William Steig book on which hit 2001 film was based

February 6, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Declaration after Hallelujah / FRI 2-8-13 / Political blogger Klein / Bramble with edible purple fruit / Literature Nobelist Kertesz / Religious leader with pet elephant / Jack regarded as object of devotion / Like orthorhombic crystals / Mascot since 1916 / Spanish Main crosser / Illinois home of John Deere pavilion / Image of 1960 hit by Safaris / Curia body assisting pope

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: H & R BLOCK (67A: Subject of the Final Jeopardy! question that knocked out Ken Jennings after a record 74 wins ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — an "HR" rebus, with six "HR" squares (and an ampersand [!] for good measure)

Word of the Day: Paul E[HR]LICH (64A: Bacteriologist Paul who coined the word "chemotherapy") —

Paul Ehrlich (help·info) (born 14 March 1854 in Strehlen near Breslau – died 20 August 1915 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was a German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy. He invented the precursor technique to Gram staining bacteria, and the methods he developed for staining tissue made it possible to distinguish between different type of blood cells, which led to the capability to diagnose numerous blood diseases. His laboratory discoveredArsphenamine (Salvarsan), the first effective medicinal treatment for syphilis, thereby initiating and also naming the concept of chemotherapy. Ehrlich popularized the concept of a “magic bullet”. He also made a decisive contribution to the development of an antiserum to combat diphtheria and conceived a methodology for standardizing therapeuticserums. In 1908 he received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to immunology.(wikipedia)

• • •

From now until May, Thursday write-ups will tend to be fairly brief, as I have a very early morning and thus need to get to bed reasonably early quickly if I'm going to both get up on time and be useful to anyone. I rather liked this puzzle. The "&" acted (oddly) like an exclamation point, punctuating an already unusual puzzle with the unusual inclusion of a non-letter square. You almost never see such a thing. In fact, I can remember only one time where "&" was in a puzzle, and it was in a tournament context, not in the NYT proper. I'm sure it's been done before in the NYT, but ... I can't recall when. Anyway, nice touch. I really really don't like the clue on H&R BLOCK at all. There's something winky and insidery and elitist-seeming about it. Who follows Ken Jennings (a smart, funny guy, from what I can tell from Twitter and other venues) so slavishly that they know this absurd bit of trivia? Don't answer, as maybe it's you, but ... this is not a thing one should be expected to know. It's absurd. On the other hand, by the time I got to the clue, I knew the theme, and so when HUMAN RESOURCES didn't fit, H&R BLOCK was the next logical choice, so belonging to the KJ fan club ended up not being necessary to solve this baby. Now, if you had No idea there was a rebus involved, then it *might* have been nice to have the revealer be a little more ... gettable by the average human being. My time was pretty normal for a Thursday rebus puzzle, which is to say somewhat above average, but not inordinately so.

As is typical for me with rebuses, I had a slow start. Just a couple of answers in the NW and little else. Ironically, SETH ROGEN was the first face that popped into my mind at 17A: Regular in Judd Apatow comedies, but he didn't fit, so I ditched it. Had TEENAGER in there at one point (thinking of the legendary "Freaks & Geeks" rather than any of Apatow's movies). Anyway, even after I got the theme, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to get into that corner. How am I supposed to know the [State that is home to the Natl. Teachers Hall of Fame]?! (it's KAN). But ASHRAM saved me—and got me to see SETH ROGEN. First picked up the theme at SLEIGH RIDE. After that, none of the "HR" squares presented much trouble. GEHRIG and SHREK (58D: William Steig book on which a hit 2001 film was based) and NEPHROLOGIST and NEHRU (11D: Prime minister who gave his name to an article of clothing) were all gimmes.

Bullets:

34A: Tinseltown terrier (ASTA) — sightings of this dog have declined quite a bit—or so it seems—since I started blogging (over six years ago). This is a good thing.
41A: Home of the Azadi Tower (TEHRAN)— Just a note to say: AZADI! That's some nice Fri/Sat fill.
60A: "Little" name in 1960s pop (EVA)— I think I learned about her name from crosswords, though I certainly knew her music well before that.

5D: Props used in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (NOOSES) — answers here seemed theoretically infinite. First thought: SERAPES (PONCHOS?).
57D: Flanders and Kelly (NEDS) — an ultra-religious toon and an Australian outlaw. Nice pairing.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Declaration after Hallelujah / FRI 2-8-13 / Political blogger Klein / Bramble with edible purple fruit / Literature Nobelist Kertesz / Religious leader with pet elephant / Jack regarded as object of devotion / Like orthorhombic crystals / Mascot since 1916 / Spanish Main crosser / Illinois home of John Deere pavilion / Image of 1960 hit by Safaris / Curia body assisting pope

February 7, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Psychologist Alfred / SAT 2-9-13 / Film hero chasing motorcycle gang / Cuban-born baseball hall-of-famer Jose / Number of Planeten / Target of thrown bricks in early comics

