Tuesday 28 August 2012

Polka Your Eyes Out

Not much to report this week. One of the highlights of the weekend was hitting up a Ukrainian Festival down the road from my house. I was curious when I heard what sounded vaguely like the Tetris theme on my front step. When I decided to investigate some time later, the band was actually playing the A Music from Tetris as part of a Weird Al-esque polka medley (or whatever the Ukranian variant of polka is. I should know this; I am somewheres around half Ukranian).

In crossword news, happy (belated) 60th birthday, Will Shortz!

Today's puzzle is 15x15 and themed. I considered offering it as a print-only puzzle because no electronic form can portray the solution exactly as I envision it. But, since I know that printing is a pain in the ass and/or ecologically objectionable to some solvers, I'll just strongly recommend that you solve the print version but offer you both. See the solutions page for the grid as it was meant to look. Also, if you think the clue for 30-Down sucks, well, you'd be right, but know that I struggled for a while with that one. Another example of hey-I-found-a-great-entry-not-in-my-database-that-bails-me-out-of-a-tight-spot-but-how-the-hell-do-you-clue-it. If you have a better idea I'm all ears. Lastly, I hope you'll forgive me for yet another Game of Thrones clue. I'm currently obsessed (just started the fifth book, which is bittersweet because I know that I'll devour it and then be left hanging for God-only-knows how many more years before the series is concluded). Oh, and of course I know that the book series is called "A Song of Ice and Fire," but I wager that more people know it by the TV series name.

More words, crossed and otherwise, next Tuesday.

Puzzle: Inflexions
Rating: XW-14A
Difficulty: Moderate/kinda tricky

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.

2 comments:

e.a. said...

too cool. 42-across clue was great

Anonymous said...

38 across clue should be "Mushroom Kingdom" not "Magic Kingdom"