Tag Archives: Casablanca

Pondering the Legacy of Puzzle-Friendly Names

Posted on by
2
I found this collage on Bluesky.

There was an internet hoax last week that reported Liv Ullmann had passed away.

(And yes, I am retroactively editing this post to correct it, since I had been duped by this hoax. Thank you to one of my commenters for correcting me!)

An actress, filmmaker, and representative of UNICEF, her work has graced both stage and screen, and she was an integral part of Ingmar Bergman’s equally legendary career.

But she has had a similarly lengthy tenure as a crossword entry. Her name dominated crossword cluing for LIV for decades (save for Roman numeral clues), eventually being usurped by LIV Tyler in the 21st century.

And, to be completely honest, I didn’t know Liv Ullmann or her work until I got into puzzles.

Despite a heavy movie buff phase in my twenties — watching the AFI 100, doing a deep dive into Oscar-winning films across film history — there were many Hollywood names I didn’t learn about until I started working in puzzles.

I mean, sure, I knew ASTA from The Thin Man movies, and as a horror movie fan, LON Cheney was a household name, but ONA Munson, OSA Massen, UNA Merkel? UTA Hagen, POLA Negri, EMIL Jannings? A total mystery to me, one and all.

Some names are more accessible than others. RIP TORN, for instance, who I know better from Men in Black and Dodgeball (and The Larry Sanders Show) than from The Man Who Fell to Earth or Cross Creek.

But it’s curious to look across the history of crosswords and crosswordese and see names fall in and out of favor, which names linger despite their increasing irrelevance, and which other ones come back unexpectedly.

I mean, OONA Chaplin is helping OONA’s cause a bit, and ANA de Armas has breathed new life into that three-letter combo. Director ARI Aster is helping ease cluing reliance on a certain Onassis ex. I wish more people knew about the movie Pearl, if only for a new clue for THEDA.

ELSA and OLAF will be riding the Frozen train for years to come. ISSA RAE (and RAE Sremmurd to a lesser extent) have shaken RAE free from Norma, Charlotte, and Ms. Dawn Chong.

But ENA? ELKE? ILKA? Those feel unlikely to make a comeback.

And the cycle continues. INDE Navarrette’s star is on the rise after Obsession, but will she have legs as a crossword entry? The next few years will be telling.

It’s hard to know what name will be a grid-fill flash-in-the-pan and which will have crossword longevity.

I’ve thought about this a lot.

In fact, inspired by the curious connection between crosswords and Hollywood, I have an ever-evolving crosswordese movie list that I use as inspiration for random movie nights:

  • Casablanca (1942, ILSA and LORRE).
  • The Night of the Hunter (1955, screenplay by James AGEE)
  • The Maltese Falcon (1931, UNA Merkel, a full decade before the Bogart one!)
  • The Cheaters (1945, ONA Munson)
  • The Good Earth (1937, O-LAN played by LUISE RAINER, also starring Paul MUNI)
  • Bus Stop (1956, based on the play by William INGE)
  • The Owl and the Pussycat (1970, George SEGAL)
  • Rocketship X-M (1950, OSA Massen)
  • Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964, PIA Zadora)
  • Beautiful Girls (1996, MIRA Sorvino)
  • V for Vendetta (2005, REA)
  • IT’S A Gift (1934)
  • Letters from IWO Jima (2006)
  • NEVER ON Sunday (1960)
  • Stanley & IRIS (1990)
  • Bird ON A Wire (1990)
  • Heidi (1937 or 1968, ALP)

And then you can close out any proper crosswordese movie marathon with films featuring UMA Thurman, EWAN McGregor, or CARY Grant you like, or even The King and I with YUL Brynner.

As these legends (and not-quite-legends) of the silver screen continue to depart this mortal coil (or at least, as internet hoaxes about their deaths continue to circulate), I can’t help but reflect on their curious second life as grid fill.

How many awesome, clever, immensely satisfying solves have we enjoyed in part because of the convenient letter combinations in these names? How many times have they bailed constructors out of bad corners or linguistic jams caused by a particularly taxing theme or grid gimmick?

Probably more often than you’d think.

We may not always know their movies or their most quotable lines, but we definitely know how to spell their names and fill in those blanks.

