College Grade Inflation crossword puzzle in NYTIMES today

[interesteddad]

<p>Grade Inflation Crossword by a student author in the New York Times today:</p>

<p>Today’s New York Times crossword theme is grade inflation. It is filled with words that have the letter “B” replaced with the letter “A”, such as “LAMACHOP” and “GOESOUTONALIMA”.</p>

<p>It is only the second time in history that a teenage woman has had a puzzle published in the New York Times. The puzzle creator is a sophmore at Swarthmore College. Here’s a NYTIMES blog article and interview today:</p>

<p>[Modern</a> Phenomenon - Wordplay Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/phenomenon/]Modern”>Modern Phenomenon - The New York Times)</p>

<p>

Q.What inspired this particular theme? What do you like about it? What do you wish could have worked out better?</p>

<p>A.It was initially going to be a puzzle for the Swarthmore paper. Swarthmore prides itself on its lack of grade inflation. The mantra of ego-bruised Swarthmore students is “anywhere else it would have been an A.” I thought that turning the B’s of a puzzle into A’s (à la grade inflation) was puzzle-worthy, so I racked my brain for words that still made sense with A’s in the place of B’s — not surprisingly, all of these words ended with consonants followed by B (i.e. limb, lamb, verb, comb).

</p>

<p>Here’s the completed puzzle (spoiler):</p>

<p>[Wednesday</a>, May 26, 2010 New York Times Crossword Puzzle](<a href=“Friday, February 2, 2024 NYT crossword by Ryan Judge, No. 0202”>Wednesday, May 26, 2010 NYT crossword by Anna Shechtman)</p>

[CollegeDadX3]

<p>Interesteddad - I think I finally got it today just how incredible the kids are at Swarthmore. What a bright and wonderful young lady whose parents must be incredibly proud of her! Bravo - well done young lady!</p>