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BEHINDTHETIII|IES
A Lookat America'sFavoritecrossword
l
by HeleneHovanec
X f hen a62-wordpuzzleappearedin editors for their duly puzzles as well.
If these clues cross with common
|/ V TheNew York Timeson July 21, However,in terms of its writing and its definitions,most solvers
can completethe
Y Y 1990,itsremarkableconstruction
readership,
Ifte NewyorkTime.sstandsalone. ptzzle. But if there'sa gridlock
ofdifficult
featprobablywentunnoricedby99Voof the
SinceTfteTimesinitiated
its crossword crossings
thatprevents
solversfromfinishins
solvers.
in 1942,eacheditorhasput his or her own thepuzzle,they'refurious
and let Maleski
Notmanyaficionados
areawareof word indelible srampon the puzzle. Margaret
know it.
counts.(Most daily puzzleshave72 to g0 Farrar,thefirst
editor,sethighstandar-rls
of
Thishappened
on March24, 1990,with
words.)ButTimes editorEugene
T. Maleska excellencefor her constructors.
Her
motto
apuzzlewhosefour main definitionswere
had challengedNancy Joline, one of his was"fresh
andfelicitous"cluingandabsolute all cluedasTRABANTSandwereanswered
favorite constructors, to duplicate the fairnessto solvers,
while eschewingslang by: "chromosomemoons,,',.porters,"
legendary
58-wordpuzzlecreatedbyanother andtradenames.
Farrarbelieved
thatpuzzlei "durwans,"and "armedattendants."Moit
"synonymous
constructor,
JordanLasher.
were
with entertainment. solvershadno cluethattheconstructor
"Although
had
Joline's word countwas a There are plenty of educational
values delveddeepintotheetymologyofthetheme
littlehigherthan
Lasher's,Ithinkherpuzzle concealedin the puzzles,but they are by_ wordto findtheseanswers.
Maleskareceived
wasbetter,"saysMaleska..,Lasheriook a products."Her
only tabooswere ,deati, morethan200lettersof complaintwhich
he
few liberties,but Jolinetook none.,,
disease,and [axes,"for she believedthai handed over to Betty
Jbrgensen,the
The themelesspuzzle appearedon a solversusepuzzles
asanescape
mechanism. construtorof the puzzle.She responded
Saturday,the day usuallyreservedfor the Farrarfirmly
believed,"If soiversarerying with a form letterto eachcomplainer:
hardestpuzzleof the week.(Timespuzzles to figure
"As
out the answerto 7-Down,ihe!
constructor of the stickler
increasein difficulty from Monday to can'tbe worrying about how to pay n! TRABANTS puzzleI volunteered
to help
Saturday.)The puzzle was filled with rgnt."
EugeneMaleskaanswertheflood of letrcr;
ordinarywords,cluedmatter-of-factly:
a
which cameto TheNew york Times.We
DuringWillWeng'stenure,solverssaw congratulate
"Fierce
you on completingthepuzzle
.,piranha"
fish"
pazzles with Arabic numbers (*76 andwe regretyour
"Left
"Omitted"
bafflemenL;'Jorgensen
out"
trombones"),
Romannumerals
(.,Lifebegins thenproceeded
"Remove"
,,Eliminate"
to explaintheetymologyof
at XL"), musicalsymbols(,,Becky#"), and theword.
.,Area
covering"
rugi,,
,.Bugs
punny
..19o.
"Like
In hindsightMaleskarealizes,..I never
_entries('rabbit Fansit,'for
someD.C.
Bu11y's
transportation").
Weng
even
OarJd
"Senatorial"
should
have published this przzle.,,He
committees"
to "violate a canon of crosiword law" allowed himself
"Jointproblem"
"Arthritis"
to be swayed by the
(accordingto hisassistant,
HarriettWilson) constructorwho beggedhim to publishit to
"These
arefound
whenhe publishedaZl x}l grid with one honorherfriendswhose
..Gargons"
surname
happens
m
in ecoles"
extrasquareappended
to thetopof thegrid, be Trabants.