What names do you only know from crosswords, fellow reader? Do you have any suggestions for my Crosswordese Viewing List? Let me know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Movie Quote Puzzle edition!

Posted on by
4

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellMovieQuotes hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’re been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny/Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was Penny/Dell Movie Quotes, mashing up Penny/Dell puzzles and favorite quotes from the world of film!

Examples might be “Go ahead, make my Daisy,” or “You’re a wizard words, Harry!” or “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your Blips together and blow.”

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny/Dell Puzzles came up with!

“Su-percalifragilisticexpiali-doku!” — Mary Poppins

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give an Anagram.” / “Frameworks, my dear, I don’t give a Cryptogram!” / “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a diagramless.” / “Frankly, my dear, I don’t Give (and Take) a damn!” — Gone With the Wind

“May the Four Squares be with you.” / “May the Cryptograms be with you.” — Star Wars

“Luke, I am your Matchmaker.” — Star Wars

“I find your lack of Face to Face disturbing.” — Star Wars

“These are not the Drop-Outs you are looking for.” — Star Wars

“Are you a good Which Way Words or a bad Which Way Words?” — The Wizard of Oz

“I’ll get you my pretty. And your Little Puzzler, too!” — The Wizard of Oz

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Cancellations anymore.” — The Wizard of Oz

“Linkwords, and Tie-Ins, and Blips! Oh my!” — The Wizard of Oz

“There’s no Places, Please like home.” — The Wizard of Oz

“Soylent Green is Places, Please!” — Soylent Green

“Release the Kakuro.” — Pirates of the Caribbean 2

“What’s Left ain’t no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What’s Left?” — Pulp Fiction

“Word Play it, Sam.” — Casablanca

“We’ll always have Pair Off.” — Casablanca

“Take your Pair Off me, you damned dirty ape!” — Planet of the Apes

“They’re Here and There!” — Poltergeist

“Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Come on In the Middle!” — Blazing Saddles

“Mongo only pawn in Dart Game of life.” — Blazing Saddles

“You’re gonna need a bigger Framequote.” — Jaws

“I’ll find him for Three from Nine. I’ll catch him, and kill him, for ten.” — Jaws

“Bubbles! Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. My bubbles.” — Finding Nemo

“InconceivaBubbles!” — The Princess Bride

“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to Dice Game.” — The Princess Bride

“Just when I thought I was Takeouts, they pull me back Fill-In!” — The Godfather, Part III

“My father made him an All Fours he couldn’t refuse.” — The Godfather

“I am big! It’s the Picture Pairs that got small!” — Sunset Blvd.

“There’s no crying in Quotefalls.” — A League of Their Own

“Love means never having to Say That Again.” — Love Story

“Every time a Diamond Rings an angel gets his wings.” — It’s a Wonderful Life

“Shall we play a Bowl Game?” — WarGames

“If you Build-A-Pyramid, he will come.” — Field of Dreams

“Hang onto your turban kid, we’re gonna make you a Stars and Arrows!” — Aladdin

“E.T. phone Home Runs.” — E.T.: The Extraterrestrial

“I’m the king of the Word Games!” — Titanic

“You can’t handle the Try-Angles!” — A Few Good Men

“What… is your By Any Other Name? What… is your Word Quest? What… is your favorite Color By Numbers?” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail

“I coulda had Crostics…. I coulda been a contender…. I coulda been somebody.” — On the Waterfront

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question…. Do you feel Logic Problem? Well do ya punk?” — Sudden Impact

“Houston, we have a Logic Problem!” — Apollo 13

“Win just One and Only for the Gipper!” — Knute Rockne, All American

“Who’s on First and Last?” — The Naughty Nineties

“Life was like a Windowbox of chocolates.” — Forrest Gump

“Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masterwords champion.” — Caddyshack

One of our fellow puzzlers even submitted an anecdote:

Little known fact…during the filming of the steamy car scene in Titanic, Leo DiCaprio snuck in a Penny Press puzzle magazine, and was heard passionately shouting to co-star Kate Winslet, “I’m the king of the Word Seek!,” which James Cameron subsequently misquoted for their famous romantic scene on the ship’s deck.

Have you come up with any Penny/Dell Movie Quotes of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!