Loved the Gates puzzle and particularly got a kick out of the mini. With important voter registration drives in force I couldn’t help but see:
Vow to boot Ted, vote Beto.
19
@dsgarcia More than coincidence? I hope so.
1
@dsgarcia
Greetings, fellow Austinite!
@dsgarcia
I'm not anywhere near Texas, but I donate to Beto. Crossing my fingers for the mid-terms.
i haven’t seen BB King as blues artist mentioned.
Maybe someone did but i am not gonna read through 128 comments. ! lol
1
Wonderful puzzle! I’d never heard of a BLUE ROAN, but it sounds like a beautiful horse.
The cluing and fill was so original. I especially liked FESSES, EEREADER, JJCREW, and RESPIRE.
:-D
3
Didn’t see anyone else suggest this, but I got BBCOMPLEX after first trying NBAARENAS as the group of buildings housing LeBron (King) James. I had figured out the theme, so once I realized that wouldn’t work with the down clues, I filled in COMPLEX from the X and still had basketball and LeBron on the brain, so I took a stab at BBCOMPLEX for “basketball complex.” It seemed clunky to me but I went with it and didn’t need to change it! Haha
A whole Jeopardy category on OTTERS tonight!
2
Just did the mini. Go Beto!
Not sure the EPA is actually green-minded these days.
3
LSR,
That was another FERRIC clue.
@Barry Ancona
Or as we say in French, FÉERIQUE.
@LSR
Not sure??
Wow! So many music references in today’s puzzle.
32A: “Back In The USSR” by the Beatles (“White Album” track, 1968).
42A: “Baby Baby” by Amy Grant (#1, 1991).
66A: Sasha Fierce, Beyonce’s alter ego.
6D: “Million Years Ago” by Adele (unreleased track from the album “25”, 2015).
28D: “Our House” by CSNY (#30, 1970).
16A: ESCALE
6
@Alexander Pereczk
BB King would be yet another musical reference
I got the theme answers right away, no problem, and that was a clever idea. I would have finished the rest of the puzzle correctly except for the (for me) somewhat obscure names, other than President Carter. I mean, Beyoncé's alter ego?? Feminist writers?? Eckerd college?? Pan Creator?? Island chains?? Sorry, but there were just too many of these in one puzzle for me.
3
Brava Melinda (and of course, Bravo Joel), and welcome to the constructors' stable. Even if your stay is only temporary, we're delighted to have you, but I hope you got hooked on making as well as doing puzzles and that you come back to us soon.
I was left stymied by the first two themers I encountered as a I worked my way through the puzzle. I was going clockwise, so the next one I got to was AALINE, which left me puzzled. But EECUMMINGS was my Aha! moment, and I went back to my former nemese. What a delightful theme, with my pleasure increased by having each themer give me a new Aha!
A couple of stumbles: MFA before BFA (there *could* be something called a "moxcar"; BLUE TICK before BLUE ROAN (I know that's a Thing, and I think it has to do with color; have to look it up). I've heard of SAM RAIMI, but needed lotsa letters. Didn't know who directed 2009's "Star Trek" (or any of the others, except maybe one was Leonard Nimoy). Didn't know ELSA the jeweller.
More kudos: Even if I hadn't loved the puzzle, today's trip to WP was worth it for the constructor's note. It was thoughtful, entertaining, and well written. And as for the foundation, I greatly admire its work, and its approach of investing in education, health, and technology in order to make a difference that can lasts. And also, not beikng afraid to take chances, or stand up to those who like the status quo (or that of decades ago).
I'm really happy today!
6
When I first saw the names of the constructors, I thought "Not *that* Melinda Gates?" Sure enough! Not that she has anything better to do ... ;)
Tougher Wednesday than usual, by a long shot. First, took me awhile to catch the theme, so was reluctant to enter the double letters. Caught on with CCSECTION, which I wanted to be "carbon copy" but wouldn't fit.
Many unknowns, some of which were adjacent, i.e., SAMRAIMI and BLUEROAN (and MAE), JMBARRIE (which I assumed was a skillet manufacter!) and CYCLADES. Others: ALFRED, ELSA, FIERCE, ECKERD, LORDE, and BRIDGE. Hiccups with mFA instead of BFA, misspelling OILGuaGE, "rest" instead of LOAF, lyRIcs instead of SCRIPT, and Out instead of OFF.
Favorite clues/entries (other than the themers): FERRIC, OUTRE, and ALEC.
