Litzing During the Olympics, a Two-in-One Puzzle, and Love-ly Clues

We got off to a slightly slower start this week—it was a quiet weekend, and I'm guessing that litzers were either watching the Olympics or training for the crossword Olympics, the ACPT!  Early Monday morning, though, Lynn Feigenbaum sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed about an hour later by 7 from Barry Haldiman and then, 2 minutes later, by 7 from Alex Vratsanos!  Early Tuesday morning, Barry sent in 7 more puzzles, then that night, Alex sent another 7 puzzles, putting us at 15,100 on the litzing thermometer!  Wednesday morning, Lynn sent 7 more puzzles.  Then early Thursday morning, Barry sent 7 puzzles, which were followed late that night by a mega-batch of 42 puzzles from Mark Diehl!  And Friday morning, Lynn sent another 7 puzzles.  So even though this week got off to a wobbly start, the massive number of puzzles litzers sent in Monday through Friday has led me to give it a final score of 10!  Thanks so much again and great job, Team P.P.P.—we're now at 15,163 and well on our way to the gold medal achievement (the end of the litzing phase of this project)!

Today's featured puzzle, whose constructor is unknown, was originally published on October 8, 1966; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Martin Herbach.  This imaginative, forward-thinking crossword utilizes a trick I've never seen in any other puzzle, pre-Shortzian or Shortz era:  the use of two unrelated themes, one based on grid entries and the other contained within the clues!  The puzzle's main theme involves redefining music terms in wacky (and rather inconsistent) ways, much like the theme in last Friday's featured puzzle.  My favorites of the six symmetrically arranged music-related clue/entry pairs are "Percussion accessories of poultry." for DRUMSTICKS, "Behavior that sounds like band leader's error." for MISCONDUCT, and "Musical symbol, sounds like two-family residence." for DOUBLE FLAT!  BACK TO BACK ("Placement of two pianos.") falls flat for me, though, since the entry's connection to music seems rather dubious.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the grid entry theme, and I especially appreciate how the theme entries are both interlocking and, to some degree, stacked.  The second, less obvious theme is completely bizarre:  20 of the 78 clues start with the words "Kind of"!  The first five clues and entries, for example, are "Kind of ware." (STEM), "Kind of soon." (EFT), "Kind of curiosity." (MORBID), "Kind of paper." (NOTE), and "Kind of 'easter." (NOR).  If incorporating a second theme isn't strange enough, the sixth clue, for URBANE, reads "Type of manner." (rather than the expected "Kind of manner.").  Although the second theme is kind of cool, it at the same time feels a bit out of place to me since it draws away from the musical focus of the rest of the puzzle.  Nevertheless, I always enjoy seeing a bit of creativity and variety in theme types and executions!  The nonthematic fill in this puzzle is also nice, on the whole—HOBNOB, STAND PAT, MONGOOSE, TOOLKIT, and FOOTAGE in particular give it a nice bit of sparkle.  On the flip side, the fill contains the six-letter partial FOR THE ("___ time being.") and feels a bit heavy on esoteric entries such as PHB ("Degree."), VAI ("Liberian people."), CUPELS ("Assaying receptacles."), MOBCAP ("Head covering, old style."), RHODORA ("Rose-flowered shrub."), and DESTRA ("___ mano [right hand]: Mus."), the latter of which could be considered semithematic.  The nonthematic clues are mostly standard for their time period, though the THRACE clue ("Carved up region of SE Europe") seemed somewhat noteworthy.  In all, this is a unique and fascinating pre-Shortzian puzzle!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's an ennead of love-ly 1964 clues from my ever-growing list of Clue of the Week candidates.  Most of the writers of these entertaining, thought-provoking, or downright ingenious clues are unknown.

• May 11, 1964 (litzed by C. G. Rishikesh)
• Clue:  Where East and West meet.
• Answer:  CARD TABLE
• September 2, 1964 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Parents' indoor sport.
• Answer:  WAITING UP
• Clue:  Smoke under fire.
• Answer:  CIGARETTE
• September 8, 1964 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Items often stolen.
• Answer:  BASES
• October 8, 1964 (litzed by Jeffrey Krasnick)
• Clue:  Pre-TV living room fixture.
• Answer:  PIANO
• October 11, 1964 (constructed by Jack Luzzatto, litzed by Jeffrey Krasnick)
• Clue:  Symptoms of a mad, mad world
• Answer:  DEMENTIAS
• Clue:  He cometh no more.
• Answer:  ICEMAN
• October 24, 1964 (litzed by Nancy Kavanaugh)
• Clue:  Like the latest in bathing suits.
• Answer:  TOPLESS
• December 14, 1964 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Man of the range.
• Answer:  CHEF

My favorite of these clues is the one for CIGARETTE, which was contemporary at the time, given the Surgeon General's warning in January of 1964, and is still brilliantly misleading.  Here's a picture of a more literal interpretation of smoke under fire:

Image courtesy of the University of Hull.

John M. Samson Interview, Bernice Gordon Article by Kathy Matheson, and Over 14,700

This week I'm delighted to present an interview with pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor John M. Samson, who is also the crossword editor of Simon & Schuster!  To read John's wonderful reminiscences, click here or on the Pre-Shortzian Constructor Interviews tab above.

