MADness—the Blog

 

First things first, the new crossword puzzle is here.  It’s a 19×19 themeless, and as always, you can find it at the MAD Puzzles page.  Scroll down for MAD Puzzle 7.

In other puzzle news, I had the Thursday (6/24) crossword in last week’s New York Times.  It had a tricky theme and turned out to be a difficult puzzle for lots of people.  If you’re a regular Times puzzle subscriber, you’ve either done it or know where to get it.  It’s available at the Times site here (subscription required); or use the direct link for the Across Lite version here.  I was happy with most of the feedback.  You can read Jim Horne’s commentary here (at Wordplay) and Sam Donaldson’s take here (at the Fiend).  My favorite comment may have been this one (at Rex Parker’s site):  “I am extremely satisfied that I finished this puzzle correctly, however, I think Mr. Farmer was showing off.” 

My next puzzle at the Times is due to run a week from tomorrow, next Thursday, July 8.

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In non-puzzle news, I was honored and pleased to hear this week I’ve received the Versatile Blogger Award.  It’s especially gratifying to get it from Edward Copeland, a writer about movies that I enjoy and respect.  I’ll have my response, and pass along the honor to others, in the next few days.

Constructing a crossword puzzle always is an experiment.  I don’t mean to sound like Forrest Gump, but you never know what you’re gonna get.  Sometime about a year ago I was working on a themeless puzzle. I had the bottom half of the grid done and was sailing along, but then never could find good fill for the top of the puzzle.  In desperation, I even ripped out a 15-letter answer, one of my seeds, and after a while I found another 15 that allowed me to fill the grid.  But just barely.  I had letters for all the squares, but overall it wasn’t especially pretty.  There was one answer, however, that I liked a lot.  It was that substitute 15 that I had found for the top of the grid.

That 15 had greater potential than just another pretty entry in a themeless, however, and long story short, that’s how I stumbled into the theme for the puzzle that’s running in today’s* New York Times.  If you’re a NYT crossword subscriber, you can get the puzzle here (Across Lite).  I won’t spoil it here, but if you want to read comments about the puzzle, you can check the usual places (the blog links are always on the sidebar):  Wordplay, Amy, Rex, R&B, an Englishman.

Meanwhile, I had an old, abandoned themeless grid, filled but never clued (just one of many in the collection).  I took another look at it this week, and last night I decided to take another crack at it.  As an experiment.  The experiment was (a) to see if I could find better fill for the grid (I liked that it had no 3-letter words), and (b) to see if I could finish the job quickly (I’m not normally a speed demon, but time is short this week).

The final result:  I changed a few things, opening the grid even more (it’s now 64 words).  I didn’t time myself but I felt like I was going 90 down narrow roads and around twisty bends, and there may be a few scrapes and dents when I look at the body but I’m glad to report I didn’t go over the side.

You can enjoy the ride, or judge the damages yourself.  It’s MAD Puzzle #4, and you can find it at the Puzzles page. 

One other note:  MAD Puzzle #5 will soon be on its way.  Look for it this weekend, likely Sunday morning (if not before).

* Last point:  what do I mean by ”today”?  Today means tomorrow—that is, Thursday, the 11th.  In the puzzle world, the next day doesn’t start when you wake up in the morning, or at midnight, but at 7:00 p.m. PT.  Right now, tomorrow is today and today is tomorrow.  It’s puzzling, but that’s the way it works.  They don’t call them puzzles for nothing.

UPDATE:  Interview with the constructor, with spoilers on today’s NYT, after the jump:

 

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