Laura and I recently finished another class for the Manhattan JCC, which means we have another puzzle to show for it. You might find the theme a bit familiar. It’s something we came up with back during our July class, but didn’t use. Then in August the New York Times ran a puzzle with some of the same themers, but a different actual theme. Great minds, etc.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy it.
Another opening, another crossword… Yes, it’s Shakespeare time again (again). Starting tonight, Rochester Community Players will be presenting [57-Across in today’s puzzle]. As always, if you’re anywhere near Rochester this weekend or next weekend, please come by and see it.
As with the summer show, this is a production we were originally supposed to stage last year, but this is also a puzzle I’ve been thinking about for a long time, so I was glad to have an excuse to finally post it. This was another one of those instances where I came up with an idea, thought “how hard could this really be?”, and then found out it was, in fact, really hard to construct. Also, the only way I could make it work was to expand the grid to 19×19, which takes so much longer to fill than a 15×15 grid does. Anyway, I’m please with how it turned out, and I hope you all enjoy it.
“I should construct a cryptic”, I thought. “How hard can it be?” Pretty damn hard, as it turns out. How are there people who do this every week???
If you don’t know what cryptic crosswords are, you can read about them in Stella Zawistowski’s recent article. Basically, each clue is made up of two parts – a (usually) straightforward definition, and some word play where the words may have no connection to the definition. Cryptics are pretty standard fare in the UK and other countries, but are still relatively rare here in the US. But you can find lots of great clues on Twitter by searching for #crypticclueaday or #crypticcluecontest.
I started this puzzle as a regular crossword, but quickly realized it wouldn’t work. Then I thought of the clue for 1-Across, and realized the theme would be great for a cryptic. After that it was a simple matter of spending a few hours forcing all the words into a grid, and then many many more hours of writing clues for them all and then endlessly revising those clues to make them all work. Huge thanks to everyone who tested this puzzle, but especially to Joshua Kosman and Lily Geller for their incredibly detailed edits and suggestions. Every word matters in a cryptic clue, and it’s in large part thanks to them that my clues have the right words – and only the right words. If you are at all interested in cryptics you should subscribe to Joshua’s weekly Out of Left Field puzzles, which are insanely good and reasonably priced. You should also follow Lily on Twitter where she posts lots of cryptic clues and usually wins the weekly cryptic clue contest (including an amazing clue this week).
I have a lot more to say about this puzzle, but all of it would be spoiler-y, so instead you’ll just have to solve it and then read the solution notes.
You might remember that back in February Laura and I taught a crossword construction class for the Manhattan JCC. Well, we did it again in June and July, and of course it ended with us all constructing a full puzzle together. Hope you all enjoy it!
It’s Shakespeare time again! Tonight is opening night for Rochester Community Players’s free Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest (that’s assuming the actual tempest bearing down on Rochester right now spares us). If you’re anywhere near the Rochester area between now and July 26, please come and see the show. This is a dual-language (English/ASL) production, and each role will be shared between a speaking actor and a signing actor.
I’ve spent a lot of time on this over the last few months as one of the production managers – though not nearly as much time as the cast and crew have spent on it – which is why, even though I came up with this theme last year (we had originally planned to stage this show in 2020, but, you know) I didn’t finish actually constructing the puzzle until this week. You’d think over that time I would have come up with dozens, if not hundreds of potential themers, but it turned out that this theme doesn’t have as any possibilities and I’d imagined. Regardless, I’m still happy with how it turned out.
Since I’m planning to hand a bunch of these out at the show, I tried to keep the clues and fill a little more straightforward than usual. Since I’m still me, I kept some of the nonsense in anyway.
Laura and I made this puzzle with a Homeschool Cooperative 2020 class last week, and then I was too busy to post this for a week. Sorry to anyone in the class who’s been checking this site everyday hoping to see their work. We’re taking a break from new classes for the summer, because we can’t bear to be on Zoom so much when it’s nice out, but we might be back in the fall. Also I’ll be posting some of my own new puzzles any day week month now.
Guest puzzle today, from Brian Herrick. Here’s what he has to say about it.
I wrote this puzzle pre-COVID, which feels like a decade ago. Stella Zawistowski test solved it and gave great feedback, which included the observation that it is dude-heavy. Which is accurate. I still think solvers would have fun with it, even if the theme is, fairly, a bit old-fashioned. Thanks to Jesse for hosting!