Also, another article on pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor Bernice Gordon appeared, just before Bernice published her first New York Times puzzle as a centenarian!  To read Associated Press reporter Kathy Matheson's charming piece, click here.

It's been another busy litzing week, starting off with 4 puzzles from Denny Baker on Saturday afternoon that put us over 14,600 on the litzing thermometer!  Sunday morning, Lynn Feigenbaum sent in 7 puzzles, and then that afternoon, Ralph Bunker sent 28 more, putting his total at more than 800 litzed puzzles—congratulations, Ralph!  That evening, Mike Buckley sent 7 puzzles, which were followed 20 minutes later by 7 from Jeffrey Krasnick.  Monday morning, Brian Kulman sent in 5 puzzles, and less than an hour later, 6 more came in from Denny.  That afternoon, Todd Gross sent in 10 proofread puzzles.  Tuesday morning, Denny sent 3 more puzzles, which were followed by 7 from Barry Haldiman that afternoon.  That evening, Jeffrey sent in 7 puzzles.  Wednesday morning, Lynn sent 7 puzzles, and less than an hour later, 7 more came in from Denny, putting us over 14,700 on the litzing thermometer!  Thursday morning, Jeffrey sent 7 more puzzles.  Then this afternoon, Todd sent in 10 more proofread puzzles, which were followed 5 minutes later by 6 litzed puzzles from Denny.  And Howard Barkin sent in 11 puzzles this week too.  We're now at 14,716 litzed puzzles—by next week, we should be over 14,800!

This week's featured puzzle, "White Christmas," was constructed by John M. Samson.  The puzzle was published on December 20, 1992; edited by Eugene T. Maleska; and litzed by Barry Haldiman (or a member of his former team of litzers).  This impressive 21x crossword features seven rebuses of CHRISTMAS, a word so long that it had to be abbreviated to XMAS in the rebus squares to make the puzzle display well on XWord Info!  Nearly all the CHRISTMAS entries feel fresh and fun, though my favorite has to be HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.  How often do you get to see that in a crossword?  The only two theme entries that feel a little less solid are the partials THE CHRISTMAS (clued as "'___ Wife,' 1988 Robards TV film") and OF CHRISTMAS MY ("' . . . day ___ true love . . . '").  Nevertheless, I'm amazed that John was able to find so many entries containing Christmas and get them to interlock into a 21x grid so elegantly!  The nonthematic fill is also remarkably clean, given the constraints imposed by all the rebus squares—I especially like the entries ANTHILL, RUTABAGA, SQUINT, MANHOLES, HOT RODS, and SOIREES.  The entry that looked the most unusual to me is ORPHREY ("Gold embroidery"), which, according to Merriam-Webster, is ultimately derived from the Latin aurum (meaning "gold") and Phrygius (meaning "Phrygian").  INSTAR ("Top off a 19-Across [CHRISTMAS TREE]") also gave me pause, though I appreciate how John was able to tie it into the theme.  Last but not least, the clues were very nice—"Dumbo's were jumbo" for EARS left me riant!  In all, this is an excellent pre-Shortzian Sunday crossword with both a timely and well-executed theme.  The puzzle can be seen below with highlighted theme entries and fully spelled-out rebus squares or on XWord Info without highlighting and with easier-to-read rebus squares.

In other news, my list of clever clues from mid-to-late 1960s Farrar puzzles keeps on growing!  Here are five of my favorites from a few batches of 1965 puzzles litzed by Mark Diehl:

• March 28, 1965 (constructed by Jack Luzzatto)
• Clue:  Aye, there's the rub!
• Answer:  MASSAGE
• June 8, 1965 (constructor unknown)
• Clue:  Heavy ones get too heavy.
• Answer:  EATERS
• June 10, 1965 (constructor unknown)
• Clue:  Men of high interest.
• Answer:  LOAN SHARKS
• June 29, 1965 (constructor unknown)
• Clue:  Animal possibly welcome at picnics.
• Answer:  AARDVARK
• July 17, 1965 (constructor unknown)
• Clue:  Where stars shine.
• Answer:  HOLLYWOOD

Clues like these are part of what makes looking through the pre-Shortzian puzzles so much fun!  Here's a picture of aardvark (in its natural habitat rather than at a picnic!):

Image courtesy of National Geographic.

1983 Puzzles Up, 178 More Puzzles Put Us Over 9,800, In 1967, Daily Puzzle Authors Return, Albert J. Klaus, and Fireball Newsweekly Crosswords

Great news:  The proofread 1983 puzzles are up on XWord Info, and we're now busy proofreading 1982!  As more and more pre-Shortzian puzzles have been uploaded, Jim Horne has continued to expand the "Selected pre-Shortz observations" section of XWord Info.  He now has lists of the pre-Shortzian rebus puzzles, fewest and most block records, asymmetrical puzzles, pangrams, most common entries (and most common entries unique to pre-Shortzian puzzles), Sundays by title, and constructors!  I encourage everyone to check out these awesome lists (which are rapidly expanding)—to do so, just scroll down to the bottom of the main page of XWord Info.

