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

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

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

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

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I checked again several hours later, I went to the thermometer's site, where I discovered that our original image had been replaced by new options, so I chose one of those.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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Score Converter:

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

Almost at 13,800, Puzzazz Thanksgiving Weekend Black Friday Puzzle Sale, and PuzzleNation's Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide

I hope you all had a wonderful, puzzle-filled Thanksgiving!  This week the litzing machine has continued to chug along—I received more than 100 puzzles, and we're now almost at 13,800 on the litzing thermometer!  Just minutes after last week's blog post went live, Todd McClary sent in 7 puzzles.  Then late Friday night, Lynn Feigenbaum sent in her first batch of 7 puzzles—welcome, Lynn!  Sunday morning, Todd Gross sent in 10 proofread puzzles, followed by another 11 Tuesday morning.  Four minutes later, Ralph Bunker sent in 28 puzzles.  Wednesday morning, Ralph sent in 28 more puzzles (putting his total at more than 700!), which were followed by 31 proofread puzzles from Tracy Bennett that afternoon and 15 more litzed puzzles from Mark Diehl that night.  Mark sent in another 13 late Thursday night (putting his total at more than 4,100!), and this morning, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 7 more.  Awesome job, everyone—we should definitely be over 13,800 by next Friday!

In other news this week, two very timely sales came to my attention:  the Puzzazz Thanksgiving Weekend Black Friday Puzzle Sale, which has great deals on puzzle e-books and apps and features two free Logic Crossword books by Roy Leban just for using the Puzzazz app any time between now and Monday; and PuzzleNation's Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide, which contains a list of many fun gift options for down time over the holidays not already taken up by litzing and proofreading!  Fluxx: The Board Game stood out to me the most.  Crossword constructor extraordinaire Mike Shenk introduced me to the card game Fluxx, whose rules get created differently each time the game is played, at the most recent National Puzzlers' League convention.  The game was loads of fun, and I'm sure the board game is a treat as well!  PuzzleNation also has a link to Dell's 100 Years of Crosswords, which of course includes puzzles by pre-Shortzian constructors!

Today's featured puzzle, "Thanksgiving Fare," was constructed and edited by Will Weng (who modestly used the byline W. W.), published on November 23, 1969, and litzed by Todd McClary.  In his Litzer of the Month interview from July, Todd cited this puzzle as the most memorable one he had litzed.  I wholeheartedly agree that this puzzle shines, not only because it's a quintessential Weng puzzle in terms of his style as a crossword constructor and editor but also because the theme is eccentric, fun, and even historically significant!  In this masterpiece, Weng dished up eight mostly symmetric, interlocking theme entries that take a dig at what was then considered a modern Thanksgiving meal:  PLASTIC TABLECLOTH (clued as "Holiday dining decor"), BISCUIT MIX ("Mom's baking standby"), PAPER NAPKIN ("Table decor"), FREEZE-DRIED COFFEE ("Repast topper"), INSTANT POTATOES ("Holiday menu item"), CANNED PEAS ("Vegetable for mom's table"), DEFROSTED TURKEY ("Crux of a holiday meal"), and BURNT BEANS ("Home-cooked item").  To me, the puzzle feels like a rueful homage to the old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner when all the food items were fresh rather than artificial and pre-made.  It presents a bittersweet yet sardonic view on the evolution of an impatient, fast-paced modern society—a view that may have been reflective of his generation's take on the baby boomers as a whole.  (Just imagine how Weng might have felt about today's society!)  I am somewhat surprised that Weng didn't include an additional theme entry where SNOWMOBILE is, though the entry itself and its wacky clue ("Sleigh for today's grandma") could be considered thematic by a stretch and make up for the paucity of theme entries in that section of the grid.

The rest of the nonthematic fill has its ups and downs—I like the semi-thematic entry SALIVATE a lot, and entries like BOLOGNA, ROB ROY, ROMANTIC, SNIPING, and GIRAFFE give the fill a fresh and lively feel.  Also, although I've never heard of the word ERISTIC ("Controversial"), I feel it's an interesting word that's worthwhile knowing.  According to Webster, this rather unusual term can ultimately be traced back to the Greek eris, meaning "strife," which is also the name of the Greek goddess of discord.  The fill does, however, contain a sizable number of entries I'm not overwhelmingly fond of:  the partials THE DAY ("Officer of ___"), A DAY'S ("___ work," which also overlaps with THE DAY), and NOSE IN ("Stick one's ___"); the abbreviations RNWYS ("Airstrips: Abbr.") and OPR ("Girl with a headset: Abbr."); the hardcore crosswordese UINAL ("Mayan month"), ENTAD ("Inward: Anat."), and EDAR ("Biblical tower"); and the gallimaufry of prefixes and suffixes featuring ATOR ("Doer: Suffix"), ESCE ("Verb suffix"), AMIDO ("Of an acid"), IERS ("Comparative suffixes"), and OZON ("Oxygen prefix").  Also, SPOT-FREE ("Like a freshly-cleaned suit") feels a bit roll-your-own.  Many of the nonthematic clues, as in most Weng-constructed puzzles, have a lovely wry, clever twist to them.  My favorites are "Creators of jams" for AUTOS, "Social bore" for EGOIST, and the timely "1969 champs" for METS.  In all, despite a few setbacks in the nonthematic fill, this is a beautiful, meaningful construction and a harbinger of the brilliance and creativity that would flourish in the late Weng and early Maleska eras.  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

Following up on the nostalgic note of the featured puzzle, I thought I'd close off this post with some clues that reflect the changing times in the '60s:

• March 31, 1964 (constructor unknown, litzed by Ed Sessa)
• Clue:  Memento of the trolley age.
• Answer:  CAR TRACKS
• October 18, 1966 (constructor unknown, litzed by Mike Buckley)
• Clue: Vanishing vehicle.
• Answer:  STREETCAR
• January 6, 1967 (constructed by Arthur Schulman, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Slogan of today's youth.
• Answer:  A-GO-GO
• February 22, 1967 (constructed by William Lutwiniak, litzed by Martin Herbach)
• Clue:  Movie stars of the good old days.
• Answer:  VAMPS
• May 16, 1969 (constructor unknown, litzed by Howard Barkin)
• Clue:  Anyone over 30, to the new breed.
• Answer:  OLDSTER
• And finally, my favorite, from July 18, 1967 (constructed by Helen Fasulo, litzed by Martin Herbach)
• Clue:  Ever-rising item.
• Answer:  HEMLINE

Below is a picture of some miniskirts from the '60s:

Image courtesy of Everything About Fashion.

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!