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发表于 2012-7-28 11:15 · 浙江
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vuitton ralph lauren femme A Day with Will Shortz
the following installments ran in the wordplay posts of sept. 20 to 26 in 2010. to read them in their original settings, click on the links.
part 1:
one day this summer, i trekked up to will shortz’s house, where he does all his work,air jordan, to join him while he edited a batch of puzzles. each of this week’s monday through saturday posts will include a short installment telling of the experience. i’ll start today by setting the scene.
will lives in a tudor-style house on a quiet street about a 40-minute train ride from new york city. i arrived on a day when the temperature would be in the 90s. he met me at the door in short pants, sandals and t-shirt, realizing he’d forgotten to tell me he has no air-conditioning.
we headed upstairs, where he switched on a fan in the hallway pointing toward the small room where we would work. i sat myself down at a long table,air jordan femme, and he pulled up a chair next to me with a week’s batch of puzzles in his hand.
part 2:
before i arrived, will had already chosen the week’s lineup of crosswords, looking for a nice variety of themes and authors. he pointed to the “accepted” shelves behind us, where they’d come from.
the tallest stack was the themeless puzzles, about a one-year supply. the smallest pile represented those slated for monday. rich norris,[url=]borse prada 2012[/url], the crossword editor for the los angeles times, faces the same situation; not many constructors write good, easy puzzles.
the sunday puzzles were elsewhere, but the supply of those was the smallest of all. there are even fewer people who write good sunday puzzles.
will’s selection process for making up a week’s batch of puzzles is simple. he’ll pull out one puzzle from the bottom of each stack,polo lacoste pas cher charles aris - youre the bos, those that have been waiting the longest. if the mix isn’t quite right, one or two will be returned and the next oldest in line will take their place. puzzles that need to appear on a specific day are kept separately and shuffled in when the time arises.
part 3:
the task before us was to tighten up the submitted clues and, if the need arose, fix any trouble spots in the grids.
as we meandered down the columns of clues,ralph lauren pas cher, will’s assessments came quickly. well-written clues that were appropriate for the day remained. those that were off, awkward, dull or too familiar were altered or replaced.
we researched facts using shelves of reference books and the internet. two dictionaries sat in front of us to double-check exact meanings. occasionally, we’d bring up a database to see if a clue under consideration was original or, if not, how recently it had appeared.
as the day wore on, i was struck by how many clues needed to be changed. will told me there are a few constructors who need very little editing, but the majority need lots. changing half a puzzle’s clues is the norm,jordan, with as much as 95 percent getting the ax on occasion.
clue-writing seems simple,[url=]prada occhiali[/url], but it’s a subtle art involving an odd combination of skills: 1) being able to write cleverly and colorfully; 2) capturing a thought in just a few words; and 3) being factually precise. it’s not that common to find someone who does all those things well,gucci borse prezzi [url=]ray ban pas cher smoking people[/url],gucci outlet,air jordan ralph lauren femme top 10 composers the, especially on top of being able to fill a grid. experience helps,ralph lauren pas cher,polo lacoste [url=]louis vuitton ray ban pas cher ); var[/url],jordan, but it’s no guarantee.
part 4:
after a puzzle is edited, it needs to be put into the computer. i’d be handling that chore, although will normally does it himself.
first up was creating the grid using a custom-made program. i typed the across entries into a blank 15×15 template,[url=]prada borse[/url],sac pliage longchamp, hitting the space bar whenever a black square was needed. the program automatically added the numbers.
next was creating the newspaper layout (the across lite file will be made later at the times). i opened up an indesign template and inserted the grid i had just made as well as the previous puzzle’s answer. i then started typing the clues into the columns. this also provided a final opportunity to review them.
will perused my work and then made his usual adjustments so that the longer clues broke well and the spacing between clues was uniform. if the last column was sparsely filled,ralph lauren femme, leading was increased. if the clues didn’t all fit, leading was decreased and one or two may be shortened.
the completed files were e-mailed to the testers for solving. later, will will speak to each of them on the phone to hear what they like, don’t like, find confusing or simply think is wrong, before giving the clues their final polish.
part 5:
what else makes up the will shortz puzzling world? adjacent to his main workroom is what i’d call his puzzle den. two leather armchairs sit in the center,borse prada, either of which he’ll sit in to whittle down the stacks of submissions; he gets 75 to 100 a week. lining the perimeter of the room are an array of shelves and drawers that hold what may be the world’s largest privately owned puzzle collection.
on the staircase and first floor, more puzzle memorabilia decorate the walls, and there’s a display case in his living room that holds some of his more interesting puzzle objects.
his basement is a catacomb,ralph lauren femme, maze, storehouse of puzzle tournament leftovers, puzzle boards, puzzle books … well, just about anything containing the word “puzzle.”
he’s also got a cubicle at the manhattan headquarters of the times, which is where ellen ripstein creates the online files.
part 6:
my visit lasted six hours, including a lunch break. in that time,[url=]outlet prada[/url], we edited and typeset three complete puzzles, which is about par for the course.
going in,prada borse prada borse composers - artsbeat blog - nytimes.,ray ban wayfarer, i was expecting the experience to be different from what i expected. the surprise was that it really wasn’t. there were puzzles that needed to be whipped into shape, something will has been doing every week for the past 17 years. his experience and expertise showed, as did his verve for the task. editing the puzzles remains his favorite part of the job.
before i go,vuitton, there’s one more topic that begs to be mentioned, will’s other obsession — table tennis. will spends two and a half hours a day playing. when traveling,[url=]prada scarpe sacs longchamp pliage outlet gucci christian lo[/url], even overseas, he always makes sure to line up a club for an evening of matches.
and now, he’s just completed a deal that makes him half-owner of a building that will house the westchester table tennis center. an architect is designing an area that will hold 18 tables, and it will soon be open to members,gucci borse prezzi,liu jo sito ufficiale, families, visiting ringers and, since it’s only five blocks from his home,prada, will shortz. |
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