A pool puzzle

The crossword puzzle below is in the January Billiards Digest. I thought you forumites might like to try it. Most crossword puzzle fans will have no trouble with the non-pool words so you might want to enlist some help if you don't often do these.


Across
1. Well suited; likely (to)
4. Throat-clearing word
8. US stick-builder group
11. League perfect clearance from the start (8 or 9)
12. Raj Hundal’s mom’s dress? (OK, it’s a special word for puzzles, but work out the other direction if you don’t know it. Hint: Raj is from where snooker was invented. Check out his web-site bio.)
13. Players don’t _____ promoters these days.
16. Shane Van Boening’s Fats-like moniker?
20. 314? Or, 46 down is a crusty kind of this.
21. Plays defense; defensive plays
22. “I think that” in on-line forum-speak
23. He plays for ____.
25. Manuscripts (abbr.)
26. Co. top exec.
27. Runnels and Eisenhower
28. Bill Haley’s former room, ____ Billiards in Parsippany, NJ (There’s a hint in his name.)
31. Joe ___, 1980s Ohio top TD
32. Your puzzler, in brief (Hint: the part you probably don’t know is “Edward”.)
33. That’s a __-__. (not to be done)
34. Very curvy shot
35. Sunday for most tournaments
38. Aim-and-____ compensates for squirt, and is one way to do “backhand English.”
41. Mr. Pagulayan
42. Notes between mis and sols
45. Loud crowd noise, or the MGM movie intro
46. To hit two object balls; a form of cue game
48. Former LA-area room owner, Larry ___
49. Frodo foe
50. Unit of resistance
51. US 3-cushion champ Piedrabuena who owns a room in San Diego
52. I. _._._. tracks nukes; ElBaradei ran it.
53. Timing or rhythm of shots
56. To stall is to lemon___. Remember, if life gives you lemons, rub them in your enemies' wounds.
57. Did you enjoy _____ ____’_ Mosconi Cup production?
62. Put off until later, such as maintenance
63. Tennis player Nadal to fans
64. Inquire
65. Don’t ____ wolf, you’ll lose credibility.
66. Several feats like 11 but only for 8-ball; Love to Greeks
67. To ___ (give) odds

Down
1. A non-pool 6-pack due to crunch time
2. Above any shortstop or A player
3. Former Helfert nickname (when under a rug)
4. Shaft woods if maples won’t do
5. “I hope you ____ the time of your life.” (Green Day lyrics)
6. Long time periods, sometimes golden
7. Mr. Immonen
8. Provide evidence
9. Gross, indelicate and stupid
10. Nat. of Walter Lindrum and Neil Robertson
14. Cuts, could be a shot or a cooked turkey
15. Devices used to measure slow shots (or to cook a turkey)
17. Mooris, Kamuis, Triangles, Elk Masters
18. Surely you’ve heard __ __! (egotist’s boast)
19. Player Stevie or Cowboy Jimmy
23. Wine plus blackcurrant liqueur
24. Try to __ out a win. (barely get by)
28. Swindle by deception often by abusing trust
29. He’s __ _ roll. (2 words, said when a player “catches a gear”)
30. Not Bucktooth, back tooth
31. Between Jay and Ell
33. Bothersome poolroom person; louse egg
34. Mr. Eberle, Zen book writer
35. Let’s just play ___ the time.
36. Accu-Stats Video uses ___-mo for some shots.
37. Not a Rep. or an Ind. -- more of a Lib.
38. Mixed-skill-level event, often in pairs for charity
39. Computer input operation
40. Leave completely; ___ the premises
42. _____ regulation forbids cues on airplanes (although the clearly vicious Granny behind you brings on her 5-pound, very lethal cane)
43. You get this on jump shots or by going outside.
44. No room to sit in the bleachers, for short
46. A red ball at snooker (slang)
47. Bullets, could be from Baltimore, or not
48. Who likes pool puzzles? All together! __ __ !!!
50. Not considered so far
51. On a team with the Mamas?
54. Sweat exits this
55. Actor Sharif from “The Baltimore Bullet”
58. Freon is one but oxygen is not.
59. Golden Gate airport
60. The org. that enforces 42 down
61. Mr. Masterson who gave good advice in “Guys and Dolls” about betting and cider avoidance

Vahmurka said:

thank you very much for sharing. I used to crack crossword puzzles in local newspapers like nuts (and they are usually symmetric unlike puzzles in English), but this one is going to take quite A WHILE from me

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Crosswords in English are symmetric but they are point-symmetric through the center square. Thus the two 15-letter answers are equidistant from top/bottom and the green L in the upper-right corner is mirrored by the L in the lower-left.

There was nearly a disaster prior to publication. The answer for 57 does not have a terminal S (I thought it was plural) but I managed to fix it by making it a possessive.

I have seen other billiard word puzzles but they generally do not follow the rules of standard (English) crosswords: every letter is in two words; no word is shorter than 3 letters; the blanks are symmetric through the center.

As for more such puzzles, it took me about 8 hours to get everything exact, formatted, etc. so it will take me a while to work up to another one.

My column in Billiards Digest this month has two other puzzles that are set as billiard-related but they are more math/geometry than pool. I stole one of them from Will Shortz on the NPR Sunday morning program.

pt109 said:

Thanx, Bob....I like doing crosswords.

But you have also created a problem for me....:angry::angry::angry:

HOW DO I GET THE SHARPIE OFF MY %$&# SCREEN NOW?????

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Acetone works for me. Don't breath the fumes. It's better to use dry-erase markers.:nono:

Here is another puzzle from that column. I was surprised by how much pool I could get into a magic square. Benjamin Franklin did magic squares.



A Magic Tray of Balls

Where I play, the management is fanatical about putting the balls in numerical order after polishing them each night. An old puzzle is to arrange 16 numbers in a square grid so that every column adds to the same number and every row adds to that same number. Since all the balls add up to 120 -- which you have to know when playing rotation -- each row and column must add up to 30. I’ve shown one such row above.

I like to keep like colors together, so I’ve placed the 7 with the 15. The 8 ball has to go with the cue ball (which we’ll set equal to zero). Can you place the rest of the balls also in horizontal color pairs in the above tray so they make a magic square? For extra credit, make the two diagonals also add up to 30 each.

A bump for those who haven't seen these two puzzles before.

Bump for the new people who haven't seen these pool-related puzzles.

tucson9ball said:

I'm stuck on 4 down.....

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Lordy. Here's a hint: "Dust to dust."