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.

Metaleska Results and Explanations . . . and XWord Info

Metaleska was a huge success—thanks so much to everyone who entered the contest (and thanks again, Jim, for hosting the puzzle and instructions on XWord Info!)!  The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive, which means I'll definitely consider constructing another Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project metapuzzle next year.

Overall, 548 solvers downloaded the Metaleska Instructions PDF, 177 downloaded the puzzle PDF, and an unknown number downloaded the Across Lite file.  Of those people, 18 submitted solutions to the contest, and 10 of these were completely correct; several other people wrote that they had enjoyed trying the puzzle but had been unable to finish it.

The first-prize winner, Jeffrey Harris, correctly solved Metaleska just 1 hour and 32 minutes after it was posted, which is incredibly fast!  The other two winners were selected using an online random-number generator.  Here are the winners:

First Prize:  Jeffrey Harris
Random Prize #1:  Todd McClary
Random Prize #2:  David Stein

Congratulations Jeffrey, Todd, and David—and everyone else who submitted a correct entry!  Metaleska proved to be a real challenge!  Now that the contest is over, I'm posting a complete explanation of the metapuzzle.  First and foremost, here's the filled-in puzzle grid:

Next, here are the theme entries and the puzzles I intended them to fit into, in order from top to bottom and left to right:

• GA ON MY MIND
• Clue:  *1960 hit written in 1930 [1993]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Brief Statements
• Publication date:  May 23, 1993
• Constructor:  Alfio Micci
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/23/1993
• Extracted letter:  F
• MCGWIRE'S MARK
• Clue:  *Grade for a former Cardinal [1988]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Possessive People
• Publication date:  May 22, 1988
• Constructor:  Bernice Gordon
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/22/1988
• Extracted letter:  E
• THANKS A IOOOOOO
• Clue:  *"Much appreciated!" [1986]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Decimal Descriptions
• Publication date:  November 30, 1986
• Constructor:  Harold B. Counts
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/30/1986
• Extracted letter:  C
• WASHING/MACHINE
• Clue:  *Cyclical spinner [1991]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Plus Signs
• Publication date:  August 18, 1991
• Constructor:  Jeanne Wilson
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/18/1991
• Extracted letter:  N
• KURDS AND WHEY
• Clue:  *Dish for cannibalistic West Asians? [1990]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Mideast Monkeyshines
• Publication date:  April 22, 1990
• Constructor:  Maura B. Jacobson
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/22/1990
• Extracted letter:  E
• AUDEN IN NEW YORK
• Clue:  *Lyrical Gere/Ryder flick? [1987]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Un-Authorized Poetic License
• Publication date:  April 19, 1987
• Constructor:  Bert H. Kruse
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/19/1987
• Extracted letter:  U
• HEAD OF [THE TA] BLE
• Clue:  *Leadership position? [1989]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Greek Sandwiches
• Publication date:  August 6, 1989
• Constructor:  Kenneth Haxton
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/6/1989
• Extracted letter:  N
• JOINT STOCKS
• Clue:  *GOOGAAPL [1992]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Stick-To-It-Iveness
• Publication date:  January 5, 1992
• Constructor:  Jim Page
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/5/1992
• Extracted letter:  S
• FLATBREAD
• Clue:  *Real estate agent's dish? [1984]
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Workman's Compensation
• Publication date:  April 22, 1984
• Constructor:  Tap Osborn
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/22/1984
• Extracted letter:  K
• SPORTS CAR
• Clue:  *Large-scale cover-up [1985]
• Stand-in:  ECLIPSE
• Puzzle it would fit into:  Stand-Ins
• Publication date:  April 14, 1985
• Constructor:  Bert H. Kruse
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/14/1985
• Extracted letter:  N
• EN TEE ESS BEE
• Clue:  *Crash-investigating org.
• Puzzle it would fit into:  A Spell of Letters
• Publication date:  April 24, 1983
• Constructor:  Alfio Micci
• Link:  http://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/24/1983
• Extracted letter:  E

