILIZES, TAKEN IN, RUN COLD, CYANIDE, and GRAND AMS, but my favorite clue/entry pair has to be "It's in the bag" for GOLF CLUB!  Other interesting longer entries include BY PROXY, ANTIPODAL, SINECURE, and CATHEAD (which I've never heard of).  CATHEAD, which sounds awesome, was clued as "Timber for the anchor"; Webster offers the more complete definition "a projecting piece of timber or iron near the bow of the ship to which an anchor is hoisted and secured."  DARBIES ("Plasterers' floats; trowels"), ENTAL ("Inner, in anatomy"), the partial A BIG, the crazy-hard clue for AMAS ("Japanase women divers"), and the sprinkling of British spellings (ODOUR and LITRE) are the only other things that I would consider not-so-great.  Overall, this tour de force feels many years ahead of its time!  It's not every day you see a pre-Shortzian themeless with such a stunning grid and fill.  I look forward to reviewing many more Luzzatto masterpieces as we head further back into the '60s and then proceed to the '50s!  For now, the answer grid can be seen below:

Today's featured pre-Shortzian entry, DESQUAMATE, originally appeared in the February 21, 1968, puzzle (constructor unknown), which was edited by Margaret Farrar and litzed by Todd Gross.  According to the Ginsberg clue database, this unusual entry has never been reused in the Shortz era.  Its original clue, "Scale, as fish," paraphrases the Webster definition, "to peel off in scales."  Webster goes on to mention that desquamate comes from the past participle of the Latin desquamare, meaning "to scale," which ultimately comes from the Latin de (meaning "from") and squama (meaning "scale").  Apparently desquamate can also be used in a medical sense, meaning "to peel off in the form of scales," which is why I decided not to look for a picture of desquamation!  Instead, here's a much more pleasant picture of some fish scales:

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Fast Start for Litzstarter, 1981 Puzzles Up, In 1963, and September Litzer of the Month Andrew Laurence

It's been a fast start for Litzstarter—in just six days, we've litzed more than 200 puzzles!  (To see litzers' contest totals, click here or on the Contest Totals tab above.)  Very early on Sunday, September 1, C. G. Rishikesh (Rishi) sent in the first 6 puzzles of the litzing contest.  Sunday afternoon, I received an e-mail from Ed Sessa, who said he'd decided to give litzing a try—welcome, Ed!  A few hours later, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 14 puzzles; these were followed by 7 from Denny Baker.  Sunday night, Tracy Bennett sent in a month of proofread puzzles.  Early Monday, Rishi sent in one more litzed puzzle, and a few hours later, Jeffrey sent in another 7.  Monday afternoon, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 14, which were followed by 7 more that evening from Denny.  A bit later, Todd Gross sent in 11 proofread puzzles from 1980, and just a few minutes later, Howard Barkin sent in 7 more litzed puzzles.  Then Tuesday morning Mark Diehl sent in 14 puzzles, which were followed that evening by 7 litzed puzzles from Todd, putting us over 11,100 on the litzing thermometer!  A short while later, Tracy sent in 7 litzed puzzles.  On Wednesday morning, Nancy sent in 14 more puzzles, which were followed that night by 7 more litzed puzzles from Todd and, a few hours later, by 7 more from Jeffrey.  Early Thursday morning, Mark sent in 21 more puzzles.  Then around lunchtime, Nancy sent in 14 more, which were followed that evening by 7 from Todd McClary.  Just a few minutes later (22, to be exact!), Howard sent in 14 more, putting us over 11,200 on the litzing thermometer (and his own regular total at more than 700!)!  Very early Friday morning, Mike Buckley sent in 7 puzzles, then later Mark sent in 13 more (putting his regular total at more than 3,400!).  A short while later, Todd sent in 10 more proofread puzzles.  And here at Litzer Central, we've been litzing puzzles as time permits to help move us along even faster to 13,000!  As I write this, we're at 11,232 on the litzing thermometer—well on our way to meeting our goal!  Awesome work, everybody—thanks so much!

