Regarding Agard

How do ya like that? I didn't even have to write a puzzle this week and I still barely have the post up before 2 in the morning. Ladies and gents, today's Cross Nerd puzzle is an offering from Mr. Erik Agard. As welcome an addition to the cruciverse as you could ask for, 18-year-old Erik came into prominence earlier this year by snagging the B Division bronze at the ACPT and has since solidified his place in puzzledom by demonstrating his formidable construction chops. For starters, you may remember him from week 4 of Guest Constructor Month over at MGWCC. Furthermore, his Anoa Place mini-series of 14 witty puzzles is not to be missed. The themes are tight and amusing and the grids ably filled, but the hilarious clues are the piece de resistance, IMO. But what do I know? Let's hear a little from the man himself:

Peter: What got you into puzzles, and how long have you been at it?

Erik: My math teacher from high school, David Stein, is a puzzle genius and ACPT-goer. I’ve kind of been doing puzzles my whole life, but it was his class - about 4 years ago now - that got me really hooked.

P: Aside from (American-style) crosswords, which other sorts of puzzles do you solve?

E: I do the occasional Rows Garden (Andrew Ries is amazing). My grandfather is big into acrostics, so I try those. But I’m a bit of an idiot savant, even within the puzzle world - really only good at the one thing.

P: Where have you been published?

E: One LAT puzzle. One Week 4 puzzle at Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest. More to come.

P: After such an impressive debut showing at the 2012 ACPT I’m willing to bet you’ll be back for 2013. Improving on this year’s performance would be tough; how do you think your chances look? Got any other tournaments/prizes in your sights?

E: Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. Well, they could, really, but I’m not anticipating that being a huge problem. I’ve gotten a bit faster since March, but also a bit stupider, so if (big if) I can manage to stay error-free, I like my chances.

P: Do you do any sort of training for solving (recording your times, purposely filling in knowledge gaps, etc.)?

E: I have a spreadsheet of my LAT times. But I don’t really do anything with it, so I haven’t quite figured out how it actually helps. As for the latter, I would never do anything like that. That sounds too much like studying. Ask any one of my classmates how I am about studying.

P: I really enjoyed the Anoa Place mini-series, and it sounds like I’m not alone. Can we expect another installment any time soon?

E: Appreciate that. And I like the term “mini-series,” I may just have to steal that in future. A lot of the puzzles on Anoa Place started out as NYT/LAT rejects; at the moment, I’m working on getting more puzzles rejected so I’ll have stock for a sequel.

P: Whose work do you admire as a constructor and enjoy as a solver?

E: Not sure I can separate my constructing, solving, and editing perspectives anymore. I got a lot of love for a lot of constructors in the game, but my top 5: Gaffney, BEQ, Norris, Gordon, Tausig.

P: What are your thoughts on eye-catching/wide-open grids, convention-shirking themes/gimmicks, etc.? Is it all about the solver, or do you think that grids and gimmicks that push the boundaries and challenge constructors are important as well?

E: It is vitally important for the evolution of crosswords that people keep doing new, cool shit. Convention is made to be shirked. But - with the odd exception - not in the newspaper. Put it in a book or something.

P: Tell me about your approach to construction. What tools do you use, what do you do with a deadline and a lack of ideas, what qualities do you look for in a seed entry or long fill, etc?

E: I am very, very dependent on autofill. It is my life support system. But I write my own clues wherever possible. I’m not really a deadline-meeting kind of guy, but in the vein of one of my favorite writers, a bath always helps.

P: What sorts of crosswords do you wish you saw more of in the cruciverse? Less of?

E: More indie constructors. Less Oreo centennial puzzles. I’ve done at least 5.

Thanks for the thoughts and the puzzle, Erik. But especially the puzzle; my weekend was gloriously free of clue-writing. It was Folk Fest in Regina, to which I have obligations as a volunteer, beer- and music-consumer, and soaker-up of sun.

More words, crossed and otherwise, next Tuesday.

Puzzle: Not Now...

Rating: XW-PG

Difficulty: Medium-hard

Download the PDF file here and the PUZ file here, or solve or download the Across Lite puzzle and/or software from the embedded app below.

Month of Metas 3/4

NOTE: For the sake of solvers who may have missed last week's contest, the solution is on a separate page (see the tabs above). The write-up below gives nothing away about the puzzle or meta answer.