Albeit slower than usual, I enjoyed this very much -- clever! Now, Ms. Gates, get back to your more important projects!
2
Eerily enough, Ron, what you described almost exactly reflected my experience and thoughts wrt this puzzle!
1
Loved this puzzle. Got slowed down after solving JJCREW thinking the theme was clothing related, but was able to figure out most of the puzzle.
On another note, does anyone know the relative difficulty of the monthly bonus puzzles? Are they comparable to a Sunday?
1
@Kristin
I've always felt that the monthly bonus puzzles are really on the easy side--more like a Monday or Tuesday. I just did the September one, and looked back at the previous couple of them, and my times for them were what I would consider really fast Monday times.
2
@Liz B Thank you for your response! This is very helpful.
Lovely puzzle, and enjoyed the variety of cultural references as well as the clever Thursday hook.
Thanks to Caitlin for the amazing Youtube reading from Audre Lorde. Sad to say we have not come as far toward her vision as I thought just a few short years or even days ago...
3
I'm coming out from a long absence to comment on today's puzzle because I want to point out features that jumped out as making this a "NYT" caliber puzzle.
The theme having 6 entries is challenging for the grid constructor, but the fact that they are short-ish helped. The theme is so tight and clear upon discovery that it's not a problem that some Down entries are longer than a couple theme entries.
Another feature that marks this as a Shortz appealing puzzle is the inclusion of some longer entries tying the grid together where it would be easier to use a couple shorter words. I'm talking specifically about the 4 single black "fingers" at the edges, which allowed the stacks like SAMRAIMI abutting BLUEROAN and the really surprising and unusual pair of JMBARRIE and CYCLADES. Also to a lesser extent the stacks featuring OILGAUGE and RADARGUN.
From a constructor viewpoint, not using longer fingers here increases the challenge of doing the fill, but the result is some very pleasing richness.
Another grid related feature is the use of black squares in the middle going from NW to SE instead of the "easier" SW to NE direction. This makes grid filling harder because there are more squares where ends of words cross starts of words (LACED,DEVIL; ECOLI, IKEAS) rather than starts and starts or ends and ends. It shows that Joel is a consummate craftsman who is not fazed by this. This puzzle also has more rare letters than usual: a bunch of fun Fs and Bs and Ks. Great collaboration!
14
Clever! Kudos, Melinda, on adding puzzle creator to your long list of things well done! And I love that instead of an "insiders' NYC" clue/answer, you chose your home town of Seattle to briefly stump me with a "group of buildings housing a King?"
Diana,
Were you briefly stumped expecting the "King" of the clue to refer to Seattle's location in King County? Other than that, I'm not seeing how either Seattle or "NYC" connect to B B King or B Complex.
1
@Barry Ancona
I don't get it either. Of course, there is (or more accurately was) a NYC connection. B.B. King's club was located just around the corner from me. Of course, it was by no means a COMPLEX. It was only part of a building that houses some other stuff, and it is (alas) gone, having closed when he died.
1
Deadline,
I remember the club...
...and that it was not a complex.
No BBCOMPLEX in New York.
Could I move for setting up a separate Comments location for the “Bee”?
22
BEE
I'm at the airport on route to Portland for a few days. Don't see a post so here's mine:
43 words/153 points, 1 pangram, bingo
A3
B12
C8
E1
H7
L5
W7
4x21
5x14
6x4
7x1
8x3
Still need to add word counts per letter to the spreadsheet. Sorry.
No BEACHBALL. No ALEE????
17
@Martin
What's a bingo?
No WHEAL, WELCH, CECAL, or ALEE, but another nautical term, this one for a sail.
BLEAH.
Stuck at 40 words and 146 points and losing motivation....
1
@Martin
I share your amazement that those two words weren’t allowed. I was sure I’d found a bonanza in BEACHBALL.
Also, that A-word in the list that is also a common suffix — I’ve tried it with as many verbs as I can think of, and it strikes me as capricious which ones work and which ones don’t.
3
Re Bee: Haven't seen the stat entries yet from our stalwart QBs...I'm at 40/136 and fading. A few more onomatopoeic/slangy entries and a compound or two using a repeated suffix that feel a little forced. Curious that a comparatively obscure nautical term is included in the list, while a far more common nautical term, certainly to veteran xwp'ers seeking shelter from the wind, is not included.
5
@jg
I and some others posted the word/letter counts earlier today. But because of the bug in the comments system, our comments must have gotten bumped off.
qatburger,
Aren't they in the very next thread?