≪ Previous: Bacteriologist Paul who coined word Chemotherapy / THU 2-7-13 / Regular in Judd Apatow comedies / Flanders Kelly / Tinseltown terrier / William Steig book on which hit 2001 film was based

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: "Hallelujah, I'M A BUM" (44D: Declaration after "Hallelujah!") —

"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" (Roud 7992) is an American folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a hobo. (wikipedia)

• • •

Wow, normally I love Barry Silk themelesses, but this was one of the least pleasant themeless experiences I've had in a Long time. Almost nothing lovely, and a whole lot of "?!?!?!" It was only somewhat hard at first, but then there was the SW corner, and ... first of all, the clue on ALMIGHTY DOLLAR made it virtually impossible (for me) to get. I had -TYDOLLAR and still had No idea. "Jack"? Ugh. I mean, I have vaguely heard of that term for "money" (i.e. scratch, i.e. MOOLA, just above it, ugh), but ... no, no real help. To my credit / embarrassment, I sort of kind of remembered the IMRE guy (44A: 2002 Literature Nobelist Kertész), but was Not certain and couldn't get anything but HELIXES (which I spelled HELICES, of course) to confirm it. "Image of A GIRL"????? (51D: "Image of ___" (1960 hit by the Safaris)) Uh, no. And recall, I listened to a Lot of oldies radio as a teenager. Still, nothing. Curia ROMANA?! (46D: Curia ___ (body assisting the pope)) Seriously, these answers are almost (*almost*) funny in terms of how obscure / out of my wheelhouse they are. Laughable. The most laughable, however, came at 44D: Declaration after "Hallelujah!" Here's what I had for sure: -MA-UM. Pretty sure first letter was "I" but was willing to entertain "O" (!?). Were the orthorhombic crystals (seriously, hilariously out of my wheelhouse) DIAXIAL or BIAXIAL? I couldn't have told you. So ... Me: "OMADUM? IMADUM? IMABUM? Wait, I'M A BUM?! Noooo...." In the end, that is what I went with, *only* because it formed words that I recognized. Not in that order, but I recognized them as words in the English language, and that was enough. Thus I was quite honestly stunned when I clicked "Done" and the applet accepted my grid. Really!? "I"M A BUM"!? A partial from a 100-yr-old folk song!? In retrospect, I don't think I would've gotten anywhere in that corner if I hadn't had an inkling about IMRE or hadn't known MOLINE (45D: Illinois home of the John Deere pavilion) was a place in Illinois. That is a very, very thin thread from which to hang one's puzzle success. Yipes.

Problems here go beyond one comically weird / dated corner. There's just not a lot of answers to love. Then there's stuff like COIGN (?) and DEWBERRY (!?!) (8D: Bramble with edible purple fruit). RESORT TO crossing ALIEN TO. It's all a little too to. Too two tu tutu. Mainly, it just wasn't entertaining, anywhere. Weird that in a puzzle where I struggled so much, I had no trouble with AZIMUTH (1A: Heavenly measurement) or STENTOR (neither of which I think of as a common word). In fact, I had this weird moment about 1/3 of the way in to the grid where I went HOLE UP to PEAK to KERR (47A: Michael Jordan teammate Steve) to RADARS to STENTOR in about ten seconds. Just rushed diagonally right across the grid to the SE corner. I thought this boded well. I was mistaken.

Bullets:

19A: 1964 album that was #1 for 11 weeks ("MEET THE BEATLES") — this was as easy as ALMIGHTY DOLLAR was hard.
21A: Political blogger Klein (EZRA) — I think I've seen him fill in for people on MSNBC from time to time. Wherever I've seen him, he was a gimme.
42A: Capital on the Sava River (ZAGREB) — not as hard as you might think when you have the -REB already in place before you ever see the clue.
54A: Religious leader with a pet elephant (LEO X) — if you absolutely must have a random LEO in your puzzle, you should give him a clue this awesome. Every time.
63A: What might be treated with vitamin A megadoses (MEASLES) — the beauty of vaccines is I *don't* have to know this stuff.
6D: Like the Mets in every season from 1962 to 1965 (TENTH) — a very tough, very original TENTH clue.
37D: Mascot since 1916 (MR. PEANUT) — Of all the pantsless mascots, he is the creepiest.
43D: Spanish Main crosser (GALLEON) — carrying doubloons, no doubt.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Psychologist Alfred / SAT 2-9-13 / Film hero chasing motorcycle gang / Cuban-born baseball hall-of-famer Jose / Number of Planeten / Target of thrown bricks in early comics

February 8, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: 1950s TV star Duncan / SUN 2-10-13 / Nickname of jazz's Earl Hines / Funeral blues writer / Old World deer / Ancient Roman author Quintus / Percussive dance troupe / World capital situated in what was once ancient Thrace / Skull session result / Tangy salad leaves

≪ Previous: Declaration after Hallelujah / FRI 2-8-13 / Political blogger Klein / Bramble with edible purple fruit / Literature Nobelist Kertesz / Religious leader with pet elephant / Jack regarded as object of devotion / Like orthorhombic crystals / Mascot since 1916 / Spanish Main crosser / Illinois home of John Deere pavilion / Image of 1960 hit by Safaris / Curia body assisting pope

