I had read somewhere that BRITNEY SPEARS was an anagram for PRESBYTERIANS. I couldn't believe that! Plus PRESBYTERIANS anagrammed into BEST IN PRAYERS. All 13s, so this was a natural.
The only problem was, Will didn't think BRITNEY SPEARS would last if the puzzle were reprinted six years hence. I didn't care about that issue because I wanted something fresh. Plus it's a daily newspaper, why should I be concerned about shelf-life? And although I'd like my puzzles to stand the test of time, it only benefits the publishers, as they don't pay royalties, nor even supply the authors with a book, so my feeling is why should I knock myself out worrying who will/won't be known in 10 years time? It was not published for a long time ... and I would argue with Will that BRITNEY would be around for a long time, that all girls knew her, and young folks, etc. It was the beginning of my trying to champion puzzles with a more feminine-bent to the themes. Even though the older male editors and sports enthusiasts that abound might not be a BRITNEY fan, there were plenty of women (and gay men) who were.
In the meantime, I thought it hadn't been accepted as I heard nothing for years. So I created a similar one, with four themes, for Peter Gordon and the Sun. BRITNEYSPEARS/PRESBYTERIANS and PEPSICOLA/EPISCOPALS. She was the spokesperson for Pepsi so I thought that was also a stunning coincidence. Totally different puzzle, as I said, four themes, not three and I hadn't heard from the Times in a couple of years. Suddenly the Times puzzle was printed and someone on line (which was a new phenomenon in 2005) accused me of plagiarizing the theme! He didn't realize that it was the same person who had written both puzzles. I was mortified ... wasn't the first, nor the last time, someone online had been scathing without knowledge, but I was embarrassed. I think over a year went by before I published again.
1 A | 2 N | 3 G | 4 E | 5 S | 6 S | 7 C | 8 R | 9 O | 10 D | 11 C | 12 O | 13 T |
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14 D | A | R | I | A | 15 P | I | A | N | O | 16 R | F | K |
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17 A | R | E | N | A | 18 O | T | T | E | R | 19 U | F | O |
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20 P | R | E | S | B | 21 Y | T | E | R | I | A | 22 N | S | ||
23 T | O | N | 24 O | T | R | A | 25 E | A | 26 V | 27 E |
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28 S | W | E | 29 E | 30 T | L | Y | 31 C | 32 R | 33 A | W | D | A | D |
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34 L | O | A | 35 S | E | A | T | 36 E | T | S |
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37 B | 38 R | I | T | N | 39 E | Y | S | P | E | 40 A | R | S | ||
41 P | E | A | 42 A | D | D | S | 43 S | A | C | |||||
44 J | A | I | 45 A | L | A | I | 46 A | T | M | C | 47 A | 48 R | 49 D |
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50 S | U | N | G | 51 F | 52 E | T | A | 53 M | A | I |
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54 B | E | 55 S | 56 T | I | N | P | R | 57 A | 58 Y | E | R | S |
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59 C | 60 E | O | 61 L | O | C | A | L | 62 D | O | L | E | S |
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63 P | A | W | 64 A | R | E | C | A | 65 A | R | I | S | E |
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66 A | U | S | 67 T | E | S | T | Y | 68 M | E | A | T | S |
Answer summary:
2 unique to this puzzle, 2 debuted here and reused later, 1 unique to Modern Era but used previously.
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