As I’ve mentioned before on here, I’m a big Shakespeare fan, and part of the Rochester Community Players Shakespeare Program. My goal is to create a puzzle for each play we produce, which was easy last year since we weren’t able to do anything. But we’re back now, with a cool video project called Shakespeare in the Time of Covid, featuring five scenes from Shakespeare plays and two from Shakespeare-inspired plays—all reimagined a bit for our current times. I even created one of the scenes, but you’ll have to guess which one (or just look at the credits at the end).
Even better, after over a year off, we’re now gearing up for our free Shakespeare in Highland Park show, which is a dual-cast, dual-language (English/ASL) production of The Tempest, where each role will be played by both a speaking actor and a signing actor. (And, yes, I have a Tempest-themed puzzle in the works.) Staging a show like this is always a lot of work, and doing so while keeping everyone safe this year is even harder. (The fact that it’s an outdoor show in July, when we expect most of the audience will be vaccinated, makes things a little easier, but we will still have a lot of safety precautions in place.) If you’d like to help out, you can donate to RCP. The more money we raise, the less stressful our production meetings are, and the more time I have to construct new puzzles for here, so everybody wins!
Anyway, this puzzle doesn’t have much to do with the video project, but it is about Shakespeare adaptations. If you’re not familiar with any of them, 17A is a hilarious web comic that’s also one of the best ways to learn about Shakespeare; 31A is one of the best musicals ever made; 38A is an amazingly weird experience that I hope will be able to resume one day; 58A is really fun TV series (though some of the subplots in the second and third seasons are a little weak); and 47A is a kind of meh novella that I used because nothing else fit the theme. Also, there are at least three entries in the fill that are almost always clued with reference to Shakespeare, but which I clued differently. See if you can find them!
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Nate Cardin and Rachel Fabi assembled a great “virtual table” of free puzzles for this year’s ACPT, and they’re a great way to learn about lots of new constructors. (This puzzle is included in that collection, in case you like it so much you want to solve it twice.) You can also solve this year’s tournament puzzles, which aren’t free, but which were all really good.
Laura and I taught another class this week, and constructed another midi puzzle with them. If you’d like to learn how to construct crosswords, or just watch us construct one, why not sign up for our classes in May and June? As always we try to keep these puzzles super topical, so be sure to solve it now before the whole theme seems irrelevant! (Spoiler alert: this theme will probably continue to be relevant for a while. Even bigger spoiler alert: The theme is about vaccines. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, go do it now. If you live in New York City, you can even get vaccinated under the giant blue whale at the Museum of Natural History! If only I hadn’t already gotten my second shot yesterday – and also moved out of NYC three and a half years ago.)
Also, you should solve this now so you’ll have your weekend free for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. This is the biggest tournament out there, and the only one that takes place over more than one day. And while it’s disappointing that we still can’t get together in person for this and spend all weekend hanging out at the Marriott bar, it will be lots of fun online. Plus, if you’ve never been to a crossword tournament, this is an easy and cheap way to try one out (minus the aforementioned hanging out at the bar).
Speaking of tournaments, you might remember a little event last year called the Crossword Tournament From Your Couch. Well, the folks (actually I think it’s just one person) behind the Orca Awards did, because they declared the puzzle Laura and I constructed for that to be the second best tournament puzzle of 2020! (Well, tied for second, since there’s just a winner and then “honorable mentions”, but those mentions are listed in date order which put us on top.) What are the Orcas you ask? Well, they’re like the Oscars of crosswords, except that instead of being decided by everyone in Hollywood, they’re just picked by one guy. And instead of a big event where they announce the nominees and then an even bigger event where millions of people watch them give out the awards, they’re just posted on Diary of a Crossword Fiend. And instead of an iconic trophy, you just get your name listed on the website. But, ORCAS is an anagram of OSCAR, so there’s that. Also, whatever — we got an award and I’m going to brag about it.
Enjoy the puzzle, and go get vaccinated!
A while back some folks at the Manhattan JCC heard about the online crossword construction class Laura and I had been teaching, and asked if we could turn it into a longer class for their members. We ended up teaching a four-part class over February during which we constructed a full 15×15 puzzle together.
Thanks to everyone at the JCC who made this happen, and to all the students who participated. If you’re interested in learning how to construct a puzzle, we have a bunch of one-day classes coming up over the next few months. And who knows – maybe we’ll do another month-long program one of these days.