This week a whopping 178 more puzzles came in, putting us over 9,800!  Early Saturday, Mike Buckley sent in 7 Will Weng–edited puzzles that had periods after the clues for the daily puzzles.  In his e-mail, Mike quipped, "Should we call them 'period pieces'?"  Saturday night, Howard Barkin sent in 21 puzzles, followed a short while later by 35 more puzzles from Martin Herbach.  On Sunday, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 7; later that night, Mark Diehl sent in 14, putting us over 9,700!  Monday evening, Todd McClary sent in 7 puzzles, which were followed on Tuesday by 7 from Denny Baker.  On Thursday, Barry Haldiman sent in 7, Martin sent 35 more, and then late that night, Mark sent in another 34 puzzles, putting us at 9,799 and his own personal total at more than 2,700!  I added in 4 of my own, so we're now at 9,803!  Thanks so much, everyone—terrific job!

We're also now in 1967, another tumultuous year.  Here's a graphic representation of the hippie counterculture movement during the Summer of Love, which, according to Wikipedia, was "a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, initiating a major cultural and political shift":

Image courtesy of artifactor.org.

In other news, I'm thrilled to announce that daily puzzle authors have returned!  We've had a long spell with next to no daily puzzle authors, but this morning I sent out 10 packets from 1967 that almost all included the daily puzzle authors.  It's been a bit disheartening having to list the authors for so many puzzles as "Unknown," so I'm really glad those data are available again for a good percentage of the Farrar dailies!

Jim Horne noticed that there are already 115 pre-Shortzian puzzles by Albert J. Klaus.  I was able to dig up an obituary for someone by that name in Florida but haven't been able to find any other information about him.  If anyone remembers anything about this very prolific constructor, please let me know.

I'm really excited about Peter Gordon's Kickstarter campaign for Fireball Newsweekly Crosswords!  I already subscribe to Fireball Crosswords and like them a lot—they're always really interesting and challenging puzzles.  So when I found out about this new venture, which will feature 20 current events crosswords in which many puzzle answers will be taken from current news, I signed up right away!  I'm even more interested in this Fireball project because one of the things I like best about the pre-Shortzian puzzles of the Farrar era is that many of them reflected events and attitudes from the times in which they were written.  I've gotten something of an education from them, and I'm looking forward to learning more about current events in the most fun way possible—through great crossword puzzles!

Today's featured puzzle, titled "Arithmetricks," was constructed by Alfio Micci and edited by Will Weng.  It was originally published on October 3, 1971, and was recently litzed by Mark Diehl.  This exceptionally unusual puzzle features twelve symmetrically interlocking math problems!  The symbols (+, –, x, and ÷) actually appear in the grid, and the clues for these math problems are the answers.  For example, the clue "4" leads to SEVEN – THREE; similarly, "1/2" leads to SIX ÷ TWELVE.  I like how deceptive this gimmick is—even after a solver figures out that the theme entries are all elementary math problems, there's no way to know exactly what the problem will be (or even which operation will be used) until some of the crossings are filled in.  I also like that some of the multiplication signs read as ordinary x's—this not only allowed the constructor to get all the theme entries to interlock symmetrically but also added a fun new twist to an already wacky puzzle!  This puzzle exemplifies Will Weng's willingness to push the envelope and publish gimmicks that might not be universally well received.  I wouldn't be surprised if Weng got piles of letters from traditionalist solvers complaining that the gimmick didn't fit the definition of a crossword puzzle, as Margaret Farrar did when she published Bernice Gordon's novel ampersand rebus.

I have to admit that the nonthematic fill in this off-the-wall masterpiece is a mixed bag.  Some of the highlights include ERSATZ, SHRIEKS, CHARLOTTE, HOGGED, and ENCHANT.  The puzzle does have its share of iffy abbreviations and "mystery" entries, though, such as TRS (clued as "Train rails: Abbr."), GOSE ("Japanese town"), UINAL ("Mayan month"), TULU ("Dravidian Indian"), NHANG ("Tai people"), and OASI ("Insurance abbr.").  Even though this puzzle has some questionable fill, it's certainly one of the most interesting pre-Shortzian puzzles I've seen so far!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below:

I've been keeping track of the most clever clues that have jumped out at me as I've looked through the Will Weng–edited puzzles.  Here's an octad of my favorites:

• "Air-conditioning, so to speak" (COLD COMFORT)
• "Liquid assets of a sort" (WATER BEDS)
• "Perishables for Jan. 1" (RESOLUTIONS)
• "Breath unfreshener" (GARLIC)
• "Clip joint" (BARBERSHOP)
• "Dog's worst friend" (FLEA)
• "Dig this" (ORE)
• "Gnuisance" (GNAT)

Unfortunately, I haven't been seeing as many clever clues as we continue back into the early Weng/late Farrar times.  Litzer Jeffrey Krasnick remarked in an e-mail, "I guess clever clues are now a thing of the past (or future)."  There are certainly a handful of gems from the early days, though.  If you've come across any other clever early Weng/Farrar clues, please comment!  Below is a picture of some breath unfresheners:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.