Constructor: Peter Wentz

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Jose MENDEZ (39D: Cuban-born Baseball Hall-of-Famer José) —

José de la Caridad Méndez (March 19, 1887 – October 31, 1928) was a Cuban right-handed pitcher and manager in baseball's Negro Leagues. Born inCárdenas, Matanzas, he died at age 41 in Havana. Known in Cuba as El Diamante Negro (the "Black Diamond"), he became a legend in his homeland. He was one of the first group of players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. He was elected to the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. (wikipedia)

• • •

A gorgeous puzzle. It was right in my wheelhouse, and I clocked it. One of my fastest Saturday times ever. Sometimes I get mildly annoyed when puzzles that are supposed to be hard end up too easy, but even at high speed, this one offered plenty to appreciate. I have a KRAZY KAT collection sitting on my bedside table right now (53A: Target of thrown bricks, in early comics), and stuff like Biz MARKIE (25D: Rap's Biz ___), DEF Comedy Jam, and MAD MAX (46A: Film hero chasing a motorcycle gang) is pop culture bread & butter for me. Mid-century slang? (CAT'S MEOW)—Please! 21st-century slang? (GEE, YA THINK)—Yes and thank you. I spent several minutes talking about the word "reeks" on Tuesday in my 17th century lit class (Shake. sonnet 130), so REEK OF was right there. The whole thing felt like it was written just for me. Nearly all first guesses were right. I spent 20 minutes shoveling snow right before solving, so maybe that helped in some way—blood flowing, energy high, mood up. Anyway, I have virtually nothing critical to say about this puzzle. This is how you do it.

Crossword knowledge helped in the middle with ARPEL (26D: Last name in women's skin care) and SHTETL (words I know only from crosswords), but it failed me in the SW when I could not come up with the very crosswordy DEANA (42A: Country music's Carter). That corner was the one area of the grid where things got a little dicey, however briefly. Threw down BACK TAXES, but nothing else would go for a bit. Tried EDGE and then very shortly thereafter saw MAD MAX—corner solved. Greatest AAH moment of the puzzle was piecing together GEE, YA THINK? (27D: "Pretty obvious, huh?") That one may have made me "wow" out loud. I did trip here and there. Wanted BIZET for BINET (wrong discipline) (20A: Psychologist Alfred) and JUMBO JETS for TURBO JETS (9D: Concorde features). Spelling of MAH JONGG always puzzles me a bit. I always want there to be an "H" somewhere in the second part. Really, really glad I got CAT'S MEOW before I saw the clue for 4D: "The Hippopotamus" writer (T.S. ELIOT), because I for sure would've put down IONESCO (who wrote "Rhinoceros"!). Actually, my really, really gladness goes back to the first answer I put down: BCS (1D: N.C.A.A. football ranking system), a flat-out gimme that turned CAT'S MEOW into a gimme that kept me from falling in the IONESCO trap.

Bullets:

35A: Microwaveable food brand (HOT POCKETS) — always nice to have your long corner-turner be a cinch. Could've got this off just the "H"—as it was, I had the whole HOT.
42D: "Baa, baa, Black Sheep" figure (DAME) — I got to "three bags full" and I was tapped out. Needed every cross.
29A: Number of Planeten (ACHT)— spelling uncertainty. Thought maybe OCHT (for "October"? Which is the tenth month? Which ... makes no sense now that I think about it?). I have this same spelling confusion with the shorter ACH / OCH (never can keep straight which one the Scot says and which one the German)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

1950s TV star Duncan / SUN 2-10-13 / Nickname of jazz's Earl Hines / Funeral blues writer / Old World deer / Ancient Roman author Quintus / Percussive dance troupe / World capital situated in what was once ancient Thrace / Skull session result / Tangy salad leaves

February 9, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Personal enforcer in Godfather / MON 2-11-13 / Actress who married Justin Timberlake in 2012 / Onetime name at New York's Rockefeller Center

≪ Previous: Psychologist Alfred / SAT 2-9-13 / Film hero chasing motorcycle gang / Cuban-born baseball hall-of-famer Jose / Number of Planeten / Target of thrown bricks in early comics

Constructor: Patrick Berry

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "I Heard You the First Time" — "Somewhat redundant" theme answers all feature repeated words

Word of the Day: RENALDO (85D: 1950s TV star Duncan) —

Renault Renaldo Duncan (April 23, 1904 – September 3, 1980),^[1] better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid. (wikipedia)

• • •

"Did you mean RONALDO?" No, Google, I didn't, but I understand why you ask. I really do.

