Just finished the Times-- What a stupid, stupid puzzle. Dr J is now going to sound like a total pig, but there are a few things I *HATE* with crosswords. Generally, I hate when the puzzles are composed by women. There are a few reasons for this: (1) They tend to use references that are really isolated to feminine spheres of knowledge (allusions to makeup, dresses, etc.); (2) They use a lot of tired crossword formulae (e.g., the theme is a long quote); (3) They tend to refer to materials that are either extremely lightweight or extremely arcane; (4) They tend to use uninspired and often downright silly clues. Elizabeth Gorski's puzzle today featured all of these things. The result is a sense of compositional desperation on her part (and she is usually guilty of this; Gorski is one of the composers I dislike most). Some of the words are idiotic: "minokinis," "Algol" (the star in Perseus), "LBOS", "Dhow," NDAK" (for North Dakota, but I hate such things), "obies" (for 'blown winds'). Most of the other clues are dull and typical. I really wish there were more good female cruciverbalists. Gorski's puzzles are horrible, as are most others (Joline comes to mind). Grrr arrrgh.

The theme? Title: "In So Many Words." The quote: "Language is a city to which every human being brought a stone." (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Yawn. A throughly unrewarding-- and quickly-solved-- puzzle. Not even a single clever clue in the bunch. *sigh*