When the eleven extracted letters are combined and anagrammed, they form the meta-clue "Sunken fence."  The meta-clue leads to the meta-answer HAHA (which Tyler Hinman pointed out was reused in this sense of the word, though with a different clue, in the Shortz era in one of his own puzzles).  The better clue is "Laughter," which is hidden inside the clue "Slugger Slaughter" (24-Across).  This better clue tripped up almost all the incorrect entrants, many of whom were very close.  Incorrect submissions included "April fool," "Monkeyshine," "Histrionics," and "Laugh."  Test solver Todd Gross initially came up with "April fool" as the better clue, which I hadn't noticed when constructing the puzzle.  I modified the instructions to eliminate this possibility by stating that the better clue was a single word longer than five letters.  This specification also eliminated "Laugh" as a possible answer.

The puzzle contains several Easter eggs (hidden bonuses).  The first is the inclusion of two pieces of uniquely pre-Shortzian crosswordese, TAA ("Chinese pagoda") and UNAU ("Entry a slothful constructor might use"), the latter of which was traditionally clued as "Two-toed sloth."  Both these entries were very common in pre-Shortzian puzzles but have yet to show up in a Shortz-era puzzle.

The second Easter egg (which I feel is much cooler) is the STEP/QUOTE hidden at 60-Across/63-Down, which reads in a Stepquote fashion.  The Stepquote is a crossword form that was invented by Dr. Maleska himself and was first published in 1964 under Margaret Farrar's editorship.  Stepquotes have been widely criticized recently for their lack of thematic material, though they were quite revolutionary back in the day.

The third Easter egg is the entry GENE, which was clued as "Maleska, to friends."  I read that Maleska's longtime girlfriend and first wife was named Jean—in fact, the two of them were often referred to as a "Chromosome" (two genes, homophonically).

I didn't discover the fourth and final Easter egg until I'd begun to research possibilities for Metaleska—the meta-clue (and a major hint to the better clue) is hidden within another pre-Shortzian Sunday puzzle with a theme similar to "Stand-Ins"!  This puzzle, titled "Trace the Transitions," was constructed by T. W. Underhill and was originally published on August 21, 1988.  This added twist, which I think is quite elegant, proves that the puzzle is entirely pre-Shortzian!

One of the goals of Metaleska was to expose today's constructors and solvers to some of the brilliant pre-Shortzian puzzles published in the Maleska era.  Even though the crossword puzzle scene has dramatically changed since Will Shortz became editor, these puzzles still possess remarkable aesthetic value.  I hope generations of crossword puzzle fans explore and learn from these pre-Shortzian puzzles as much as I have!  As Maleska traditionally signed off, "Pax, amor et felicitas" (Peace, love and luck).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

With the conclusion of the Metaleska contest, this seems like a particularly apt time to comment on Jim Horne's news this past week that his wonderful site, XWord Info, will be winding down in its current form.  For me, XWord Info has always been there, a treasure trove of puzzles, statistics, charts, observations, and analytic tools—everything anyone could possibly want in a New York Times crossword site.  It's hard to imagine a crossword world without XWord Info, and I hope that someday it will ramp back up again.  My dream has always been to have all the New York Times crosswords—Shortz-era and pre-Shortzian—available on one site.  Thanks so much for creating XWord Info, Jim, and keeping it going for the pre-Shortzian puzzles.  It is truly a masterpiece and will be deeply missed by many.  

Metapuzzle Coming to a Close, July Litzer of the Month Todd McClary, Project Update, and Summer at the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project

Metaleska, the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project's first anniversary metapuzzle, is coming to a close—be sure to submit your entry by tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. (right before midnight) Pacific Time to be eligible to win an awesome prize!  I'll be posting the results, as well as an explanation of the puzzle, on Sunday, so check back again then for that update.

The July Litzer of the Month is Autofill Project creator and blogger Todd McClary, who has also been constructing crosswords for more than 25 years!  To read more about Todd, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

This week almost 50 more puzzles were litzed!  Friday night, Mark Diehl sent in 14, then late Monday afternoon, Mike Buckley sent in 7.  Wednesday night, Mark sent in another 28 puzzles, putting his personal total at more than 2,900 litzed puzzles—congratulations, Mark!