Not one of my favorite Patrick Berrys. It's cute-ish, but Awfully Easy in the theme department—I didn't have to think more than a few seconds about any of the answers except possibly "THE WILD WILD WEST" (but only because I couldn't quite believe he was going to start a theme answer with "THE" when all the others start with the double-word pairing ... the final theme answer doesn't, but it breaks the doubling convention too, and anyway final theme answers are allowed a certain amount of latitude / ridiculousness). It had a certain Berryesque thorniness in the fill, but overall ended up pretty dang easy, and not as interesting as I'm used to with PB puzzles. Most disappointing was the reliance on pretty obscure proper nouns in the long Downs. I like when Sunday grids are open, and there are a preponderance of long answers, but only if those long answers are gold. You've heard me say before that trying to drive a Down through *three* theme answers is usually a losing proposition, and here that is true ... twice. ELLSWORTH is ???? (sorry I'm not excited by a South Dakota Air Force base—I doubt most solvers will have heard of this) and RENALDO—well, the less said, the better. You all know that the 50s is sixty years ago now, and that this guy was barely a celebrity *then*. Ugh. I actually finished with an error—had RANALDO and HAH, because though the most plausible name, RONALDO, was clearly wrong, surely RANALDO was the next most likely answer (HAH seemed plenty laughish to me). But no. RENALDO. SHEESH and yeesh. Even after spending a minute or so hunting down that mistake, I finished in just over 11 minutes. So, yeah, easy, and not exciting.

Theme answers:

22A: Somewhat redundant 1965 country song? ("GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME")
30A: Somewhat redundant Milton Bradley game? (HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS)
49A: Somewhat redundant size? (EXTRA EXTRA LARGE)
64A: Somewhat redundant 1960s spy series? ("THE WILD WILD WEST")
83A: Somewhat redundant literary genre? (SHORT SHORT STORY)
100A: Somewhat redundant theater production? (OFF OFF BROADWAY SHOW)
112A: Extremely redundant 1963 caper film? ("IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD)

Check out those theme clues. Do you like the 1960s? Well, this is your puzzle. Wikipedia tells me HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS debuted in 1978, though the idea for the game was published (?) in 1967.

Bullets:

17A: "Funeral Blues" writer (AUDEN) — toughie for me. Figured I was looking for a composer, a W.C. HANDY, or a Willie DIXON, or a FATHA Hines, perhaps (101D: Nickname of Jazz's Earl Hines).
57A: "Nick News" host Linda (ELLERBEE)— used to see her a lot in the 80s, never see her now. Perhaps because I don't watch "Nick News."
78A: Like some passages in a symphony (THEMATIC)— I was gonna go with OPERATIC at some point, which is not a good guess, but it's a better guess than IONIA is for 90D: World capital situated in what was once ancient Thrace (SOFIA).
3D: Skull session result (IDEA) — Come on. "Skull session"? WTF?
5D: Ancient Roman author Quintus ___ (ENNIUS) — Yipes. That is some rough stuff. I took Classical Latin for a bit and couldn't tell you a thing this guy wrote. Let's see ... hmm, seems "only fragments of his work survive," but he was influential. OK. I feel less bad now.
15D: Percussive dance troupe (STOMP) — I remember them from such decades as the '90s. See also "Rent."
31D: MTV's earliest viewers, mostly (GEN X) — Yes. I was one of said viewers. But I wrote in XERS here at first.
79D: Nabisco treats sold only seasonally (MALLOMARS) — never had one. I'm vaguely aware of their existence. Still, got this answer easily.
97D: "Music for the Royal Fireworks" composer (HANDEL) — Ugh (on me). Brain went HAYDN! Stupid brain. Can't keep my H-composers straight. HOLST is "The Planets." I know that.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Personal enforcer in Godfather / MON 2-11-13 / Actress who married Justin Timberlake in 2012 / Onetime name at New York's Rockefeller Center

February 10, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Legendary firefighter Red / TUE 2-12-13 / Singer 1975 #1 hit Before Next Teardrop Falls / Focus of phrenologist / Office computer linkup for short / What blind man mistakes for snake in fable

≪ Previous: 1950s TV star Duncan / SUN 2-10-13 / Nickname of jazz's Earl Hines / Funeral blues writer / Old World deer / Ancient Roman author Quintus / Percussive dance troupe / World capital situated in what was once ancient Thrace / Skull session result / Tangy salad leaves

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (***for a Monday***)

THEME: SHARE A CAB (62A: Split the taxi fare ... and what the words do in 18-, 24-, 39- and 55-Across) — word "CAB" is "shared" by two words in several two-word phrases.

Theme answers:

18A: Personal enforcer in "The Godfather" (LUCA BRASI)
24A: Onetime name at New York's Rockefeller Center (RCA BUILDING)
39A: Skill with a paintbrush, say (ARTISTIC ABILITY)
55A: Actress who married Justin Timberlake in 2012 (JESSICA BIEL)

Word of the Day: JESSICA BIEL (55A: Actress who married Justin Timberlake in 2012) —

Jessica Claire Biel (born March 3, 1982) is an American actress, model and singer. She is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven.^[2] She has since starred in many films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), The A-Team (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Total Recall (2012). She will appear in the thriller indie filmEmanuel and the Truth about Fishes in 2013.
She won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress in 1997 for her role in Ulee's Gold. (wikipedia) [ed. note: a ULEE connection!]

