MADness—the Blog

Tony Curtis died last night in Las Vegas at the age of 85.

He was a first-rate actor, both with drama and comedy, and whatever the role, he was a pleasure to watch and easy to identify with.  Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success and Joe/Josephine in Some Like It Hot are two performances among my favorites.  Curtis worked in films across seven decades, and during the 1950s and ’60s he was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.  A few of his films include The Defiant Ones, Spartacus, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Boston Strangler.

Bonnie and Clyde, by making us care about the robber lovers, has put the sting back into death.

—Pauline Kael, 1967

Director Arthur Penn died last night in New York at the age of 88.  Penn first directed television during the small screen’s golden age in the 1950s.  He transitioned to movies with The Left Handed Gun, with Paul Newman, in 1958, and The Miracle Worker, in 1962, which he had directed earlier for TV and the stage.  He’s best known for his 1967 film, Bonnie and Clyde, a landmark picture that in subject matter and technique was highly influential on movies that followed.  His work during the 1970s included Little Big Man, Night Moves, and The Missouri Breaks.

You can read Dave Kehr’s obit in the New York Times here, and hear an NPR interview with Penn from 2008 here.

I will have more to say later, but for now I’ll just point you to the MAD Puzzles page for the latest and greatest—new crossword puzzles called Gram Crackers.  Enjoy!

UPDATE (Tues.):

An étude is an instrumental composition, usually of short duration, usually of considerable complexity, often used for teaching or practicing musical technique.  From the French for “study,” the word is well-known to anyone who does crosswords.  It seems to me a fair term to describe the idea behind Gram Crackers (though don’t expect the virtuosity of a Chopin or Lizst, okay?).

Gram Crackers are intended to be lighter fare.  They’re smaller puzzles, ones you should be able to polish off more quickly than your average end-of-week themeless.  That’s not to say they are easy.  The cluing will tend to be on the tough side, and I’ve tossed in a twist or two to add to the challenge.  No puzzle, no matter how small, should be too easy, right?

For a constructor, working on a smaller scale presents certain constraints.  Except for the size and shape of the grid, I’ll stay with the usual conventions—rotational symmetry, no two-letter words, etc.  The challenge, as always, will be to fill the grid as interestingly as possible, and keep the crud to a minimum.  I’ll also aim to add variety to grid designs, and see what the limits are.

Till now, I’ve posted puzzles here without a schedule, but beginning with Gram Crackers I’ll publish on a more regular basis.  Look for new ones on the MAD Puzzles page the first Monday of every month.  That will be my schedule for the rest of this year and through next year.  At that point I’ll see if the idea still has legs, or if it’s time to try something new.

Gram Crackers, by the way, come in a pack of two.  Here’s hoping you can’t have just one.

Étude, Op. 10, No. 1
Frédéric Chopin
Vladimir Ashkenazy