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Posted: May 23rd, 2013
Our May meeting was packed with good book recommendations, thoughtful topics and lively participants. It was pointed out that although “flash/micro/sudden fiction is all the rage now, it’s been around a VERY long time. Flash fiction is what you imagine it to be – stories told in as few words as possible. Since the dawn [...]
Posted: May 16th, 2013
As one often finds on Thursdays, today we have a “gimmick” puzzle in which the word MAN is implied to the left of three longer theme entries, or literally [Emergency shout] or MAN OVERBOARD!. (“Overboard” implies here it’s off to the left of the grid.) The three truncated entries are: [MAN]DARIN CHINESE – with its [...]
Posted: May 15th, 2013
This blog lists recently purchased items. Audio books: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver; Don’t know much about the American Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis. New items by popular authors: A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy; Shatter the Bones by Stuart MacBride; The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart; A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre; [...]
Posted: May 15th, 2013
Well as hoped (or feared), today’s puzzle is indeed by yours truly. The “hoped” part is that it’s obviously exciting to see your name in print (even in the small real estate that constructor’s names get to the upper right of the puzzle grid); but the feared part is to read the many online reactions [...]
Posted: May 14th, 2013
Today’s theme was revealed by the clue for 12-Down: [Status-seeking sort...or the solver of this puzzle, initially], which was a NAME DROPPER. Two things to notice about this entry were how the “drop” implied the other theme entries would be in a downward direction (as opposed to across the grid which is more typical) and [...]
Posted: May 13th, 2013
A rather simple theme in hindsight that took a bit of time for me to figure out. We have four long entries that begin with an anagram of A-E-M-S: MESA ARIZONA AMES BROTHERS – a remote bell rang here, their last hit was when I was 3 years old SAME OLD STORY SEAM WELDING – [...]
Posted: May 12th, 2013
Happy Mother’s Day! In today’s New York Time super-sized crossword puzzle, we have an elongated version of a common adage only a mother could love. POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF A PLAN OR DECISION ONE CANNOT REVERSE SHOULD BE HEEDED PRIOR TO THE TIME AN ACTION IS EFFECTUATED Or, more simply: LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP Interesting construction [...]
Posted: May 11th, 2013
Today is usually the day of the hardest themeless puzzle in the New York Times, but we have an unusual gimmick puzzle instead. THe idea here is to consider the LOCATION of the theme entries, whether they are TOP, BOTTOM, RIGHT or LEFT: 25-Across is SAILED since it references PORT on the left side of [...]
Posted: May 10th, 2013
Fun themeless puzzle today and an impressive construction with 5 grid-spanning entries, three in the center and 2 crossing these 3 in the down direction. Did you notice that the grid was 16 squares wide? Might explain why the puzzle took a few minutes longer than normal. I especially liked seeing that LITTLE LEAGUE TEAM [...]
Posted: May 9th, 2013
Come to the library for free, one-on-one help with technology. Learn computer basics, how to use an e-reader, get a free e-mail address, or download e-books and audiobooks. The library has added another volunteer to help our patrons with their technology questions. In addition to Maria Heinz, who is available Tuesdays from 10am to 1pm, [...]
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