If you’re a crossword person, you probably have a notion of what Maleska puzzles were like compared to Shortz ones. Thanks to The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, I’ve been able to look at nearly 2,000 such crosswords going back to 1989.
It’s certainly not true that Maleska grids were devoid of playfulness or clever themes. Many outstanding puzzles would delight solvers today. It is true, though, that Maleska and Shortz have different notions of desirable or even acceptable answer words. I thought it would be interesting to see the list of common Maleska answers that never again saw the light of day in a NYT daily or Sunday grid.
The hidden words below appeared on average more than once a year pre-Shortz but never since. See how many you can guess? Click the more or less canonical clues to see the answers and all the other clues for that word. Answer length is indicated and note that answers appear in this list in alphabetical order.
Air-raid shelters / Dugouts (5) (singluar form is more common, appearing earlier this month)
Grape seeds / Currants, e.g. / Blackberry drupelets (5)
At the age of: Lat. abbr. (3)
Money-exchange premiums (5) (singular form is again common)
Catkin (5) (Byron Walden used this one in a diagramless)
Male ant (4)
Nigerian native (3)
"Be thou like to ___" / Indonesia's ___ Islands (4)
Tamarisk / Salt tree (4)
Of grandparents (4)
Sandy tracts in England (5) (singular form has appeared as recently as 2011)
Hindu land grant (4)
Of a Great Lake (5) (I find this one particularly weird.)
Ancient two-wheeled chariot (5)
Band of African warriors (4)
Arrow poison (4) (Very popular entry in late-Maleska puzzles)
Muslim decree (5)
Elbe tributary (4)
Famed naval historian (5)
Brood of pheasants (4)
Port of Kyushu (4)
Ouida's real name (5)
Feather barbs / Nerve branches (4)
Old Testament juniper (5)
Weaver's reed (4)
Curve of a ship's plank (3)
Spore clusters (4)
Facing a glacier (5)
Chinese pagoda (3)
French philosopher Hippolyte ___ (5)
Indian weight unit (4) (Also clued as Altman’s “Welcome ___” which at least is possible)
Single (4) (hmmm…)
Two-toed sloth (4)
Baseball’s Big or Little Poison (5)
How did you do? If enough people are interested, there’s another similar list I could create – words very common in Maleska puzzles that appeared only once or twice since.
Only got 3. I don't know how Eugene would have survived in the age of xword blogging. I'll be interested to see this kind of comparison looks when the project gets deeper into the archives with Weng and Farrar puzzles.
I'm surprised the "Poison" brothers, Paul and Lloyd, haven't shown up since 1993. I don't think they're obscure. They were big names in their time, and the answer to the trivia question, Who were the only brothers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?* We saw Turkey STEARNES in a puzzle not long ago, and I think if anyone needed to use WANER it would be okay, especially late in the week.
* If the question is spoken, extra credit if you remember 19th-century slugger Dan Brouthers.
Posted by: john farmer | 10/15/2012 at 09:20 PM
I got 7 right!
I guess I've done my share of old crosswords.
-- Will Shortz
Posted by: Will Shortz | 10/15/2012 at 09:45 PM