Fun, FUN puzzle! I was a bit thrown at first with the double letters, at one point even thinking we may have a Rebus on our hands, but once I got to XXFACTOR by crosses, I had it figured out. Only a few seconds above average. Kudos to Melinda Gates and Joel Fagliano! I would love to see more from this team if Melinda has some free time (which she probably does not, given all of the great things she's doing for the world). One of my favorite parts of the daily puzzle wordplay column is the constructor notes. As someone who is flirting with the idea of constructing crosswords when I retire (which could be as soon as 3 months from now!!) it's great to see what makes the constructor mind work.
4
This was a slow mover for me, even with a night's sleep between beginning and finishing. Some days are just like that I guess.
AALINE was my first theme answer. I had IDLE before LOAF and MFA before BFA. RADARMAN before RADARGUN reveals how 'off' I was today. When I finally caught on to the double letters, I had fun trying to figure them out. JJ? Really? Loved XX.
I, too, grew up in a family that loved all kinds of puzzles.Does anyone else remember Tillie Williams and her likes?
1
I had "Graceland" for the "group of buildings housing a king," which fit, but threw me off for a while.
4
Makes sense, they're avid BRIDGE players. Had pick before PARK. SW last to fall for me. Difficult Wednesday.
She's gorgeous, smart, rich, and constructs killer crosswords.
So unfair.
6
Concerning 51D, apparently some reported seeing that in yesterday's puzzle. (I'm looking at you Jeff).
(XXXFACTOR?)
1
Wonderful! Thanks for introducing those who might not know her work to the remarkable Audre LORDE. For those who want to know more, I recommend her book of essays, Sister Outsider, as well as her autobiography, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. Of her poetry, I recommend The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance.
But speaking of poets, ee cummings didn't capitalize his name, and so the cluing for that entry threw me.
5
@pj Yes!!
I too really enjoyed seeing LORDE!
1
@Mark
Amen re Audre Lorde.
And apparently -- for some reason I recently had to look it up -- Mr. C/cummings only sometimes used only lower case for his name.
I don't know why he wasn't consistent, but hey! It's his name and he can do what he wants.
Loved the puzzle!
Double the pleasure, double the fun, right?
At first I thought 43A, that triple A answer -- AAA -- was a distracting addition. Then I decided it's the perfect grade for this puzzle: A + + +.
Congratulations to Melinda on her NYT debut, which is a really big deal, and to Joel for his always excellent participation.
8
Got a foothold in NE and worked clockwise around. (No, I don't know why.)
I had INSPIRE, so I got FERIIC at the end.
Because of the double "I", it seemed right.
Had to cross my eyes to see the eroor.
2
Rarefied air, RESPIRED Tom reverently.
Always like the celeb x-words. A tie that binds us all.
Thank you Melinda, Beth and Joel
You know what's wrong with this theme?! Nothing. I loved it. Perfect Wednesday. And it is lovely that it is a celebrity collaboration between our own Joel Fagliano and the clearly bright and philanthropic Ms. Gates. A bit of kismet too as I am starting my beginner's BRIDGE class this morning! The only problem is that it is the kind of theme that makes me want to play. So far, all I have come up with is Rock Group Posse.
*
*
*
*
*
ZZPACK.
I’m surprised that the Gates’ affection for bridge wasn’t mentioned... since the clue felt a bit forlorn.
1
@CS Keep u
p with the bridge. It makes a crossword puzzle seems like child's play, but it is so very challenging and fun.
Nice chewy entry for a Wednesday. And I am impressed by all those double letters that appeared -- was that supposed to be the theme?
My reaction to the clue-fill for 70A: yeah, suuure.
Is 46A a jazz reference?
Would 29A refer to twin birth?
In another grid for another time, 7D can also be "ferrous".
Fun pairings: 23A and 12D; 51D and 52D
@Dr W 46A refers to BB King, the blues great.
1
@Donna
I was looking for an answer related to Elvis, which briefly threw me off.
Like @LizB, I tried mFA before BFA, and after that it was fresh and smooth all the way. Pitch perfect for Wednesday.
Perhaps xword construction could count as a kind of service to humankind: when done well (like this one) it makes life a little better.
6
Here are a few other ideas:
Very loud screeching brakes? FFSTOP
German sports car buffs? TTNUTS
And here's a tribute to Bill Gates' late colleague/competitor:
Two Roman devices? IIPHONES
5
@Andrew
I like IIPHONES.