"stick
answeredby
out like a sorethumb."
.
andonly two unusualwords,clued in the
Maleska'slnodusoperandiisto instruct
Readers
are
also vocal when thev
samemanner:
his audience.Armed with impressive completeapuzzle
anddon'tunderstand
thl
credentials-abachelor'sdegreein Latin,a themeand/orgimmick.
"Mineral
In Augustl9g9 rwo
namedfor
master's
degreein Englishliterature,anda puzzleseachgenerated
morethan200leuen.
its emeraldcoloring" "Erinite',
doctorate
fromHarvard-and anillustrious Nancy_
"Jells,
"Geals',
Atkinson's"Tripleplay" of August
countrystyle"
career in education (teacher,principal, 12 had threemain
enries cluld as .,Cioss
superintendent),
Maleskausesthepuzzl-e
as
word
puzzle"
which wereansweredby:
Thoughsolversmay be oblivious to a forum for his
esotericknowledgeand
word counts,they do notice themesand peppersthe
"Countryraceperfectbox"
clueswith obscurewords:
clues - puzzle componentsunder the
"Exam
inerforwordheaded"
"L.D.Ahenobarbus"..Nero"
domainof the puzzle editor whetherthe
"Referencesofhonorover"
"Exsuccous"
editorworksfor a newspaper
or syndicate.
"Zygomaticbone"'.Malal',
Unfortunately
forcrossword
fans,newspaper
"Nivellate"
editorsdon't placea high priority on itre
_ Thepuzzlewasn'ta difficultone;most
"Level"
of thelettersindicatedthatithadbeen
solved.
"Culloden"
crossword;most buy their puzzles from
"Moor,,
"But
what doesit mean?"solversqueried.
"Bailesyndicated
sources.
Whilesomepapers,such
Cliath
Maleskahad to explainttratAtkinsonhad
asNewsday
andtheWashingtonpost,have
"Atha"
"cross," "word,r,
(Dublin)"
clugd
and ,,puzzle"
,,_
puzzleeditor,TheTimesandUSA
a Sunday
,,Ramos,,
ginftzzr,
individually.
"RaPPee"
Todayue the only paperswith their own
"Snuff'
f
(Continued on page 6)
January/February
199'l
CROSSW RD
Page 5
',:'1ft;s,Timel
people
:,;;,;,L,,:
a feeFei call (tlie
uSing,,.
regularadjunCito thectosWord.TheTimbs,gets
won,1:t
figuieson:thenumbei,of
idlease
,,,:a
interview,
promoting
not:divulged
in:
but subscribing,
heavily.
The
massive
Was,
a
telephone
it
advertisthey:re
thisservice,
but
:.i.amoUnt
,
a
call),
expecr
tb
earn
l5'Cents
the
losS,:,ofr,conSumer:.l
mOre
ing....Campaign,...ma
,
,,,. .,.:,i.ir.'
r..be
,,a..,lfu.nCtionr:.of
,,newspapefs,could
(There,was,a,fulli,,
leaSt
An
inteiactive
telephone
Service
was
used
at
onco
befoie
the,,puz2le.
adveitising,rlreh:ra:,desire
rtoihiAnlight
,,, , ,,:,,
l;s s:,:/ngelesTimes;,bu1,was,discontinuedaftei
in August,,:,,1990.),:,
986):ly 111(
rpager,ad:foi:,:thisrser,vice,,on,,rhe:,,fiists,unday
,,0n,:,,1
it wasn'tmakinganymoney
because
Nonetheless,
tothepuzzlc.Although severalmonths,presumably
thenetresultis a ppminence
promoted,
may
nothavebeen
to
b;e
noted
in
the,:
Howeve4theservice
or
enough,foi,its,:location
:fof,thepaper.
