Cross Words Over Crosswords

[This article originally posted to http://thewritejob.blogspot.com/2009/09/cross-words-over-crosswords.html on September 30, 2009]

I'm a casual crossword-puzzle doer. I work on the LA Times one that my newspaper carries on Sundays, the one in the weekly Onion, and the monthly National Geographic's. I'm not a fanatic over solving entire puzzles. I'm somewhat proud if I complete somewhere between 80% and 100%, but don't fret too much if I'm able to complete only 10 words. High and total completions don't occur often.

In working crossword puzzles, I don't do web lookups, I don't use a thesaurus, and only occasionally look in a dictionary. As another indication of my casual methodology, I use a pen. Oh, sure, I letter in answers that turn out incorrect, then do a somewhat messy job of striking out the wrong stuff. At least I've learned to be a bit conservative and initially skip over words I think I might be wrong about, returning later.

Crossword puzzles seem to have evolved from the ones I used to encounter way back. Or maybe it's because I'm not seeing the types I used to work on. No longer do I see the following kinds of clue helpers:

• Two words
• [foreign language]
• Abbreviation
• Plural

Puzzles these days seem to assume some exposure or schooling in very elementary Spanish and French, life experiences spanning back to the 70s, and/or convenient researching via dictionary, thesaurus, Internet, .... I've seen a couple of common clues and/or answers appear in several puzzles. Puzzle makers seem to love ENOLA (as in Enola Gay) and any part of COUER D'ALENE. (Even though I studied some French in the past, I always have a tough time spelling the not-heart part of the term without looking it up.)

Anyway, one puzzle had some clues that I considered irritatingly inadequate; it was an LA Times one (August 30, 2009), themed Organ Transplant. (OK! I'm sure I couldn't create nice-looking, diagonal-axis symmetrical puzzles like those elegant ones I pen in. I'm aware that there are software puzzle creators that make the tasks easier for human creators. I just don't take puzzle solving seriously enough to want to dive in to create any.)

The following list shows the position, the answer, the official clue, and my opinion on a better clue. (Yes, I finally reached the close-in-look part of this blog item!)

• 41A, answer: TATTOO
  Clue: Body language
  Better clue, IMO: Inked body expression


• 62A, answer: PLUS
  Clue: Furthermore
  Better clue, IMO: +


• 87A, answer: ENDORSE
  Clue: Back
  Better clue, IMO: Recommend


• 31D, answer: TOO
  Clue: Overly
  Better clue, IMO: Also


• 37D, answer: ATON
  Clue: Hardly
  Better clue, IMO: 2000 pounds


• 49D, answer: ANTS
  Clue: Farm workers
  Better clue, IMO: Picnic "guests"


• 56D, answer: SIDEB
  Clue: Cassette half
  Better clue, IMO: Single's second-choice song


• 91D, answer: DARTS
  Clue: Dashes
  Better clue, IMO: Pub target game


• 96D, answer: GLASS
  Clue: Calm water metaphor
  Better clue, IMO: Window material


• 102D, answer: JIM
  Clue: Dandy dude?
  Better clue, IMO: Diamond or Slim

In case any reader now feels like working on an LA Times crossword puzzle, visit http://games.latimes.com/index_crossword.html?uc_feature_code=tmcal.

Homophones—Hear There Everywhere

[This article originally posted to http://thewritejob.blogspot.com/2009/09/homophoneshear-there-everywhere.html on September 16, 2009]

Homophones are dissimilar words that sound the same. Their incorrect usages are especially pervasive on the web—in comments sections in articles, blogs, and forums—where people share their opinions. Professionally written articles tend to have fewer instances of incorrect homophones.

Note: I cribbed various definitions from http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Listing misused homophones below, somewhat sorted regarding the ones I seem to encounter most frequently—YMMV:

• its (singular possessive adjective), it's (contraction for "it is")
• to (toward), two (2nd number), too (also)
• your (possessive adjective), you're (contraction for "you are")
• there (location away), their (plural possessive adjective), they're (contraction for "they are")
• whose (possessive adjective), who's (contraction for "who is")
• here (location near), hear (to aurally sense)
• site (location), sight (view), cite (to quote or attribute)
• roll (bread shape), role (person's function)
• wait (to spend time), weight (gravitational pull)
• strait (example better here—strait jacket, dire straits), straight (example better here—straight arrow)
• rite (ceremony), right (correct, make correct, political leaning)
• hair ("crowning glory"), hare (long-eared rodent)
• hour (division of time), our (plural possessive adjective)
• air (Definition needed?), heir (recipient of property, usually blood-related), err (make mistake)
• birth (a beginning or to cause a beginning), berth (a space allotment)
• wear (clothing or to put something on self or to erode), ware (item)