1
Nice puzzle...It took me longer than usual to get through to the other end, on account of all the names in the puzzle. Loved the clues for PARK and FERRIC. And the theme clues too, though I didn’t really ‘get’ them before I came to the blog.
But, I did this without any lookups, though I had to reassure myself by occasionally checking if I was on the right track with those names! So, a fair puzzle and an enjoyable diversion today.
3
I haven't seen this mentioned by the usual suspects who are critical of themes that aren't consistently applied (Jeff Chen and Rex Parker always pick on this aspect, yet neither mentions it today - our Lewis has brought up this kind of thing, too, but not today)...
It seems to be less than ideal for a puzzle based on turning Letter-Word into Letter-Letter-Word to include both E. coli and E scale.
When this kind of thing has been brought up before, I've generally not been bothered by the appearance of non-theme themers. It just really jumped out at me today.
2
@David Connell
I thought the theme was based on turning Letter-Letter-word into Letter-[modified word], the latter being unclued.
@NICE CUPPA - I don't think that's how anybody in the crossword-puzzle construction world would understand the theme - since Letter-Letter-Word doesn't exist outside of the theme. Of course YMMV, but I'm fairly sure that a test of today's themers started with:
is "letter + word" a "thing"? and can we find a clue for "doubled letter + word"?
rather than is "doubled letter + word" a thing and can we not clue for "letter + word"?
My comment was more-or-less a commentary on the power of $$$. Because this puzzle was co-constructed by a person with $$$, none of the usual picky-meisters picked on a simple, and common, problem: there are instances _in_the_puzzle_ of a single letter + common word that don't get treated by the "doubled letter + same word" treatment. Discuss....
and then let's talk about
gun control
sex discrimination
Supreme Court appointments
voter ID laws...
etc.
etc.
My take, and I'm happy to be up front on this:
$$$ = power (yay?)
@David Connell
"Because this puzzle was co-constructed by a person with $$$, none of the usual picky-meisters picked on a simple, and common, problem: there are instances _in_the_puzzle_ of a single letter + common word that don't get treated by the "doubled letter + same word" treatment."
I don't get this. Are you saying that the co-constructor having $$$ had some influence on E.COLI not getting the same treatment as EE CUMMINGS, etc. Or on the "picky-meisters" not picking on the (very slight) inconsistence because she's rich?
I'm guessing that I'm among the group you call "picky-meisters," but I don't really see anything to pick at. And I don't care how rich or poor the constructor may be, at least with regard to the XWP.
I was very slow to notice the single letter phrases, but was quite impressed when the light finally dawned. I bet that Melinda Gates likes the Thursday puzzles. Maybe she will have a go at one of those next. I'd look forward to it if so.
5
As an experienced tournament bridge player, I was dismayed to find out the the NY Times no longer has a bridge column. What is wrong with you guys?? Even the Indianapolis Star has one. Good grief.
1
@Marcia Fidler
Been a wile since that ended. I too miss it.
1
@Dr W
As I recall, it was killed at the same time as some other features that a lot of people liked. Not anything about sports, however, which are sacred.
Was it at that same time that they got rid of the copy editors?
What I miss most about the bridge column is that No Trump is a thing...
Looks like mixed reviews from the comments but I liked it and it went fairly quickly for me. I got the theme from XXFACTOR by filling in the NW corner. Liked FERRIC and and looked for that type of answer from the question marked clue.
1
Like others, EEREADER was the first theme answer I was able to fill in. Unlike others, I managed not to catch on to the theme at that point (just didn't bother to pause and think it through). Like Amy G, below, I also thought of Graceland for 46a. Well, not exactly. I thought of "Elvis' mansion" and fortunately couldn't come up with the name, as it would have fit.
Most of this came together pretty smoothly. Got hung up in the NW for a while. Couldn't remember the name of the butler, managed to misspell GAUGE and had GAS before OIL. Worked it out in the end.
Very nice puzzle. Not always a big fan of the Celebrity crossword concept, but I'll make an exception in this case.
Here are BB and UU with an old favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0WyPAELsk
..
3
@Rich in Atlanta.
You've made my day; I spelled GAUGE wrong as well. ( almost just did it again)
I FESS up to being a GUAGE misspelling recidivist.
1
@All
Add myself to the list ...
40A "Do you come here often? " at a 12-step meeting?
4
Much better clue, Guy Quay. Even in a visual (rather than oral -- or [as per yesterday] verbal) presentation, most of the 12 steps are longer than "a line."
https://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/smf-121_en.pdf
@Barry Ancona
Perhaps a good clue would have been a brief quote from the Serenity Prayer.
