Heaneyland!

Summer fun

And by summer fun, I mean, fun you can have while you're sitting inside with the air conditioning on. Like solving my latest Onion crossword.

(If you don't have Across Lite, get with the times, man.)

No rest for the cruciverbal

Well, all that New York Times business was fun, but there's no time to rest on my laurels (and laurels are prickly anyway), so here's another crossword for you. It's my latest from the Onion, and contains no material about human rights atrocities whatsoever.

(Download Across Lite, the discerning person's choice for solving crosswords online.)

For every reaction there is an equal and opposite overreaction

Well, it's been a few days now, and I think I've mostly come to grips with the fact that people aren't talking about me all over the internet the way they were a few days ago. I got lots of great compliments, many from fellow constructors whose work I love, and a fellow could get spoiled! Thanks to everyone who chimed in. That actually is what makes constructing puzzles worth it.

But perhaps now would be a good time to take a look back at some of the more memorable comments about my Sunday crossword, which people turned out to have very strong feelings about, both good and bad. The majority of the comments (at places like Rex Parker's blog, Crossword Fiend, and the Times's Wordplay blog) were super enthusiastic (woo-hoo!), but the remainder of the reactions were ... what's the opposite of enthusiastic? Rancorous? Annoyed? Maybe even a dash of ... bitchy? Something like that. And there was pretty much no middle ground in between.

From here on down I'll be posting spoilers about the answer, so don't keep reading if you haven't solved the puzzle yet and still plan to solve it. All right. Onward.

Come and Solve It

Hey, my Sunday crossword is out! If you're a Times crossword subscriber, you can grab it here. Also up is a short interview with me about the puzzle on the Times's Wordplay blog; it's filled with spoilers about the answer and the theme gimmick, so don't read it if you plan to solve the puzzle and haven't yet. However, if either half of that caveat doesn't apply to you, well then, please read freely!

Crossword alert!

Since I gather that many people don't look at the internet over the weekend (for whatever crazy reason that might be), perhaps now is the time to remind everyone to be on the lookout for my Sunday New York Times Crossword debut this weekend, available online if you're a subscriber, in the Sunday Times magazine if you're not, or possibly as a printout from me if you see me in person in the next couple of days. There will also be a short interview with me in the Times's Wordplay blog.

In honor of this event, here is an mp3 in the ongoing sporadic Do What I Tell You to Do series, Sly Stone's "Crossword Puzzle". (Click through for download link.)

Various things one might wish to be apprised of

Two blog posts in one day, after a month of nothin'? Well, you know what they say -- it never rains but sometimes Francis actually posts to his blog. And actually sometimes it does rain, so I don't know why they say that.

First off, my latest crossword book, "Sit & Solve Quick & Easy Crossword Puzzles" is now available in stores and from all your usual online retailers (Amazon, B&N, and maybe Craigslist for all I know). These are cute-as-a-button little 10x10 crosswords, a handful of which are themeless but mostly feature mini-themes (and are sometimes asymmetrical, because why the heck not).

In other crossword news, I have several puzzles on the way, which I'll re-plug when they're actually about to appear, but in addition to my usual Onion puzzle, I will also be turning up in Wired (probably), and the New York Times Magazine (definitely), the latter featuring my first Sunday Times crossword. I've had a bunch of puzzles in the Times, including a Sunday diagramless, but never a 21x21, so woohoo, awesome! There's also a puzzle you won't be seeing in the Onion, which I constructed and clued even though I kind of expected the idea to get killed (and, really, quite rightly so). But I thought I'd post it here anyway, just so you can see for yourself the Worst, Most Offensive Puzzle Theme Idea I Have Ever Had, which I apologize most profusely for, and I hope you will still continue to solve my other puzzles after seeing it, because really, the Times crossword is quite a nice feat of construction and is perfectly breakfast-table-appropriate, unlike this (named after a song title by Joy Division, in case you were wondering, in turn named after a J.G. Ballard novel, and I can't believe I'm still talking about this crossword, which was, let me reiterate, a really terrible idea).

In other news, the fabulous Lorinne Lampert will be performing on Monday, June 7, at the Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show at Galapagos Art Space as Uke-Lola (doors open at 7:00, show starts at 8:00). She will be singing, strumming, strutting, and simply sensational. If that's not sufficient enticement, host Keith Bindlestiff will once again be attempting his fabled "Kendama Blockhead" trick, in which he nails a cup-and-ball toy into his nose, and then tries to catch the ball in the cup. You either won't want to miss it, or won't want to look at it. All this and more for a mere $5! How can you resist?

Finally, I'm happy to report that I posted to my blog twice today. Hello, internet. I missed you.