Toon Time

Are you big on comics, superheroes and cartoons, not so big on crosswords? 

A pack of 20 small, easy puzzles I wrote for the NY Times crossword app may be for you. One-third of the puzzle content is cartoon-related. The app and this sample puzzle are free (the full pack isn't):  

A PDF can be downloaded here: 

Comic & Superheroes pack

(BTW, I get nothing more if you buy the pack, so count this as a public service announcement.)

Crossword Trios

The answer to each of these crossword clues is three letters long. But I picked them for another reason. Can you figure out what it is?

1. ___-Magnon man
2. U-turn from NNE
3. Former Army fort on California's Monterey Bay

If you don't know the answer to the third clue, you may still be able to figure it out.

Answer: CLICK

Solve and (maybe) Win

I've got a new crossword up on the Devarai crossword puzzle app, and five lucky people — the two fastest solvers, plus three randomly chosen correct solvers — will win a copy of my book, Zep in the Curse of the Evil Dr. Sumac Who Lives Next Door.

The app can be downloaded for free, just search for Devarai crossword. The prize puzzle's title is "Second Time Around," and the contest closes April 6th. Good luck!

The Devarai crossword app icon

Genius

The New York Times crossword app is offering a FREE series of 20 free 9x9 (a.k.a. midi) puzzles that I wrote. The subject of the puzzles is the person who appeared in yesterday's Orts post.

The first five of these crosswords can be accessed on the app's home page this week, with the rest to follow soon. They appear under the title "Genius in the Grid" ... not to be confused with a 15x15 "Genius in the Grid" crossword by Joel Fagliano, available elsewhere on The Times site.

CLICK HERE to watch a preview of the series 

75 Years (plus a day) of Puzzles

Back in 2010 when I was writing the New York Times crossword blog, Wordplay, I wrote a post about the first-ever New York Times crossword, which appeared on February 15, 1942. That was 75 years ago ... uh, yesterday.

The post included an image of the actual puzzle (shown above). Luckily, such a thing could be found online by rummaging through a digital trove of old newspapers and magazines through my local library.

As for the puzzle itself, you can read a little more about it in that Wordplay post: CLICK. You can also download an Across Lite file of it, as well as a "Puns & Anagrams" crossword that also ran that day. Wait, did you catch that? Yesterday wasn't just the anniversary of the first New York Times crossword puzzle, it was the anniversary of the first two New York Times crossword puzzles.

Fill 'er Up 2

Your task: Fill the crossword grid following the requirements listed below.

1. Place OBAMA, ROSIE, and TRUMP at 1-, 6-, and 7-Across (you decide which goes where).

2. Enter two of the names as usual, reading left to right, but one of them MUST read right to left.

3. The five Downs that are formed must all be common entries.

Answer: CLICK

Sunday Solving

Back in the days when solving on paper was the only option, and the Sunday edition of The Times required heavy lifting ....

Alternate Crossword Clues

APP: Roach prefix
DOS: Nut-free donuts
CITE: Average student
ODED: Asner's rehab nickname
HOWE: Ye Olde Tepee greeting
STOOD: Father Ood, after being canonized
ADHOC or ADLIB: Deuce follower, in a Hoc vs. Lib tennis match

Xmas Xword

One of my all-time favorite presents, from my daughter:

Answers (including acceptable alternates): CLICK

Presidents Pack

10-Across: Oval Office title

19-Across: Part of an Oval Office title

Sample puzzle from the PRESIDENTS pack 

on the New York Times crossword puzzle app 

[20 fun and easy 9x9 crosswords by Patrick Merrell]

Try it free on the NYT crossword app

for iPhone/iPad: CLICK

Unused Crossword Clues

Clue: Ugly brother of Pooh’s donkey pal
Answer: EYESORE

Clue: Coif for figure skater Johnny
Answer: WEIRDO

Clue: “Like totally,” at a track meet
Answer: RELAY

Clue: “Who dat with Prince William?” reply
Answer: SKATE

The NY Times Doodle Pad

Near the end of my stint as a crossword blogger for The New York Times, I introduced a feature dubbed the Doodle Pad.

Here's the first installment, appearing on a post [CLICK] that uncharacteristically included no conversation about that day's puzzle (I heard from a few readers about that). Instead, some of that day's crossword clues and answers served as fodder for the doodle. Also included: a Will Shortz craft project!

The Cover That Wasn't

Years ago, cartoonists used to make a weekly pilgrimage to midtown Manhattan, visiting The Saturday Evening Post, Look, and other magazines in hopes of selling some of their drawings. Today, the only stop left on the circuit is The New Yorker.

For three consecutive weeks about 15 years ago, I made the Tuesday trek to the office of Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor there. The process is informal. You find out who among the gaggle of hallway loiterers is last in line and wait until you see them exit Bob's office.

On each visit, I left the building with the same number of unsold cartoons I'd come with. About the best I did was to get a reaction along the lines of "there might be something there." But it wasn't there yet. On the last visit, I mentioned to Bob that it was my goal to have a cartoon in The New Yorker sometime before I die. He jokingly replied, "Call me if you're feeling ill." So there is hope. We all get old and decrepit at some point, right? 

A little while later, I decided to swing for the fences — drawing up the cover you see below. It's an actual working crossword, themed to The New Yorker. All of the clues can be found lurking in the surrounding city scene. 

To make a short story even shorter, here's the response I got back after submitting the drawing to the magazine: "Not quite right for us."
[Click image to enlarge]

Fill 'er Up

Your task: Fill the grid following the requirements listed below.

Across: Two of the Across entries must fit this clue:

• U.S. president with an incomplete second term, but not due to death

Down: Two of the Down entries must fit these clues: 

• The Family Circus cartoonist Keane
• Comfy shoe, briefly

Others: The remaining entries are all common words. 

The answer can be found HERE.

Extinction

What's a little surprising about this post is that, although Orts is now in its 11th week, this is the first crossword puzzle to appear on it. (I write a lot of crosswords.)

This one is a little different, with a center cartoon that acts as a clue for the theme answers. Click on the image to download a PDF of the crossword (plus the answer and the book's cover).

From Punchline Puzzles, a book of 50 crosswords published in 2005 by St. Martin's Press.