• • •

Did this on paper in just under 4, so ... I think that makes this tough but not terribly tough for a Monday. On an early-week puzzle, I'm much faster on-screen, so I probably would've come in in the mid-/low-threes—a tad above normal. Seemed like a lot of sticking points, namely (potentially) all of the theme answers, or at least the ones that were proper nouns. I have no idea what the RCA BUILDING is, and I went with ALBA over BIEL at first in the JESSICA wars. Also misspelled LUCA BRASI as BRAZI. Went with SCOUR right out of the box at 1A: Use a wire brush on (SCRUB)—never a good sign. Shared letters with SCRUB meant that it took longer to undo than it would have otherwise. I had RELI- and TAKE and still couldn't get either of those long Downs in the SW from their clues (40D: Got a kick out of + Friendly send-off, respectively). Somehow [Got a kick out of] doesn't square with RELISHED for me. The latter seems much more intense. This puzzle seems more-or-less successful: theme works, fill isn't bad. But I have to ask: why not make the revealer SPLIT A CAB. Seems (to my ear) the much more common colloquial formulation. SHARE A CAB isn't wrong, it's just ... not the go-to phrase I'd use. Also, SPLIT A CAB works perfectly with the theme, and if SPLIT were in the grid, your revealer clue could've rhymed—[Share the fare ...]. I'm genuinely puzzled as to why you'd go for SHARE A CAB over SPLIT A CAB. And that's my final thought for this puzzle.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Legendary firefighter Red / TUE 2-12-13 / Singer 1975 #1 hit Before Next Teardrop Falls / Focus of phrenologist / Office computer linkup for short / What blind man mistakes for snake in fable

February 11, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: El Al hub city / WED 2-13-13 / Pittsburgh radio station since 1920 said to be world's first / Zimbabwean strongman Robert / CNN's Barnett / Broadway title character who sings tea for two / Leftorium owner on Simpsons / Lineage-based women's org

≪ Previous: Personal enforcer in Godfather / MON 2-11-13 / Actress who married Justin Timberlake in 2012 / Onetime name at New York's Rockefeller Center

Constructor: Dan Schoenholz

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: car parts— theme answers end in words that are parts of a car (though they appear in the theme answers with non-car meanings)

Word of the Day: Peter YARROW (45D: Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary) —

Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (withLeonard Lipton) one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon". He is also a political activist and has lent his support to causes that range from opposition to the Vietnam War to the creation of Operation Respect. (wikipedia)

• • •

Feels like a puzzle from 20 years ago. I'd be stunned if this theme (or something very close) hadn't been done many, many times before (looks like Matt Jones had one a while back that included "BOYZ 'N THE HOOD" as well as DALE BUMPERS and BAR AND GRILL). It's highly adequate, but there's not a lot here to enjoy. HYPHENED (8D: Like Olivia Newton-John's last name) was painful to write in, as ... you say "hyphenated," right? And by "you," I mean "one," as in "everyone." I balked at FORTY-YARD DASH, but then remembered that sportscasters talk about guys running "the 40" in however many seconds, so it's definitely a standard benchmark. I flew through this baby pretty quickly, with only a few little missteps. Wrote in FIFTY instead of FORTY. Didn't know NOVA was a kind of lox. Couldn't come up with EDIFIED (43D: Spiritually uplifted) until I had most of the crosses (I don't think of the word as spiritual). Could only sort of partially remember Pete YARROW's name—the race car driver Cale Yarborough was running interference. Had TIFF for HUFF (36D: In a ___ (indignant)). Otherwise, not much to see or comment on here. My favorite part was seeing singer Terence TRENT D'Arby's name; his period of fame was brief but memorable for me, as it coincided with my first year in college.

Theme answers:

20A: 1991 film that earned John Singleton a Best Director nomination ("BOYZ 'N THE HOOD")
29A: What a blind man mistakes for a snake, in a fable (ELEPHANT TRUNK)
44A: Test at a football tryout (FORTY-YARD DASH)
54A: Singer of the 1975 #1 hit "Before the Last Teardrop Falls" (FREDDY FENDER)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

El Al hub city / WED 2-13-13 / Pittsburgh radio station since 1920 said to be world's first / Zimbabwean strongman Robert / CNN's Barnett / Broadway title character who sings tea for two / Leftorium owner on Simpsons / Lineage-based women's org

February 12, 2013, 9:25 pm

≫ Next: Four-time Pro Bowler Ahmad / THU 2-14-13 / Compounds with nitrogen / Eight-time Oscar nominee who never won / Hunters of now-extinct moa / Onetime Ebert partner

≪ Previous: Legendary firefighter Red / TUE 2-12-13 / Singer 1975 #1 hit Before Next Teardrop Falls / Focus of phrenologist / Office computer linkup for short / What blind man mistakes for snake in fable

Constructor: Richard and Judith Martin

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: G.E.D. (44D: Many a H.S. dropout's goal ... and what's added to 17-, 25-, 36-, 51- and 60-Across)— "GED" is added to ordinary phrases, creating wacky phrases, clued "?"-style