Week 2 Wrap-up

So week 2 may have actually been easier than week 1 for most solvers. I'm going purely off of solvers' comments, since the numbers don't really tell me anything. The correct : incorrect ratio was slightly (but not much) higher this time, but the sample size is pretty small in both cases (it's late and I don't really feel like doing stats, so let's just assume that the difference is not significant). Also, I noticed that a number of solvers that submitted answers for week 1 did not submit for week 2, while a number of new solvers showed up after week 1, so our populations are different (and certainly not randomly sampled - last week most came from crosswordfiend, while this week most came from MGWCC). To hell with the stats, let's get to the winner:
56 solvers out of 59 submitted correct answers this week, but only one of them can win. By random selection, this week's winner is Peter Gwinn. Congrats, Peter.

A huge thanks to Matt Gaffney for directing a lot of new solvers my way. Throughout the past week I had the pleasure of chatting with a number of puzzlers whom I had never met before as their answers rolled in. Y'all come back now!

Miscellaneous Xword News

I've just joined the team of "Litzers" for the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project. The goal is to digitize every NYT puzzle since the dawn of time (February 15, 1942, in this case). Currently, every puzzle from the Shortz era (beginning in Nov of '93) is available in digital form for analysis and perusal at XWord Info, but the best we've got are PDFs for the considerable pre-Shortzian catalog. The project was started back in '99 by Barry Haldiman and fizzled out after a number of years, but has just recently been revived by David Steinberg. If you'd like to get involved, hit up the site and drop David a line.

This Week's Puzzle

So I've decided to swap around weeks 3 and 4. The main reason is that I felt I needed to revamp the week 3 puzzle this weekend, and haven't had time to finish it yet. Plus, considering it's Canada Day long weekend here, the title of this puzzle made it too appropriate to not run it. This means that you'll notice a significant increase in difficulty from the last puzzle (which seems to have been too easy for a week 2 anyway). Don't worry, though, the next one will be tricky as well; no more Mr. Nice Constructor.

Meta Contest Overview: There will be four metas in total, one each week. Each week, one winner will be randomly chosen from the list of solvers with the correct answer to the previous week's puzzle. They will win the opportunity to suggest an entry and/or clue for a future Cross Nerd puzzle, and will bring honour to their family and their country. At the end of the four weeks, any solvers that answered all four metas correctly will be entered into a draw to win untold riches, most likely in the form of a puzzle book or two (haven't decided yet, but seriously probably something around a $25 value).

Instructions: This week's contest answer is a brand of alcohol. This is week 3, but this puzzle was originally conceived as week 4, so it's a bit of a toughie. Send an e-mail with the answer in the subject line to peter.bananarchy[at symbol goes here]gmail[dot]com by 11:59pm CST on Sunday, July 8.

More words, crossed and otherwise, next Tuesday.

Puzzle: Take the Day Off and Get Stoned
Rating: XW-MA

Download the PDF file here and the PUZ file here, or solve or download the Across Lite puzzle and/or software from the embedded app below.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Jeffrey Harris

As you might have guessed, this week we'll get to meet puzzler par excellence Jeffrey Harris. Jeffrey is not only a deadly solver, but a fine constructor as well. He's been at it for close to a decade now, has been regular contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Sun (RIP), and has been published in the NYT and Wall Street Journal as well. Jeffrey has been in touch a number of times lately to provide feedback on the puzzles (mostly in the way of reporting grievous errors, which is always appreciated) and chat about his brand-spanking-new book, Sit & Solve Pop Music Crosswords. 42 mini-puzzles (10x10 mostly, I believe. Dimensions I've never worked with, but you know I love the minis), and at an unbeatable price, if you ask me. There's a sample of one of the puzzles that didn't make it in to the book (so the ones that did must be even better, right?) at Jeffrey's site. Don't be fooled by the diminuitive proportions: cramming that much thematic material into a breathable 10x10 grid with 2 themers could not have been easy, and it's a silky smooth solve nonetheless.

Anyway, I caught up with Jeffrey for a Q&A over the weekend; let's see how it went down:

Peter: Congratulations on your first book! What can solvers expect from it in terms of themes, puzzle styles, difficulty, etc.?

Jeffrey: As they’re only 10x10, most of them have only a pair of theme entries. There are a few puzzles with more, but they’re the minority. Also, there were some pairings I found that were just too nice to worry about pesky concerns like grid symmetry, so the last eight or so puzzles are nonsymmetric. I tried to keep them easy, but only solvers can really say how difficult they are.