Great news:  The proofread 1981 puzzles are now up on XWord Info!  We've already proofread a couple of months in 1980, so those should be ready in the not-too-distant future.

We're also now in 1963, a year most people who were alive then remember for the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, our 35th President, on November 22.  I wasn't born yet, but my parents remember vividly where they were when they heard the news, even though it was 50 years ago.  My mom (then in fourth grade!) was living in Paris.  She and my grandparents had just attended a performance by the famous French mime Marcel Marceau and found out as they left the theatre.  My dad was in the living room of his old house in Culver City.  If you remember where you were then, feel free to write about it in the Comments.

© 1963, The New York Times

We're now also in a new month, and the September Litzer of the Month is BAC Fill (formerly Bay Area Crossword Puzzle Tournament) organizer Andrew Laurence.  BAC Fill takes place this year next weekend (Saturday, September 14)—even though I don't live in the Bay Area, I've been twice before and had a great time!  To read more about Andrew, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

I always find pre-Shortzian puzzles with topical themes, which I've dubbed buzzles (for buzz and puzzle), to be very interesting.  The most common buzzle theme I've encountered in the late '60s is the Space Age.  Most Space Age buzzles contain just one or two topical entries; this week's featured buzzle, however, really stands out in that it contains six main theme entries with a novel twist!  The buzzle, "Space Madness," was constructed by Eileen Bush; edited by Will Weng; published on June 22, 1969; and litzed by Martin Herbach.  Each of this buzzle's theme entries contains a pun on a space-related term—some of my favorites include CHEESE QUAKE (clued as "Moon eruption, perhaps"), OUT FOR LAUNCH ("Sign on an astronaut's door"), and COSMIC RELIEF ("Humor for serious astronauts," which feels particularly fitting)!  In addition to including a clever theme, the constructor was also able to weave a large number of nonpunny space- and flight-related theme entries into her fill, including GEMINI ("Early astronaut program"), COSMO ("Universe: Prefix"), LEONID ("One of a meteor swarm"), LUNIK ("Soviet moon rocket"), SABRE JETS ("Fighter planes"), SPLASH DOWN ("Dive, astronaut style"), GLENN ("Early astronaut"), ASPERA (which has the space-related clue "Ad astra per ___"), and ZOOMS ("Goes like a spaceship").  The nonthematic fill is lovely as well!  I particularly like the entries RENDEZVOUS, CALCULATOR (unusually high-tech for the puzzle's time period), and BELLOWS.  BRELOQUES ("Pendants on watch chains") is a very unusual word, but it sounds awesome!  There aren't any entries that jump out at me as being particularly junky, though KINO ("Cinema, in Europe"), SERS ("Indian weights"), and INDENE ("Oily hydrocarbon") aren't my favorites.  Overall, this is an exceptional buzzle—I look forward to seeing how other major '40s, '50s, and '60s events are portrayed in crosswords!  For now, here's the puzzle (with highlighted punny theme entries):

On the subject of the Space Age, here's a pentad of topical space- or flight-related clues I've noticed in other puzzles from the late '60s.  There will be many more Space Age clues highlighted in future puzzles!

• September 9, 1967 (constructed by Joseph LaFauci, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Phenomena of our time.
• Answer:  SPACEMEN
• November 27, 1967 (constructor unknown, litzed by Martin Herbach)
• Clue:  Asteroid, sea version.
• Answer:  STARFISH
• December 20, 1967 (constructor unknown, litzed by Todd McClary)
• Clue:  Vehicle of the future.
• Answer:  AIR CAR
• April 25, 1968 (constructor unknown, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Name in the NASA roster.
• Answer:  MARS
• May 11, 1968 (constructor unknown, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Visitor from space?
• Answer:  UFO

The most interesting of these clues is the one for STARFISH—I'd never thought about a starfish in that way!  Below is a picture of this many-armed sea creature:

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.