And the proofreading is progressing as well!  The 1982 puzzles were sent off to XWord Info, where they'll be fully posted after the Metaleska contest is over.  (Thanks again, Jim!)  In addition to finishing off the last month of the 1982 puzzles he was proofreading, Todd Gross also started in on 1981 and sent a batch from that year.  In addition, Tracy Bennett sent in her first month of 1981 puzzles and is now at work on her second.  Thanks so much, everyone!

As you can see, even though it's summer, the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project continues apace!  This coming week I'll be flying to Austin for the National Puzzlers' League convention and immediately thereafter heading to Stanford, where I'll spend three weeks taking a course on artificial intelligence.  I'm really excited about this opportunity and hoping to learn a lot more about how machines like Dr. Fill "think"!  The litzing, proofreading, and packet-sending will continue without interruption, and I'll be posting here as time permits.

Today's featured pre-Shortzian puzzle, "Having the Last Word," was constructed by Will Weng, edited by Margaret Farrar, and litzed by lightning-fast litzer Martin Herbach (a dazzling trio indeed!).  Will Weng constructed many hilarious and brilliant pre-Shortzian puzzles for Margaret Farrar—just imagine how many interesting and unusual pre-Shortzian puzzles would have been published if Weng had been an editor.  Oh, wait—I've already had the pleasure of reviewing almost every single crossword from the Weng era!  All joking aside, this rather macabre Weng puzzle, which was published on November 10, 1968, features nine interlocking (albeit not quite symmetrical) theme entries that are clued as different working professionals' famous last words.  All nine of the theme entries are chuckle-inducing—two of my favorites are LET'S PICK OUR OWN MUSHROOMS (clued as "Gourmets' last words") and IT'S LIKE MONEY IN THE BANK ("Horseplayer's last words")!  I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS LOADED ("Famous last words") is pretty good also, though it's a bit dark for my taste.  The nonthematic fill is quite nice on the whole—I especially like the entries KERCHOO, SADDLEBAG, LANDLINES, TWEEZES, DOODAD, and DAGWOODS ("Big sandwiches"), the last of which makes my mouth water!  I also find it quite elegant that Weng managed to squeeze the semithematic entry DEATH into the grid, which he cleverly disguised in the clue "Bored to ___."  Some of the nonthematic clues are also brilliant and further exemplify Weng's sense of humor, such as "Punch's advice to those about to marry" for DON'T.  Not-so-great clues/entries include the longish partials A HAND ON, LIKES AND, A TOTAL, LOST IN, and TOASTS OF; the abbreviations EVNGS (evenings) and STP (stamp); AMN'T ("Relative of ain't"); and the contrived phrase PAR IT ("Advice to golfer starting a hole").  In sum, this is a very interesting and unusual Weng puzzle that I consider a harbinger of all the great puzzles he edited!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

As we've continued back into the Farrar era, when many more of the puzzles were themeless, I've noticed an increasing number of unusual-yet-awesome-sounding entries.  Here's a trio of wacky ones from Farrar-edited puzzles:

• HARQUEBUS
• Date:  October 10, 1968
• Constructor:  Unknown
• Litzer:  Denny Baker
• Clue:  Old firearm.
• Webster:  [A] matchlock gun invented in the 15th century which was portable but heavy and was usually fired from a support
• Etymology:  From the Middle French harquebuse, which comes from the Dutch hakebusse (hake, meaning "hook" + busse, meaning "tube; box; gun"), which ultimately is derived from the Late Latin buxis, meaning "box"
• OUBLIETTE
• Date:  October 15, 1968
• Constructor:  Unknown
• Litzer:  Denny Baker
• Clue:  Type of dungeon.
• Webster:  [A] dungeon with an opening only at the top
• Etymology:  From the Middle French oublier, meaning "to forget," which can ultimately be traced back to the deponent Latin verb oblivisci, also meaning "to forget"
• JUNGFRAU
• Date:  December 30, 1968
• Constructor:  Unknown
• Litzer:  Mark Diehl
• Clue:  View from Interlaken.
• Webster:  [M]ountain 13,642 (4158 m) SW cen Switzerland in Berner Alpen between Bern & Valais cantons
• Etymology:  Not listed

