NYT about 4:00* ... LAT 2:40 ... CS 1:52
Whoa... weird deja vu with the NYT puzzle! I opened the applet and worked out the NW corner. The first theme answer had ALITT filled in, so I glanced at the clue, filled in A LITTLE MADNESS - and stopped cold. How did I know that? I don't know any poetry. Have I solved this puzzle before? How would that be possible? As I filled in the rest of the verse, which looked so pretty all by itself in the grid, I realized what it was.
No, not the previous NYT puzzle with the exact same quote (thanks Tuning Spork for the find). Two days ago, I solved yet another puzzle with that same Dickinson poem, which breaks down so nicely for a 15x15 theme: Simon & Schuster Mega Crossword Book #2, puzzle #25 by Georgia Ellis. Two days ago! I ended up finishing the puzzle in the applet, in a relatively leisurely fashion, and not submitting because of the "advantage" I had. It occurs to me now that plenty of other solvers probably knew the quote already...
5 comments:
since i hated this theme but i don't like to be negative, i might as well gripe about it here where no one will read it. why, why is this crappy poem the theme of three different crosswords? it's not funny. it's not cute. it's not profound. it just happens to fit into a grid. (although i wonder--what's the over/under on how many em dashes were omitted from dickinson's original?) brendan mentioned to me a while back that will doesn't have many non-gimmick thursdays in his queue; maybe i should send him some.
on the subject of the S&S mega books, which we (pretty much everybody who reads this) were discussing on ellen's LJ the other day: apparently i was wrong, and actually several of my recent submissions to john samson are ticket for mega #8, not 7. eight! good lord.
Unlike Joon, I enjoyed this one...to each his own. I'm somewhat familiar with the poem, so it wasn't hard for me, but maybe it was hidden there from some puzzle in the past! Did you do the Second Sunday puzzle this week? I didn't get to it until yesterday (we were away) and I am cussedly stuck on one word...unusual for me on these split decision things.WHAT is the top NE word/s? HELP!
uh-oh, people i don't know are reading. help! i'm usually nice, i promise. just had to vent.
as for the split decisions: have you got the correct crossings? D___R_(US/SE)? if so, then my hint is that this puzzle is chock-full of scrabbly letters, much more so than a typical split decisions puzzle.
It's a tip of the hat to March Madness, right?
God bless John Samson... I guess he's having no trouble finding 900 good puzzles a year!
Paula, lots of Split Decisions answers discussed at the NYT Wordplay blog, if the hint isn't enough...
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