Word of the Day: RACE WAR (20A: "The Turner Diaries" conflict) —

The Turner Diaries is a novel written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce (former leader of the white nationalist organization National Alliance) under thepseudonym "Andrew Macdonald".^[1] The Turner Diaries depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the United States federal government, nuclear war, and, ultimately, to a race war leading to the extermination of all "impure" groups such as Jews, gay people, and non-whites.^[2]The book was called "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic" by The New York Times and has been labeled a "bible of the racist right" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The novel has been associated with a number of real-life violent crimes committed by white separatists and other radicals. Two pages of the book containing a scene depicting preparation for the bombing of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the FBI national headquarters, were found in the getaway car of Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. (wikipedia)

• • •

So, if you're playing along at home, the rules are: HITLER, no; RACE WAR, yes.

I briefly tried to get someone else to do the write-up tonight, as this puzzle (and the subsequent firestorm of social media bewilderment it inspired) really took it out of me. I don't have the energy to go into all the problems, nor the desire to be the Bad Guy / Bearer of Bad News / etc. But neither do I have any desire to lie about this puzzle, which is, in my very most generous assessment, grossly subpar. Every constructor / serious solver I've talked to tonight, *to a (wo)man*, has been baffled by this puzzle's deficiencies and stunned that it got published. Theme concept, theme execution, fill (dear lord), all are mystifyingly off target. To be as brief as possible—let's start with the revealer. Why is it ... there? Why is there absolutely nothing in the clue to give it any pop or life ... any justification for being. I mean, you could've at least tried to relate the clue phrase to what the base answers are literally doing, i.e. "getting" "earning" etc. a degree. Instead, it's just, "here's a random letter string, off to the east side of the grid for some reason ... tada?" Further, the altered +GED words are gruesome perversions of words in at least two cases, i.e. BADGED (!?) and VISAGED (!!??). There are so so so many words you can +GED, there's just Gotta be better, more natural-sounding words. I mean, MORTAL SINGED is better than some of these, and I just made that up. There's no consistency, no playfulness, no ear for the language at all in these morphed words. The bar was apparently set at "defensible" and no higher. Just ... ouch.

How about: [George Clooney, on "E.R."?] => RUGGED DOCTOR. Or [Got laid?] => BAGGED LADY. Before you say "that's offensive," let me remind you: RACE WAR.

Add in the deeply unpleasant RACE WAR and its clue, the highly and unnecessarily morbid clue on LET DIE (49D: Allow to expire) (geez, why not [Pull the plug on, as grandma]?), and the raft of terrible short fill (ITE IAM DAR BAHT ETE REW ATA ETA SRO LAH EMAJ DENEB ERROLS (!?) ADRAG etc.) Then add in the LOL/nutso crossing of LOD (41A: El Al hub city) and KDKA (38D: Pittsburgh radio station since 1920, said to be the world's first) (which I *guarantee* you is going to cause scores of spin-outs today). OMG I just saw the word SCARER, which I had forgotten about / blocked out of my memory in order to preserve my sanity (4D: Fun house worker, maybe). This is what happens when you a. don't use construction software and b. don't have much experience making puzzles. Given those circumstances, it's not a bad first effort. It's not an NYT-quality first effort, though, which is the problem. Please understand—I would not be this emphatic with you about the deficiencies of this puzzle if literally everyone I know in puzzledom weren't saying much the same thing (and worse, and more forcefully). This puzzle simply wasn't ready for prime time. Holding the line on puzzle quality is important.

OK, I'm done.

Theme answers:

17A: Senior softballers, e.g.? (THE AGED TEAM)
25A: K-9 Corps member? (BADGED DOG)
36A: Former first lady sporting a different outfit? (JACKIE CHANGED) (so ... there's an implied comma in this answer??)
51A: Small-screen performance of "Hamlet," e.g.? (TV TRAGEDY) ("Which of these five is Not like the others? Which of these five just doesn't belong ...?")
60A: King, queen or jack? (VISAGED CARD)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Four-time Pro Bowler Ahmad / THU 2-14-13 / Compounds with nitrogen / Eight-time Oscar nominee who never won / Hunters of now-extinct moa / Onetime Ebert partner

February 13, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Nagg's wife in Samuel Beckett's Endgame / FRI 2-15-13 / Piranha director 1978 / 1890-1941 Italian colony / Ziploc bag introducer / CW series based on French film / Wicker seat place / Knuckles the Echidna's company

≪ Previous: El Al hub city / WED 2-13-13 / Pittsburgh radio station since 1920 said to be world's first / Zimbabwean strongman Robert / CNN's Barnett / Broadway title character who sings tea for two / Leftorium owner on Simpsons / Lineage-based women's org

Constructor: Jules P. Markey

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: OPEN DOOR (61A: Welcoming symbol ... or what each part of the answers to the six starred clues can do?) — two-word phrases / compound words, where each word (or word part) can precede "DOOR" in a common phrase:

16A: *Comfy place (FIRESIDE)
20A: *Alternative to a Crock-Pot (DUTCH OVEN)
27A: *Metaphor for a sharp mind (STEEL TRAP)
36A: *Gathering spot for the upwardly mobile? (ELEVATOR CAR)
45A: *Campaign from town to town (BARNSTORM)
55A: *Where a cast may be found (BACKSTAGE)

Word of the Day: LA PALMA (40D: One of the Canary Islands) —

La Palma [...] is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km² making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands. The total population is about 86,000, of which 18,000 (2003 data) live in the capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma and about 20,000 (2004 data) in Los Llanos de Aridane. Santa Cruz de La Palma (the island's main port) retains many elegant 17th- and 18th-century houses, and produces high-quality handmade cigars made from locally grown tobacco. In 1815, the German geologist Leopold von Buch visited the Canary Islands. It was as a result of his visit to La Palma and Tenerife where he visited the Las Cañadas and Taburiente calderas, that the Spanish word for cauldron - "Caldera" - was introduced into the English language geological vocabulary. La Palma has "Sister City" status with El Dorado Hills, California, United States. (wikipedia)

• • •

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's something to get for your sweetheart, or yourself, or anyone you know who likes puzzles—"American Red Crosswords." It's a collection of all original puzzles (24 of 'em) to benefit the American Red Cross's Disaster Relief Fund. After Hurricane / Superstorm Sandy hit the NE late last year, I noticed that a friend of mine had offered to donate an original / custom-made puzzle to an auction that was raising money to help support people in affected areas. Seemed like the kind of thing a lot of crossword constructors might be willing to do. So then the potential title "American Red Crosswords" popped into my head (Red Cross + Crosswords), and instead of just mulling it over for a bit and then forgetting about it, the way I do with most ideas that pop into my head, I uncharacteristically pitched the idea to other constructors, and then to the head of the Red Cross (who is a crossword solver herself). Enthusiasm all around. Virtually every constructor I invited to participate said 'yes.' Patrick Blindauer took over puzzle-editing. Will Shortz agreed to write the intro. And now it's done and available for download (as a .PDF) from americanredcrosswords.blogspot.com. Rather than selling it, we're giving it away and asking people to make a donation. There's a link to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund right there on the page. Please go get the puzzles, and give whatever you can. And if you could spread the word in whatever way you have available to you, that would be fantastic. Thanks! P.S. These are mostly easyish puzzles (think Mon-to-Wed. NYT), with a toughie or two thrown in for good measure, so don't be afraid ...

And now, today's puzzle.

This is a common theme type, but not one you commonly see on Thursdays. More Tues/Wed. Thursday usually throws us a curve, but today everything's very straightforward. It gets kind of Thursdayish in places, difficulty-wise, but mainly it's easy, and perhaps a little dull. One thing the puzzle does have going for it is theme density. Seven theme answers of 8+-letters in length is a hell of a lot. And thankfully, all the theme answers are real phrases (you can get some pretty forced stuff in a theme of this type, where both parts of the answer have to precede/follow a common word). Fantastic clue on ELEVATOR CAR, which I thought was going to be some kind of BAR. I was briefly excited about the idea of a building so fancy that it had ELEVATOR BARs, which is totally something I would require in all of my elevators if I ever had any. I did not care for a lot of the non-theme fill (most notably ECASH, EELED, and RELOAN), but all of that is likely an unfortunate byproduct of theme density. The denser the theme, the more restricted the non-theme fill. It's just how it works.

As I say, it played pretty easy for me, *except* in the SW, which was briefly nightmarish. I wrote in SABBATH instantly at 39D: Day of rest (SHABBAT). Deadly mistake. Eventually, HARD G (43A: What George lacks?) got me out of it, and it's a good thing, too, because I was *not* about to get most of the answers down there. LA PALMA? "C'mon Rex, how could you not know the fifth largest of the Canary Islands!?" Let me tell you how: thusly: [insert image of me sitting, with confused expression on face, at my computer]. EURO COIN is, I'm sure, a thing, but it hardly sprang to mind from the utterly non-regional clue 36D: New mintage of 2002. Had a hard time getting from the "plans" of 52D: Shippers' plans: Abbr. to RTES. Not really familiar with AMINES (63A: Compounds with nitrogen). So, yeah, rough stuff down there. But in the end, it was all very workoutable. Time was somewhere in the mid-5s.

Bullets:

8D: Four-time Pro Bowler Ahmad (RASHAD) — my first reaction: "Aw, hell, I don't know any pro bowlers ... Earl Anthony, is he somebody?"
38D: Oncology procedure (CT SCAN) — look, if you're going to go all *cancer* in a clue, there better be good reason. There was not good reason. This didn't offend me, but it annoyed me. You detect al *lot* of things with CT SCANs, not just tumors. Give me a cancer-specific clue, I expect a cancer-specific answer. Some people don't want *any* mention of serious diseases in their puzzles. I am not one of these people. But I do expect references to such diseases not to be gratuitous. (Full disclosure: my father was a radiologist)
47D: Eight-time Oscar nominee who never won (O'TOOLE) — I learned this very recently, in some other puzzle I was solving. Yay, memory.
49D: Hunters of the now-extinct moa (MAORIS) — yuck to the "S". (Full disclosure: wife is from N.Z.)