HARQUEBUS is my personal favorite of these three—here's an awesome illustration of a harquebusier:

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Bernice Gordon Interview, Over 9,000, In 1969, Marbles Tournament, and Pre-Shortzian Stumpers

Today I'm delighted to present another interview with a pre-Shortzian constructor, the amazingly creative and prolific Bernice Gordon!  At 99, Bernice is the oldest constructor in the history of The New York Times; according to my (incomplete) records, she published 112 puzzles in the pre-Shortz era and has published 18 under Will Shortz's editorship, but she reportedly has published more than 150 puzzles in the Times.  To read my interview with Bernice Gordon, click here or on the Pre-Shortzian Constructor Interviews tab above.

I'm also thrilled to announce that we've now litzed more than 9,000 puzzles!  On Sunday, Todd McClary sent in a batch that put us over 8,900, and then, in very short order, more puzzles came in—including a batch of 34 from Mark Diehl—that put us over 8,950!  Finally, on Wednesday, Martin Herbach sent in five batches totaling 35 puzzles, putting us well over 9,000!  Thanks so much, everybody—great job!

We also reached another milestone this week:  On Tuesday, litzer Nancy Kavanaugh received the first batch of 1969 puzzles!  Here's a representative photo from that very eventful year.  It's of astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, which, on July 20, 1969, landed the first humans there:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Although there won't be any pre-Shortzian puzzles to solve, I wanted to help spread the word about this weekend's Marbles 5th Annual Crossword Tournament at various locations throughout the country.  This should be a very fun event, and litzer Doug Peterson and I will be judges at the one taking place in Sherman Oaks, California!

Finally, if you haven't checked out the Pre-Shortzian Stumpers on Twitter, many of the previous stumpers are listed there under #psstumpers.  Litzers Jeffrey Krasnick, Martin Ashwood-Smith, and Denny Baker have come up with some doozies, and I'm sure there'll be more to come!

Today's featured puzzle was constructed by the legendary Bernice Gordon.  As Bernice mentioned in her interview, this puzzle caused something of a controversy—in fact, Margaret Farrar initially rejected it!  The puzzle, titled "Words and Words," was published on May 30, 1965.  It features ten common phrases containing a word, AND, and then another word; the catch is that AND is squeezed into a single square, making this puzzle the earliest Sunday rebus I've seen so far.  This puzzle is way ahead of its time thematically—Sunday rebus themes didn't catch on until much later during the Maleska era!  In addition to using a completely innovative theme, Bernice also chose a wide-open grid and did a lovely job filling it.  Some highlights of the nonthematic fill include RASPBERRY, CONDUCTOR, QUAKING, and AESTHETES, but perhaps the most interesting/unusual entry is ODTAA.  At first, I thought it had to be a mistake—litzers have found several errors in the solutions to Times puzzles recently.  But ODTAA, clued as "Masefield novel, 1926," is indeed a legitimate entry.  My first thought was that the title had something to do with TAA, a piece of pre-Shortzian crosswordese commonly clued as "Chinese pagoda"; I couldn't have been more wrong, however—ODTAA is an acronym for "One Damn Thing After Another!"  In sum, this is a very futuristic and creative pre-Shortzian puzzle!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

A few months ago, one of our proofreaders came across a very clever clue in the Maleska-edited Saturday, June 7, 1986, puzzle, constructed by Irene Smullyan.  The clue, for the entry SMASHED, was "Under the alfluence of incohol."  This clue, like the featured puzzle, feels way ahead of its time—both are exceptionally clever!  Below is a picture of SMASHED in a different sense of the word:

Image courtesy of 123RF.

More Publicity—and New Litzers!

Great news:  XWord Info's Jim Horne recently blogged again about the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project—you can read his post here.  It talks about the very interesting "Cryptocrossword" puzzle from 1992 and all its obscurities.  Thanks so much, Jim!

And litzer Todd McClary wrote about us on his Autofill Project blog—click here to read his post, in which he calls the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project a "kindred spirit" of his own fascinating Autofill Project!  Thanks, Todd!

We've also had several new litzers join the project—welcome aboard, everyone!  There are now 23 of us working our way back through the years!