Maazel Tov!

by George Barany and Friends

This "mid-week level" puzzle is dedicated to one of our crossword friends on the occasion of his birthday (pictoral hint—with no small measure of misdirection —to the right). Prospective solvers require no specialized knowledge. After completing the puzzle (spoiler), learn more about persons named (or not named) herein by clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here [listed alphabetically, with nary a rapper]. As a bonus, watch/listen to an assortment of youtube clips that we have assembled here, here, here, here, and here. Finally, click here to watch an animation of Ralph Bunker test solve an earlier version of the puzzle, with a poignant 41-Across thrown in for good measure.

Click here to view or download the puzzle in PDF format; here to download it as a puz file; here to download it as an ipuz file [requires the free Puzzazz app to solve]; here to solve the puzzle interactively (thanks to Jim Horne); here for the solution. Our puzzling team was headed by yours truly, and included, Steve Bachman, Ralph Bunker, John Child, Tim Croce, Victor Fleming, Michael Hanko, Brent Hartzell, Martin Herbach, Peter Leopold, Tom Pepper, Markand Thakar, Alex Vratsanos, and a mystery beta tester.

If you want to tell others about this particular page, refer them to
http://tinyurl.com/maazelpuz

More puzzles here (all) and here (tributes).

E-mail barany@umn.edu to be added to a bcc distribution list.