How about BuFFeTT, BiLL's partner in philanthropy? Or rebOOt? This what I must do with my laptop several times for every Windows 10 update. LEEtspeak for gEEks?
1
This puzzle had a very tight theme, and one of the best kinds of themes for me, the kind that makes me think, "Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?"
Your resident alphadoppeltotter got excited at seeing all those double letters, but even with the help of the theme, the puzzle didn't have an unusually high number of double letters (20 or more); it fell three short.
I like FIXATE and OUTRE, and BONE by STERNA. That big plus in the middle reminds me of the effect Bill and Melinda's foundation has had on the world. Just thinking and reading about the foundation's work after solving this puzzle made this puzzle more than just a lovely solve; it warmed my heart.
6
@Lewis
As soon as I got the theme today, my first thought was that I wanted to see your comment.
3
Thank you Melinda and Joel! Clever and fun, not too challenging. And SPEAKING of jigsaw puzzles, I went through a phase with those where I became obsessed (which is not unknown in my world) and completed at least one 1000+ every few days (my sleep suffered and eventually my sanity so my husband brought them all to a nearby retirement community). SO MUCH FUN.
Thank you Melinda for the immense good you do in the world, for your hands-on approach, for your willingness to accept incremental change in deeply entrenched problems and for going the distance. You and Bill are facilitating real change on so many fronts.
The Bee was an easy ride to genius at which point I gave up; will wait till some industrious soul lists final counts. Should have included WEEBEE!
2
@audreylm
In Re WEE-BEE
I am still missing one 5-letter word. I have 42 words/148 points. I have:
3xA, 11xB, 8xC, 1xE, 7xH, 5xL, 7xW
21x4, 13x5, 4x6, 1x7, 3x8 letter words.
There is 1 pangram. There are 4 words ending in -ABLE (+ "ABLE" itself; 3 x exclamations in H or W; one obscure sailing term; and one tacky modern abbr. The rest we have seen before including THAT genetic word.
I also rued the absence of WEEBEE; also WEEWEE, BEACHBALL, WELCH; and, as usual, CECA and CECAL. The choice of -ABLE words was arbitrary of course (one of them is difficult to spot as its root verb has 3 letters).
@NICE CUPPA Excellent, thank you! Heading back to the Bee now . . .
The Comments are behaving weirdly (including failing to appear earlier on) so I lost my first attempt.
Sorry, but this puzzle just fell short, and I think Will would have sent it back for a rewrite had it come in the door any other way. Entries like ECKERD (I'll take obscure little colleges for $200, Alex) and LORDE drain the Clever Factor. For me the theme emerged with eeREADER and helped me get other themers.
Weird usage, Joel, of 'equesrian'..... and while there is much to admire in the work of the Gates Foundation, let's not fawn. I have hopes that in redirecting attention to the economic means of survival, their efforts will result in real change for families.
Looking forward to Thursday.
1
I first heard of Eckerd College when a friend's son applied a couple years ago. Now I think of it as "that place which allows pets in the dorms." It might also be in the Colleges That Change Lives book, not positive on that point.
1
@Mid America
I'd never heard of ECKERD College, but I'm used to running into colleges/universities that I've never heard of, both in crosswords and as the almae matres of colleagues.
And it's wonderful to know that this -- or any other college -- allows pets in dorms. Students shouldn't have to go through school with an important part of life closed to them.
Nice to see that Ms Gates can create such entertaining trivial problems while working to solve some real doozies. Long live the XXFACTOR!
8
I enjoyed solving this one. A couple of missteps along the way (mFA before BFA, E major/minor before SCALE) made this a good Wednesday challenge.
3
Totally enjoyed this relatively easy puzzle. Thanks to the Gates Foundation for work to eradicate health problems around the world.
Loved seeing Beto in the mini today!
7
Like Liz B, I didn’t get the theme until I reached EEREADER. Then the other themers sorted themselves out,
E Major before E SCALE; Trauma before ORDEAL; Naitck at SAM RAIMI/MAE.
Favority clue: “7D Irony?” for FERRIC. (Paul Sherdan beat me to it.)
1
Irony? is one of my favourite clues for some time but what’s with it appearing in the New Yorker puzzle this week also? A case of a mistaken irony that’s actually a coincidence?
4
@Paul Sheridan
It also appeared in a clue Sunday.