Listing near-homophones below (homonyms, if you agree with the assertion at http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/affect-effect-grammar.html). They lost me with the second sentence. "Homonyms are words that similar, but have very different meanings. Other examples of homonyms are two/to/too, accept/except, and there/their/they're."

• hear, hare
• our, are (plural form of "to be")
• bear (large furry animal, to carry), bare (naked, to become naked), bier (a stand for a coffin or coffin/stand unit), beer (slurp!)
• where, wear
• effect, affect (See http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/affect-effect-grammar.html for details of differences.)

With increasing popularity of text messaging, people are not only uploading thoughts wherever or whenever, using multiple choices of tools, they're adding more homophones in the form of newer abbreviations. A couple of examples are "U" for "you", and "UR" for "you're" or "your".

Some Wordplays Placed in the Wicked Play (and Other Wicked References)

[This article originally posted to http://thewritejob.blogspot.com/2009/09/some-wordplays-placed-in-wicked-play.html on September 6, 2009]

Wicked was written by Gregory Maguire in 1995 as a prequel-type story to L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz. In Maguire’s story, three of the main characters bear little resemblance to how they appear in Wizard.

• Galinda (Glinda)—the Good Witch—is vain, self-centered, and rather ditzy.
• Elphaba—the eventual Wicked Witch of the West—is misunderstood and can’t seem to catch a PR break.
• Elphaba’s sister Nessarose—the eventual Wicked Witch of the East—is "tragically beautiful" at the start.

In 2003, Wicked became a Broadway musical and won several Tony awards in 2004. The book and musical greatly differ from each other. The book has lots of grimness and darkness; lots of characters die. The musical has lots of comedy, camaraderie, and joy. (Various references for Wicked are at the bottom of this blog item.)

The music is stunning—wordplay is evident in several prominent songs written by Stephen Schwartz. I have selected songs that indicate the cleverness of ambiguity.

For Good
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
I have been changed for good.
The beauty of these words "for good" is the possible double meaning—permanent change, or improvement.

Defying Gravity (near beginning and end)
I hope you’re happy.
Elphaba and Glinda sing "I hope you’re happy" to each other—at first, very sarcastically. By the end of the song, they sing very tenderly and sincerely to each other.

I’m Not That Girl (Elphaba singing this fairly early in the play, then later, Glinda singing the reprise)
She who's winsome, she wins him.
The use of "win" in two places so close together makes for light-touch wordplay. The song itself reveals a yearning the two girls each have for Fiyero at different times, when he apparently has chosen the other girl. (The lyrics are graceful for expressing unrequited and/or lost love.)

As Long As You’re Mine (Elphaba and Fiyero)
I'll make ev'ry last moment last.
This line makes nice use of "last"—a noun meaning the final moment, and a verb meaning to extend time.
Somehow I've fallen,
Under your spell,
And somehow I'm feeling,
It's "up" that I fell.
The excerpt includes words pertaining to physical direction in a discombobulating way—fallen, under, up, fell.

The Wizard and I (Elphaba)
I'll be so happy, I could melt!
The expression is amusing because of it sounding like normally hopeful anticipation, but coming from the future Wicked Witch of the West, it sounds like an unintended death wish.

Wicked wikipedia URLs:
musical—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical)
book—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked:_The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Wicked_Witch_of_the_West
Lyrics—http://www.stlyrics.com/w/wicked.htm

Incidental to discussing the three girls above, I’ve sprinkled a few related thoughts.

I listed some of the characters and arrows to indicate general attractions to each other (my observations):
Nessarose -> Boq (future Tin Woodman) -> Galinda/Glinda -> Fiyero (future Scarecrow) <-> Elphaba

My short descriptors for some other characters:

• Wizard—blowhard
• Mme. Morrible—carpy dame
• Dr. Dillamond—eventually baaaa...
• Cowardly lion—when grown, tail end cameo