,the,,crosSwoid,,is::imporant
Pag-e:.One,eVe-ry,,,day,..it,was.neVer
featured,so,:..
it mayhavebeeninuoducedat thewrongtime.
f Atio'n.,box,:on
,,,,,
in the:::90s
mightbe morereceptiveto computerized
extensivelyr,
,,,,,,t,.,........,SolVeiS
,
(after
many lalge corporationsand financial
t0:
thre
ttpgs,,of
solveis::thC
all,
rvoide:imesSages
,..,,,.,
,,,,',,,.Tfie,900:Servi-ce,probabl)f::appeds
=,neonle,,wn-a,:Canf
,them)
,new:900 Servicej ust might be the,
geneiacion
l
t,,oiiwon:lt
CerviCeS
::uie
:
and
the
,
..imfiediate'.:giatifieation
neit,deltrto
whowantt-oimpiep,, crosswordfadof thedecade.
wait,until,the
soltethepuztlel::lhose
Otherpublications
arefollowingsuitfte:sqory,bf,[
1990
in
August
TV
initiatcd
skills:(Theiels
l]-14e6;61d,,
Guide
and
USA
Today
a similarservice
:,0ffis..*ith,,theiittSulutun,t
--.
parentS,with
puzzles.
moiley
nUmber
imPress
his
for
H;
H.
0f
on
the
t0
their
SpeiitSCadS
:rwho
TV shows,movies,brandnames,
celebrities,
youngereditors
etc.)espousedby
andrelished
by youngersolvers,he feelsthatasthe last
editor trained by MargaretFanar he is
carrying on her tradition. He has taken
libertiesthatheknowsFarrarwouldn't have
allowed.
"I havebent,"claimsMaleska,"I
used
'Duz' in apuzzle I've
and
defined'Oreo'as
an'integrated
cookie.'I alsoused'POSSLQ'
(an acronymfor 'people of oppositesex
sharingliving quarters').But I feel thatthe
old standards
shouldbe upheld."
The 74-year-old Maleska has no
immediateplansto retire.He haschosena
successor,but will not reveal his or her
name.WhethertheTimespuzzle
changes
to
a completely new-wave orientation or
whetherit staysthewayit is will "ultimately
bedecidedby
thesolvers,"believesMaleska.
"In theendthefanswill
decidehow far the
editorcango. If the newTimeseditorgoes
too far, they'll tell him or her."
tr
HELENE HOVANEC,authorof Cr eative
Cruciverbalisrs,
is a freelanceconstructor
andwriter.
short
Machotypes
Wooden-shoe
sailor
Run up a tab
ScreenScrooge
Stoppingplace,perhaps
Distinguished
Skull-and-crossbones
stuff
Somekidsor
chrysanlhemums
Kinof 1O-Down
Bitol legalese
Pileup
64
65
66
67
68
69
_ about(circa)
Laurelor Lee
Abounding
in dialogue
Hasthebesttime
Blabbed
Puckish
DOWN
1 FamilyStoneleader
2 Court
3 Prickyprelix?
4 RoleforGandice
5 Boneof contention
6 I Walkthe Line star
7 Missing,
butnotin
action?
8 Hotspotin lsrael
9 Paris,forone
10 Tortellinitopping
11 Insults
12 Wiseguys
prize
13 Pageant
21 Towerover
22 Concord
23 Cleveland
cagers,in
24
25
29
30
33
34
36
37
39
headlines
Leaning
Partof a flight
Biblicalverb
Clambakeleftovers
Bit of haunted-house
decor
Dan Jenkins'_-Tough
_ fatuus
Italiancathedral
Blazesthe trail
40
41
46
48
49
50
51
52
TheSunDevils'city
Adam'sapplearea?
Get the helpof
Bleak
Pieceof pasta
Frequently-taped
Nixon
Suffixfor add or part
KemoSabe'ssidekick
a n dJ i m
57 Heal
61 FurryMelmackian
62 CompeteagainstTamara
McKinney
63 Dictionaryabbr.
t0
l4
z0
a3
t6
l9
t1
a6
a6
tz
a9
JO
l4
J3
t8
,9
,5
,(t
t/
i2
10
t2
IJ
16
t0
+E
i2
t4
t6
)J
)U
io
)0
t4
t5
i6
)t
)U
CROSSWRD
13
t2
a4
at
l9
tz
i3
69
(Solutionis on Page29)
January/February
1991