Orange, your speed with the Cryptic NYT Sunday was more astounding than most of your other feats. It took me an hour and I still didn't get one or two Clues.
fergus | 08.26.08 - 11:19 pm | #

Orange, I hope you feel better soon. I like the self-medication approach, but I know its nobody's fault there in Margaritaville.

Congrats, joon. What happened to the nasty squirrel of discontent? I heard he was hanging around Corsi or maybe it's one and the same.
PhillySolver | 08.26.08 - 11:38 pm | #

Oops-- I had ELAINE/ELAYNE. Tsk.
Matt | 08.27.08 - 5:41 am | #

I am the "friend" who constructed a puzzle with the same theme, **and title**, as today's Sun. I submitted it to the Chronicle (rejected!). Here is the text of that submission:

Hi Patrick,

"Divine Intervention"

TRUTHORDARE (11) - *1991 documentary about Madonna's "Blond Ambition" tour
MOODINDIGO (12) - *Duke Ellington composition originally titled "Dreamy Blues"
HELLOKITTY (12) - *Iconic feline character seen on many pink products
BETTYRUBBLE (11) - *Bedrock brunette
AESIR (5) - They reside in Valhalla ... and in the answers to the starred clues of this puzzle [circled squares could be used as well]
*****

TRUTHORDARE was a soft spot, I guess, as THOR didn't cross every word in the entry. Patrick suggested PAINT HORSE or LOST HORIZON. I see what he meant, though think TRUTH OR DARE is a way more entertaining answer than the alternatives. I think a similar recent theme in the CHE was the main reason for rejection. I vetted the hell out of the non-theme fill (which Patrick never saw), and it was pretty tight (thanks Amy et al). Being lazy, I never revised. I guess now I can put up at my site the multiple versions I did (one with AESIR in the middle, another with NORSEGODS straight across the middle)

So ... good idea, Joon! I approve.
Michael Sharp | Homepage | 08.27.08 - 10:10 am | #

i agree with orange about the chicago tribune puzzles. thanks for responding.

aaron
aaron | 08.27.08 - 10:30 am | #

well this is a bit of a surprise--both the LAT and NYT had SSGTS today, which is not a particularly common abbreviation. also, NITPICKY+NITPICKS. that is an impressive degree of synchronicity.

philly, i regret to admit that RATATOSK, our favorite squirrel of strife, did not make the cut. if there were a fifth theme entry (and there was never really going to be), it would have to have been FREY, who's the most notable missing member of the norse pantheon. but it's really hard to split FREY across a word break. (UNIVERSITY OF REYKJAVIK comes closest, but that's too many letters, and UNIVERSITY doesn't include any of the letters of FREY.) having the whole thing inside a name like GODFREY or GEOFFREY isn't as tight.

michael, i like your theme idea. and title. :) was it weird solving the puzzle? (i bet you got HELLOKITTY faster than most. orange is right--that was a frightfully obscure clue.) i sort of prefer having the explanatory answer in the SE instead of in the middle, because it's more likely to delay the "aha" moment until after most of the theme answers have been filled in. i hadn't considered using AESIR instead of NORSE/GOD. although now that i think about it, LOKI isn't technically one of the AESIR, is he? i guess it depends on which source you go by.

fergus, cryptics get much, much easier with practice. if you do one every couple months (which is about how often they show up as the "second sunday" NYT puzzle), they're hard; but if you do them regularly, or solve the crazy-hard variety cryptics in games magazine, the NYT ones seem pretty tame by comparison. i didn't find orange's time outrageous, but then, i used to do a lot of cryptics. i think her speed on tough themelesses is "more astounding."
joon | 08.27.08 - 2:15 pm | #