I didn't get around to doing the Thursday crossword puzzle until this morning. What a great way to start the day. It's brilliant. Bravo, Oliver Hill, crossword constructor supreme. If you haven't done it yet and you've paid your NYT premium dues, stop reading and check it out. You can download the Across Lite file here: Thursday, November 22, 2007
I've talked before in the Pen or pencil post about how the best way to solve puzzles is to print them out on good quality paper. There's a risk when you do that. Sometimes you miss some extraneous clue that appears only in the paper version. I thought that's what happened here. The two long theme answers were both clued "[See diagram]". Huh? What was I missing?
There was something else odd about the puzzle as well. It's extremely rare that NYT puzzles have orphan boxes -- empty squares that fit only a down or only an across clue. This puzzle has four, all clustered near the middle. There are very few black squares. The most prominent ones make a big X through the center of the puzzle. A big X. When it finally dawned on me, I thought of the characters in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" all searching for the Big W. They couldn't see it because it was right in front of their eyes. Just like the big X today. What a nice discovery when you finally figure it out.