I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Lots of double letters outside the theme as well: feSSes, oFF, uSSr, feRRic, knEE, oTTers. Not sure if that was intended or just naturally oCCuRRing but I had fun fndin
The puzzle wasn't just A-ok, it was AA-ok! Thanks Melinda & Joel.
14
Dreadful puzzle. Annoying obscure proper nouns, questionable clueing and answers... Another case of having a lame gimmick idea and doing whatever it takes to make it fit. Come on NYT you've got to be able to do better than this.
8
"Annoying obscure proper nouns..."
LJADZ,
"Annoying" is purely subjective, and I'm sorry if that was your reaction, but I'd be interested to know which proper nouns you found so "obscure" that you thought they didn't belong in the puzzle, and whether you were unable to fill them from the crosses.
4
@Barry Ancona
I'm curious too, Barry.
I didn't know SAM RAIMI, JJ (Abram), or ECKERD, but I wasn't annoyed at learning something. Especially something that wasn't a strangely spelled rapper.
And of course I was delighted to see Audre LORDE and J.M. BARRIE.
Neither the easiest nor the most difficult of the Wednesdays I've done, but in spite of some unknowns and misinterpretations, the crossings worked well to keep me on track.
5
@JayTee
Clever! Made me smile. We need more of that today.
2
Not obscure at all to some of us! I loved this—right in my wheelhouse, and clues drawing on all kinds of knowledge: music, poetry, women’s studies, movies, higher education, etymology, anatomy, geography...
3
Unlike others I didn't care for the puzzle. Very slow going. Lots of unknown words. Didn't even notice a theme until very late in the puzzle.
I still don't understand two of the theme answers. What do XXFACTOR and AALINE have to do with their clues? Yes I get AA but what does LINE have to do with steps.
@Michael
XX Factor - think chromosomes, females are XX, males XY.
When Alcoholics Anonymous lists the steps to sobriety, they're often presented as a list, so each line would indicate one of the 12 steps.
4
@JayTee I have attended meetings for 15 years and NEVER have I heard of a step referred to as a "line." This is just plain incorrect. Terrible clue.
2
"Terrible clue."
Guy Quay offered a better one this morning.
"...as a list, so each line..."
See my reply to Guy Quay.
Really great, creative puzzle! Thank you. It felt fresh and new and I enjoy the guest contributors. Appreciate Melinda Gates making time to share her humor with us.
2
good puzzle. heartily agree with Melinda Gates -- Just Start! Wherever you get a toehold. Work from there and you'll be amazed at how many previously un-gettable answers emerge!
3
Great clueing on this one!
1
Thank you, Melinda, for your work on the puzzle and your work in the world – well done. We need more people like you. And I love puzzles too!
12
As a fellow Microsoft alum, duly noted the personal touches we were familiar with i.e. references to Melinda’s alma mater Duke and Bill’s passion for bridge ...
3
@Xwordsolver
Be sure to check out Jeff and Jim at today's xwordinfo.
TIL that GRACELAND is only one building. I've never been there and have always pictured it as a complex, so I stubbornly kept it in at 46A until it just had to go. Always fun to see my name in the puzzle, especially with this AMY being another Amy G.
3
Great puzzle. Loved the theme. The theme entries were all very good. I particularly liked EE READER. Plenty of double letters to gp around too, especially the symmetric SS in PASS BY in upper right with FESSES in the lower left. Other doubles - KNEE, EBBS, the double double (triple) AAA, ALL, OTTERS, JM BARRIE, OFF, USSR. FERRIC, LEE.
Good job by Melinda and Joel. Great fun. Thanks.
10
@Caitlin
Great write-up for a great puzzle! Though I feel compelled to point out that JJ Abrams (not Abram) is today’s director. (Is it FERRIC that I also pointed out that Russ Meyer — not Meyers — was the B-movie director mentioned in a write-up some weeks back?)
5
@Irene
My gosh! A little ferric and a little tragic when referring to my proofreading skills. Thank you -- fixing.
2
@Caitlin
You also have a comma splice in the column.
Nice! Just quirky enough to keep from being too easy. I think EE READER was the first one I got (I did know ECKERD College; the offspring of friends went there and arrived for freshman year about 3 days before a hurricane hit).
I fell for WILSON before CARTER and then was stumped because I was thinking ALBERT instead of ALFRED. Also, MFA before BFA. I did feel that there were a lot of short words especially in the middle section, but the interesting theme made up for it.
3
@Liz B
Ditto mFA before BFA.
1
Well Dunne! I don't think we've seen one like this before and if we did, so what? A great puzzle.;
1