| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Yukon |
Posted - 03/03/2011 : 21:18:34
Hi folks,
Apparently crossword fans are up in a tizzie because the New York Times used seveal FWFR reviews in a recent crossword.
Here are some clues from the March 2 cross words (as reported from a crossword blooger's post: "17a. An Affair to Remember loses its An and becomes the pun A FARE TO REMEMBER, clued as ["Taxi Driver" tagline?].
25a. ["Back to the Future" tagline?] is A COMEDY OF ERAS. The Shakespeare play is The Comedy of Errors, not A Comedy of Errors, but �comedy of errors� is a common phrase on its own.
42a. This is the one that won my heart. The kid�s spooky line in The Sixth Sense, �I see dead people,� turns into a ["Titanic" tagline?], ICY DEAD PEOPLE. Horribly tasteless, yes, but it made me laugh. I just read it to my husband and he laughed and said, �Nice!�
Look Back in Anger becomes LUKE BACK IN ANGER, a ["Return of the Jedi" tagline?]. Doesn�t quite parse grammatically, but it picks up a hint of Terminatory �he�s back� menace."
There is a debate on it on the New York Times Crossword:
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/je-ne-sais-quoi/?permid=50
And one crossword blogger wrote about it (scroll down a little to find the post): http://www.crosswordfiend.com/blog/2011/03/01/wednesday-3211/
What are your thoughts?
Some people are mad -- I'm kind of honoured. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 04/11/2011 : 21:04:47
Benj:  |
| benj clews |
Posted - 04/11/2011 : 17:41:23
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
I think this is great and hang those who find "Icy Dead People" is in bad taste!
Is it really "too soon" to be making this pun?  |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 04/11/2011 : 17:30:35
True dat.  |
| randall |
Posted - 04/11/2011 : 14:01:26
I don't believe him either, Rocky. But it isn't the Times's fault for taking him at his word. Imagine if Will Shortz had to Google every bit of wordplay!
Although there's no law, I too assume the wordplay in a crossword comes from the constructor, and I think this amounts to, if not plagiarism, at least cheating, because he's implicitly taking the credit for creating the puns. Yet all he ever had to do was to include a clue on the order of, "Source of these movie puns, with '.com.'" The answer? FWFR. |
| RockGolf |
Posted - 04/11/2011 : 12:13:22
What bothers me the most about the whole situation is not the borrowing / plagiarizing from FWFR, but the claim made by the puzzle's author that he came up with two of these himself.
It's like he's telling us, oh, you guys took 11 years to write these? Well, I just pulled two of the best out of my ass.
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| RockGolf |
Posted - 04/11/2011 : 12:10:15
Meanwhile, back at the puzzle...
The guy who wrote the puzzle is a Math Professor at Trent University in Peterborough.
As it happens, I know a world-class crossword-puzzler/ constructor who's also a college professor. I asked him his opinion, after linking him to both a copy the puzzle and the FWFR top 100 list.
Here's his opinion:
quote:
This looks pretty wonky. Clearly this supposed email was cripped from that great website. A very witty site overall. However, if this person (who I don't know) is a CS professor, he would have typed in anything he found into a search engine right away, because we all do that with everything. I mean the fact that he got the first two from a list, means he probably searched for the source of that list. And finding things of the right length would take forever. And having a pre-done list would make it awesome to fine ones of the proper symmetry lengths. So I think the guy didn't think anyone would notice, because the odds of him coming up with any two of those independently is pretty sllim.
It is bad editorial work by the NYTimes who doesn't really check and which is why their puzzles aren't as good as many others nowadays.
|
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 04/09/2011 : 15:40:36
quote:
Originally posted by randall
P.S. British crosswords are so boring.
I agree! A US x-word aficionado, I have such respect for such exemplars as Will Shortz and Margaret Farrar. I especially like the themed ones and those hilarious puns.
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| randall |
Posted - 04/09/2011 : 14:04:32
quote:
Originally posted by Cracovian
Those are all pretty widespread puns: it's possible that they're ripped off from here but it's not in the balance of probability.
Nope, not improbable, nor are they all widespread at all [and the comments on ICY DEAD PEOPLE imply that no blogger had ever seen it before, as I had not before I first read it here]. Pray, where did you see it before, allowing you to call it "pretty widespread"? Yeah, that's what I thought. Your writing would be more persuasive if you would refrain from hasty generalizations. By the way, the word "pretty" is unnecessary: either something is "widespread," or it isn't. I'm sub-editing here for clarity.
It becomes probable by virtue of all four appearing in the same puzzle. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that the constructor did not use FWFR as a resource and coincidentally created all four puns instead. That doesn't bother me, but it evidently bothers some solvers, who seem to expect original wordplay from a constructor.
P.S. British crosswords are so boring. |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 04/08/2011 : 23:28:34
Your statement about Yukon appears to assert a criticism, implying that Yukon is being hypocritical. However, review of Yukon's post reveals no "objection" at all. So your apparent snarkiness is not only characteristically rude, it lacks an accurate basis. Hence, go fuck yourself.
Usage of the word "worse" implies a value judgment denegrating all of American crosswords. If you meant "more difficult" or "more challenging" then you should have used a different adjective. The fact that more than one person understood your remark to be perjorative indicates that you either intended to be jingoistic, or that you were unduly careless with language. That would make you either a miserable shit stain, or just plain stupid.
So now we are waiting: which one is it? |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 04/08/2011 : 23:03:19
quote:
Originally posted by turrell
If you're actively attempting to disparage all of North America - check (Yukon is belove throughout Canada).
Um... what? I was 'attempting' to say that American crosswords are much worse than British ones...
|
| RockGolf |
Posted - 04/08/2011 : 20:31:18
I just caught up with this.
The cruxiverbalist (David Poole of Peterborough Ont.) claims he was sent two of the four themed clues in an e-mail without attribution, but that he and the editor came up with the other two (unspecified) in consulting with the editor.
I'm sorry, but that he could independently come up with two of the top 100 reviews on this site, character for character, on the same movies just defies all probability. Just astronomical odds.
More likely he heard Yukon's interview on CBC, and somewhere in the back of his mind, those reviews stuck, at least subconsciously. |
| turrell |
Posted - 04/08/2011 : 15:32:53
BTW - who is Michael Sharp - do we know him?
(that's what I constantly ask my wife - do I know that guy - my brain is dissolving apparently) |
| turrell |
Posted - 04/08/2011 : 15:30:10
quote:
Originally posted by Cracovian
Well, if the source is cited, it's not a rip-off either.  Anyway, Yukon's not exactly the F.W.F.R.er best placed to object to reviews being duplicated.
I'm guessing that the crossword fans are objecting to the material as being unsuitable for clues, which is quite right (especially by the way it sounds as though it is being presented), but American crosswords are much worse than British ones so it doesn't really matter either way.
If you're actively attempting to disparage all of North America - check (Yukon is belove throughout Canada). |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 04/08/2011 : 00:06:36
For my part, I thought it was an intentional homage to the site and quite expected the crossword blogs to confirm it. I agree with randall: God knows I didn't steal that "Me No Leica" review. |
| randall |
Posted - 04/07/2011 : 23:34:04
Considering what all of us fwiffers have ripped off from others in the past ten years [our name is LEGION], it's simply a case of chickadees coming home to roost. |
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