Today's USA Today Crossword is mine & with an LGBT clue

[Puzzler]

Hi folks,

As some here may already know, I am a professional crossword constructor, hence my “name”

So what’s an “LGBT” clue doing in a paper like the USA Today?

Here’s some background info, that even people who aren’t very interested in crosswords may find interesting (and it’s NOT the part about me!):

Alrighty then ... I’ve contributed about 87 hard Friday/Saturday crosswords to the New York Times, however I’m also part of a team of about 20 people who contribute to the USA Today.

All of us who now contribute are, or have been New York Times crossword constructors, including Fred Piscop the (newer) USA Today crossword editor.

The previous editor Timothy Parker was FIRED for plagiarism!!!

Timothy Parker never had anything to do with any of the “regular” crossword community. He was contemptuous of those “smarty-pants” crosswords that “Elite Democrat Party Liberals” [not my words]

This is probably because he was (and still is, IMO) an End-of-Times-Fundamentalist-Right-Wing-Extremist-Evangelical!”. And his solution was to PLAGIARIZE other published crosswords, including some older New York Times puzzles!!! He changed a few clues and answers to evade detection usually by a few letters.

If that sounds bizarre, you’re right. And it was Nate Silver’s group (love ‘em or hate ‘em) who finally published the definitive proof. It’s quite an interesting and entertaining story, because it’s so odd. Here’s an article about what happened:

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/timothy-parker-accused-of-plagiarism-is-out-as-usa-todays-crossword-puzzle-editor/amp/


Fred Piscop (a NYT constructor) took the helm. And recruited myself and a few other women and men from the “sane” crossword community. So here we are

My crossword today is not hard. It’s about a Monday-Tuesday level of NYT difficultly. There are zero rare words (I hope!), and it has a nifty little theme.

Oh yes, there is NO way that a clue with an LGBT/LGBTQ reference (36-Down) would have made it in an older USA Today crossword!



(FYI you can find it online at their site or in the paper)


Tuesday, July 3/2018

http://games.usatoday.com/games/crossword/



-Puzzler

AKA: Martin Ashwood-Smih

[shanny]

1. Ha!

I just did that one! Thanks!

[Puzzler]

2. You're welcome!

-Puzzler/MAS

[voteearlyvoteoften]

3. Congrats

Cool job 😎👍🏻

[Puzzler]

4. ... and apologies to those who already replied

after I “accidentally” posted this thread in the wrong freakin’ forum

So much for my “superb” comprehension skills






-Puzzler

[Fla Dem]

5. Just completed it on line. Took me 42 minutes.

Used to do c/w puzzles a lot, but not so much any more. Just not as sharp as I used to be. That was a good one.

[Puzzler]

6. Thanks!

May I ask for a link to your comments?


“Inquiring Minds Want to Know”

Cheers,

-Puzzler/Martin

[Fla Dem]

9. I don't understand. The comment I made here? If so, sure you can link.

[Puzzler]

10. D'oh! My misunderstanding!

Cheers

-Puzzler/Martin

[Blue_Tires]

7. That's you?

Now I've got to make it a special effort to beat your grids into oblivion whenever they run!

[Puzzler]

8. Yes ... and my crosswords make great birdage liner

I’m guessing budgies are quite familiar with them


I remember a few years back, a reader of the New York Times called me a “commie pinko”

I can’t remember which NYT puzzle of mine it was, and I wish I could remember the clue (or clues) that set the Tea-Bagger off. Although it coulda been almost anything.

Maybe he looked me up on line, and discovered I was a “Liberal”, to put it mildly.

It was on an online NYT forum, and I told him he was actually paying me a great compliment

He wasn’t amused.



-Puzzler/Martin Ashwood-Smith

[Jim Lane]

11. It appears that Parker tried to scrub his Wikipedia bio

I followed your link to the FiveThirtyEight story and read it with interest. As a Wikipedian, I wanted to make sure we had this covered.

Well, it turns out there was quite a storm about the Parker bio. Several different Wikipedia accounts were created, none of which edited any other article and all of which, the admins concluded, were Parker himself. These accounts repeatedly attempted to remove information about Parker's plagiarism. In response, genuine users had to team up to defend the integrity of the article, and admins used some of their tools, such as restricting changes to the article. The main account that Parker was using to try to delete the information has been indef-blocked (that's Wikipedese for "pizza" ).

This guy is some fine shining example of evangelical Christianity.

[Puzzler]

12. Yep that's true!

There’s more to the story concerning RW media info/influence.

I’ll say more a bit later (out now)


-Puzzler

[ailsagirl]

13. Thanks for this, Puzzler!!

[mikeargo]

14. Your name looks familiar

Have you ever had a puzzle in Games magazine?

[Puzzler]

15. Yes, mainly the large "Orney Crosswords" ....

I think I did at least 7 of those 25x25 puzzles.

All of them featured large stacks of long words (lots of white space).

Also about 600 plus for the Washington Post and quite a few other places. I’ve been at it since 1991 (my first NYT, under Eugene T. Maleska... now it’s Will Shortz).

I’m probably best known for my “Quad Stack” NYT puzzles (Fri/Sat).

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/crosswords/who-made-my-puzzle-martin-ashwood-smith.html


Yadda, yadda, yadda ...


-Puzzler/Martin Ashwood-Smith