P: Tell me about your approach to construction. What tools do you use, what do you do with a deadline and a lack of ideas, what qualities do you look for in a seed entry, long fill, or theme, etc?

J: I use Crossword Compiler with a hand-ranked wordlist, though I have made grids by hand and sometimes still do, if I feel like it. I like it when themes feel “complete”--if I solve a puzzle with three theme entries, I want that to be not because there was no room for a fourth entry, but because there is no fourth entry. As for long fill, no surprises--give me a multi-word phrase with interesting letters and I’m happy.

P: Whose work do you admire as a constructor?

J: Oh, that’d be a long list. Patrick Berry, Trip Payne, Frank Longo, Mike Shenk, BEQ, and Merl Reagle would probably be on everyone’s list; in addition, there are a number of constructors including Todd McClary, Eric Berlin, and Adam Cohen who I don’t see as much buzz/chatter about but who are definitely talented puzzlemakers who I try to emulate.

P: What are your thoughts on eye-catching/wide-open grids, convention-shirking themes/gimmicks, etc.? Is it all about the solver, or do you think that grids and gimmicks that push the boundaries and challenge constructors are important as well?

J: As a solver, I love being able to look back at a puzzle and marvel at the effort and skill put into the construction--this includes, however, the effort and skill needed to keep a puzzle clean. Quad-stacks are impressive, but if they’re filled to the brim with partials, abbreviations, dupes, and bogus phrases they become less so. And it’s not like these things are necessary! Patrick Berry, Frank Longo, and most recently Matt Jones have all made quad stacks that are much cleaner than the ones that have been published in the Times these past few months, and to me, those are exponentially more fun to solve and to admire after the fact.

P: Where do see your puzzling career going? Do you have any specific construction or publication goals that you’re aiming for?

J: Not beyond “making enough puzzles to keep a roof over my head” at this point, heh. I’d like to have a non-pocket-size book at some point, but that’ll be a long way off I think.

P: How do you think that the existence of a puzzle blogging community has affected the quality and/or style of puzzles, if at all?

J: I don’t know. It’s certainly made puzzle solving a more communal activity, which is a good thing.

P: I understand you’re a pretty shit-hot solver (a Lollapuzzoola champ if I’m not mistaken?). Which puzzle outlets do you hit up for a solid challenge? Other than traditional crosswords, which sorts of puzzles do you enjoy?

J: For challenge, both the Washington Post themeless and Fireball are hard to beat. I also do Matt Gaffney’s contest...week 5 puzzles can sometimes be even tougher than Posts or Fireballs. If you know how to solve cryptic crosswords and are looking or a real workout, I recommend the cryptics of Kevin Wald and Mark Halpin.

Thanks for the opportunity to be interviewed, and I look forward to solving more of your puzzles as you post them!

Pleasure's all mine, Jeffrey. It's always nice to get acquainted with other puzzlers, and so you can expect more interviews in the future. Feel like you've got something to share with the literally tens of adoring Cross Nerd fans? Hit me up and we'll shoot the shit.

On to today's puzzle. Dug out a bit of an oldie this week. I devised and polished the theme with the intention of whipping it into a NYT submission. Didn't even get as far as filling the grid before discovering that a very similar theme was done back in '06. Although none of the same entries are used, the idea was similar enough that it didn't seem worth waiting 6 months for the almost certain rejection, so I shelved it. Glad I did, though, because I needed a ready-made themed puzzle stat (too many themelesses recently), since I've been spending any and all of my free puzzling time working on both my submission to the 20 under 30 contest and my upcoming month of metas. Wait, what? That's right, you heard right: a month of metas. Between Trip Payne's jaw-dropping "Remote Possibilities" extravaganza, Pete Muller's (so far) excellent Muller Monthly Music Meta, and the usual dose of MGWCC puzzles, I've been more than a little inspired to try my hand at a meta-puzzle. After a little brainstorming, I've come up with what I think are four solid puzzle ideas, which I'll be running in the fashion of a month's worth of MGWCC. And there will be prizes! (mostly things of no monetary value). Tune in next week for more details.

More words, crossed and otherwise, next Tuesday.

Puzzle: How Goes It?
Rating: XW-PG

Download the PDF file here and the PUZ file here, or solve or download the Across Lite puzzle and/or software from the embedded app below.