The first ever Thunder pre-season crossword challenge
Greetings Thunder junkies. It’s the slow time of the season so I thought I would spice up the doldrums with a challenge to the faithful Thunder news mongers. You’ve been reading Royce’s daily bolts for quite some time now, you are informed on everything Thunder. You know that B.J. Byron Mullins has a tat on both forearms and is from somewhere in Ohio; you know that Kyle Weaver is from Wisconsin and that Nick Collison is the sweatiest Jayhawk in the league. You know that Kevin Durant is dropping big points in Barry Farms pickup games and that Sam Presti is a great drummer. What do you do with these useless little nuggets of Thunder knowledge and trivia? Simple, you try your hand at the first ever of it’s kind Thunder preseason crossword challenge.
I took all sorts of unbelievably useless and behind the scenes Thunder trivia and information from the last two seasons and plugged it into crossword puzzle generator and created a headache in the making. If you’re up for the challenge give it a go. Take your time, I don’t think it will be a breeze.
Here’s the framework: I used only clues and answers relating to the Thunder franchise from the time of the ’07 draft forward (the Durant/Green draft). The clues and answers will be team related obviously. Many of the players are on there and some who just had a cup of coffee with the team. Some draft picks, some coaches , some trivia and a surprising stat or two. Who knows what you will find?
All names will be first and last with no spaces. So you won’t find “Atkins” or “Chucky”, but you might find “ChuckyAtkins”. You might find Rich Cho (Assistant G.M) in there somewhere, or Johan Petro, but in fairness it is held to the last two seasons.
Absolutely nothing will be awarded for your guile and prowess in completing the puzzle other than a bit of Daily Thunder notoriety but hey…it’s cheap entertainment. Give it a whirl. If you think you have them all or have any questions email me (joenewell66@gmail.com) or post a comment below.
Good luck.
Edit: The first and hopefully only mistake has been found (thanks NIX). Without giving away the farm I will just say that #9 across is missing a space for a letter. I actually mispelled it, leaving out a “G”; so my bad! It doesn’t affect #10 down which begins with an “S”. Sorry folks. Carry on.
Across
I just want to give it up to Joe for this. Super creative idea and nice execution. I plan on spending the next 30 minutes on Wikipedia cheating to find answers. Because I’m like that.
Surely no one who has ever done a crossword will get ’35 Across’ wrong.
Quick question for Joe, are you spelling it Mullins or Mullens for Byron if he’s in the crossword? Might throw people off if they think he’s an answer.
Dang! Only 12 correct (I’m pretty sure) off the top of my head. This is harder than I thought it would be.
@J.G.
Good find J.G. I guess it is actually “Mullens”, not “Mullins”. I didn’t get that originally.
But to answer your question, IF Byron Mullens is in the puzzle, it would be spelled correctly with an “e”. Of course that’s a big if. :O)
I think Royce said it best this morning: Something to print out and entertain yourself with on the John.
@Joe
Shoot, Joe, I’m pretty impressed with the crossword. Much more entertaining than the regular old read on the John.
Thaboland was my favorite hint, hands down.
Thanks Joe, I “thought” I was a true fan until this. Very fun way to find out I am not a true fan though.
hmm…I’m having trouble with 9 across… I think there isn’t enough room for the full…umm..answer…
Seems like something between the 9 and 10 might have been left out…
Can u check it?
@Nix
Shoot. Good find Nix. Either I mispelled the name when I plugged it into the program or it just flat messed up. Either way you are correct, there is a boo boo. I will see if I can fix it.
#10 Down begins with the letter “S” and #9 across is missing a space for a letter. Hope that helps till I can maybe fix it.
@Nix
I thought it was robert’s brother (by another mother), but it doesn’t fit.
Rumor has it that OKC is considering acquiring Brent Barry. Thoughts?
@Vega
He had the worst season of his career last year, and he’s 37. He never could play defense….
Joe, this is great man! Give us another one!
@Robert
Ha. I was actually concerned that it might come off as kind of stupid….glad you like it.
http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2009.08/3115/31152430.640.html
In several places in the clues substitute “on” for “of”.
Sorry.
Look at the answer sheet when you are done trying.
Try without checking the stats if you want the full challenge.
The screen name was to be “ifyouwannaanotherone” but it ran too long I guess. It could have been “ifyou’llallowtheexception”. Just took a stab at following up on Joe’s good idea.