Wayne
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Alberta
A poignant story. It reminds me of a few coworkers of mine who have died suddenly over the years. I’m also impressed that it sounds like you constructed the bulk of this within a 24-hour period. It was a different era, but when I was actively constructing (and even getting a few published) the process usually took me much (MUCH) longer. Great debut. Bravo!
For whatever reason, Sunday is generally the crossword day I enjoy the least, but I thought this one was outstanding and well worth the bit of inevitable crosswordese in the grid. Thanks!
@D.C. Robinson Yeah, me either. It was “okay” but more than anything it was another reminder why I dislike April 1 so much.
A bit of a yikes here (for a Wednesday.) Way slower than my average, and if I hadn’t been 99% sure of AZT I’d never have gotten that middle.
Great construction. I had my first published at 24 (hmm, makes me wonder what the average debut age would be) and I’d be the first to admit that it was nowhere near this good! All the best, and here’s to more.
Graph paper and just flipping through a tome, haha. I remember those days. Our careers have tracked oppositely; I had some early success and now haven’t appeared in over 15 years. Ah well. A little ‘Nosowsky-esque’ also, I’d say. Bravo!
@Thanksverymuch Your comment got me pondering. Here to the immediate east of BC I find it’s very localized. Block parties can happen in some neighbourhoods or streets (cul-de-sacs tend to foster it) but then a few blocks over it could seem that no one knows anyone. Just last week I happened to run into a guy who has lived 2 houses away from us for 18 years. As I type this I can see the front of his house through our kitchen window. I know I had never talked to him, and I’m not sure I’d even seen him before. Though Canadians have a supposed reputation for being friendly, I’ve always found Americans a lot easier to strike up “complete stranger” conversations with. Everyone’s mileage will vary I suppose.
@Keith Yeah, mine too, I finished in 1/3 of my usual Thursday time lol, but I’m not going to complain; in my opinion the puzzle was fine and it’s fun to set a PB every so often. (It’ll be hard for me to beat this one though...I was pretty much typing as fast as I could and guessing everything right like it was a Monday.)
This was a weird one for me. Like yesterday, I was somehow half done in 3(!) minutes, mostly on the top half…but then ran right into a wall when all the right ideas stopped occurring to me. Eventually got through in a slower-than-average time. Very nice puzzle though.
@Mike Fast and Furious | Idioms Online The phrase "fast and furious" originates from a 1791 poem by Robert Burns called "Tam o' Shanter," describing a lively country dance. The term "fast" historically meant "firm" or "secure" in Middle English before evolving to mean "rapid," while "furious" comes from Latin furiōsus, meaning "full of rage". The idiom has been used to describe things done with great speed and intensity, gaining widespread use after the 1820s, partly due to its inclusion in Sir Walter Scott's novels.
@Rodzu Whew, that’s a relief. Because I hadn’t heard of him either. A child of the ‘70s, it was sometime around 1990 when it became obvious I was no longer able to keep track of all the people I was supposed to have heard of. It isn’t improving with time, either…but I still do pretty well with “ancient” 1900-1950 references. Zasu Pitts, anyone?
The idea of 32-across being described as a gimme made me chuckle a little; perhaps if I’d ever even vaguely heard of it. Got it from the crosses fairly quickly, despite the only entry in my mental ‘-L- - ABA’ folder being ALIBABA. Ah, well.
At first I was tempted to sort of dislike this, but I mostly changed my mind…the ACs are *right* in the middle; yeah, that’s cool, no pun intended… I was pretty deep into the Scrabble world for a couple of decades and RAGBAG is good there so it didn’t bother me here either. (Yeah, I know, a lot of words are good in Scrabble :) Our house has AC but we don’t normally use it much…a couple of days ago there was snow falling an hour’s drive from here. Brrr.
Was surprised to solve this in under 11 minutes (even after a decent stumble with YESAND) but it can’t hurt that I’ve been on a Manny Nosowsky kick in the archives lately…my goodness, there are some workouts in there!
Took me 33 minutes, and for all but the last few seconds of that I was unsure if I’d actually finish unaided. Great Saturday puzzle. Two thumbs up, WAY up!
@DocP The exact same for me, down to the same letter. Guess he’s not as famous up here, I’ve never even vaguely heard of him. For various reasons I’ve now pressed reveal 3 times in the last 4 days; normally I only do it about once a month but good thing it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’m burning out.
I like the middle ground for this one. Not a favourite by any means, but I’ve also seen a lot worse. Ultimately I found it solvable enough and like some others I only had to run SOL_M and _LTA. Onto (or back to the archives for) the next…
@Matt I still miss Infocom. Sitting at my (long gone) TRS-80 Model III, the moment I finally thought of moving the rug was one of the defining moments of my childhood. Those games could run on every computer model that existed, haha. On another note, if Eddie could ‘done did this puzz’ I suppose we can all been had. Or something.
@Kate Tani I’ve never heard it said much in real life myself, but I do vividly recall where I first learned the term. An internet search tells me it was episode 11 of The Wonder Years. (I’ll always love that series.)
@Eric Hougland Mine was in 1997, a Monday with a pretty dull theme. It clearly was a lot easier to successfully submit back then!
@Eric Hougland If I’d remembered it I’d be in the first group, but I’m in the fourth group. I guess my mental trivia drawer is too jammed with earworms and sports stats. I solved it sometime in the last year or two after someone mentioned it. It’s astonishing.
About a quarter of the way through I was starting to mentally roll my eyes, but then for whatever reason I had a change of mind. By the end I’d really enjoyed it and found it more impressive than I’d first thought. Good one.
@Francis Haha, well, you’ve made no enemy here. Good points, and though still the minority, the desire to hypothetically separate from the rest of Canada and/or join the US is highest in Alberta. A lot of chips on a lot of shoulders.
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