I Was Rick Rolled by A Master

I enjoy doing the Sunday crossword puzzle in the Washington Post Magazine. The puzzle was created each week by the brilliant Merl Reagle from 2008 until his death in 2015, and is now produced by Evan Birnholz, at least as clever and funny as Mr. Reagle, but more devious.

The April 1, 2018 puzzle is a masterwork in creativity and was like peeling the layers of an onion.

Five of the 21 X 21 square puzzle’s clues asked for the name of an historical personality: Cold War leader (Harry Truman), “Rebecca” producer (David Selznick).

Answers to six other clues helped you piece together a website URL, which got you to www.devilcross.com/. But that wasn’t enough information. You had to go back and determine the missing middle initial of each of the five personalities. They spelled out S-O-L-V-E.

The puzzle’s directions explained that once you had the correct link, go there and enter your name and email address for a chance to win a prize.

I did. I entered www.devilcross.com/solve, which took me to Rick Astley's “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video – I’d been Rick-rolled!

Below the video was this message:

Oh, were you expecting a contest that you could enter to win a special prize? Sorry, but there is no contest. I did what Mr. Astley said I shouldn’t do: I told a lie. Hopefully I didn’t hurt you.

But to make it up to you, I hid two other features in the puzzle:

1. The first letters of the clues to the 11 thematic Across answers, in clue order, spell out what just happened.

2. There’s a familiar two-word phrase hidden diagonally in the puzzle that explains why I did it.

Sure enough, the first letter of the five historical figures clues and the six website clues spelled out R-I-C-K-R-O-L-L-I-N-G.

And yes, diagonally from the top left corner to the center cell, the letters spell: APRIL FOOLS.

Well played, Mr. Birnholz!

Comments

Utah and Las Vegas

Talk about a study in contrast – Utah’s monumental, grandiose natural splendor versus Las Vegas’s monumental, grandiose manufactured opulence. Donna and I got to experience both on a weeklong trip to the Western U.S. during which we logged a mind-boggling 57 miles of hiking and walking over six days. We flew to Las Vegas and rented a car to drive to Zion National Park, then to Bryce Canyon National Park, and finally back to Vegas to spend a couple days with our son Jack. ZION On the drive from Vegas to Zion there are RV parks and campgrounds like at beach towns there are ice cream shops and mini golf courses. We chose to go in early October to avoid the summer crowds and high temperatures and failed on both counts. Zion, the more beautiful of the parks in my opinion, with trails that wend through spectacular vistas, peaks, sheer cliffs, the Virgin River, and beautiful foliage, was hot and crowded. The park tries its best to absorb four million visitors a year with a large vis...

Jack and Erin's Wedding!

This past weekend Jack married Erin Breslin in Santa Barbara. Erin is smart, sassy, strong, funny, and beautiful. She and Jack are nearly inseparable, and when they are together, they talk and laugh nonstop like two school kids. As Donna noted in her beautiful, heartfelt remarks at the rehearsal dinner, it's hard to know what they have left to talk about after carrying on this continual conversation for more than three years. It is obvious to anyone who sees them that they are head over heels in love. Donna and I had met Erin's parents last December in Philadelphia. We immediately became friends and found that we shared a lot of common values -- particularly the importance of family. It was great to see them again in Santa Barbara and to meet their son Gerard and many of their siblings and in-laws. It also was great to meet some of Jack's fellow YouTubers. There's a culture of camaraderie in the industry, and many of them were eager to help Jack when he was g...

Romance at the Meadowlands

Is there a more romantic setting than the sprawling parking lot of the massive (8,400 acres) Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey? Especially on a big college-football game day, where 50,000 beer-infused fans crowd together to tailgate, pre-game, and celebrate like the end of the world was imminent? I think not. Forty-four years ago Donna and I and some friends and relatives attended a Notre Dame-Navy game. Donna and I had met a few weeks before, when a mutual friend played matchmaker and brought us together in Washington, D.C., where I was living and working. Our friend, Monica, was trying to set me up with another of her friends, but Donna and I had an immediate attraction. This was our first weekend together. I stayed at Donna’s parents’ house, where she was living. It was a big deal meeting the parents and siblings. The next morning a big group of us headed to the old Giants Stadium in multiple cars and met up. It was cold and very windy. I don’t rememb...

What's in Dave's Head

Search This Blog