That's all, folks.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Nagg's wife in Samuel Beckett's Endgame / FRI 2-15-13 / Piranha director 1978 / 1890-1941 Italian colony / Ziploc bag introducer / CW series based on French film / Wicker seat place / Knuckles the Echidna's company

February 14, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Not strictly adhering to tempo / SAT 2-16-13 / Consul composer / Year Tosca premiered / Zulu's counterpart / Orange children's character / Triple platinum Gloria Estefan album with Rhythm Is Gonna Get You / Creature whose English name genus name are same

≪ Previous: Four-time Pro Bowler Ahmad / THU 2-14-13 / Compounds with nitrogen / Eight-time Oscar nominee who never won / Hunters of now-extinct moa / Onetime Ebert partner

Constructor: Tom Heilman

Relative difficulty: Medium (tilting slightly toward the Easy side)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: LITOTES (39D: Figure of speech like "not unlike") —

n., pl., litotes.
A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in This is no small problem.

[Greek lītotēs, from lītos, plain.]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/litotes#ixzz2Kw1sTwH7

• • •

This is pretty damned good for a puzzle with a relatively low word count (62). The only real cringer wasILL-GOT (48A: Procured unlawfully, old-style) (Add TEN to that one, and you've got a deal). I had the weird experience of getting the longer answers very easily, but struggling a bit with the short stuff. NELL held me up badly (43A: Nagg's wife in Samuel Beckett's "Endgame"). No idea, so I couldn't move through that section and into the SE easily at all. And then there were the 3s in the SE. I guessed JOE DANTE (51A: "Piranha" director, 1978), but then couldn't figure out how the J or the O or the E was right, and so took him out ... only to put him back in again a little bit later. I don't know that meaning of "extrude" (JUT). I think of extruding as something done to meat, perhaps in the making of sausage. I can't think of a word where -OSE = "-ish," but I'm sure some exist. And ... well, ESA is obvious in retrospect, but I think I was unsure if there was some meaning of "demonstrative" in 53D: Spanish demonstrative that I wasn't getting. It's just a demonstrative pronoun. Other than these small but significant snags, I sailed through this with some lucky guesses and some up-my-alley stuff. Knew right off the bat that 1A: Smelting ended it was an AGE, but I couldn't remember which. So I wrote in AGE, got all the Down crosses, and took off like a shot from there. Got THIS INSTANT from the TH- and GAS ENGINE from the GA-. Took a little bit longer to get RINGSIDE SEAT and SLIDING SCALE, but not much longer. Got COPACETIC from the -T-C. ALOUETTE from the L (!?) (36D: Kindergarten song). I did have some general slowness in the SW, with only a misspelled KEENAN in there for a bit, until I stumbled on the clue for LITOTES. Hurray for somewhat ARCANE literary knowledge! I got that one instantly and the SW fell from there. Once I figured out SPREAD EAGLE (9D: Like a snow angel maker, at times), the NE opened up, and I finished things off at the PROPEL / APOLAR "P".

[14D: Caine character who's left wondering]
I think people will have trouble today coming up with the not-exactly-highbrow pop culture— specifically "NIKITA" (50A: CW series based on a French film) and JOE DANTE— and then with the Beckett (NELL). That [Wicker seat area?] might crush some folks too. I'm guessing there's some senator named Wicker. Needless to say, never heard of him (him?). Yup, Roger Wicker, R-MS. Who the hell outside Mississippi knows that? ERITREA might be a little difficult for people to pick up as well (10D: 1890-1941 Italian colony). Not sure why it came to me so quickly–possibly because when I think of Italian colonies, I think of Ethiopia, which is ERITREA-adjacent (just to the south).

That is all.

For those who missed my Thursday announcement: "American Red Crosswords"—a collection of 24 original puzzles that I put together to benefit the Red Cross's Disaster Relief Fund—is available for download now from americanredcrosswords.blogspot.com. Puzzles were edited by Patrick Blindauer. Will Shortz wrote the introduction. And many, many big-time constructors donated their talents. So go donate to the Red Cross, download some puzzles, and enjoy the weekend.

Thanks,

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Not strictly adhering to tempo / SAT 2-16-13 / Consul composer / Year Tosca premiered / Zulu's counterpart / Orange children's character / Triple platinum Gloria Estefan album with Rhythm Is Gonna Get You / Creature whose English name genus name are same

February 15, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Summation symbol in math / SUN 2-17-13 / 1968 movie directed by Paul Newman / Island SW of Majorca / Post-1968 tennis / Post-1858 rule / Rank below group captain / Bridge dividing San Marco San Polo districts / Old West casino game / Fictional Indiana town where Parks Recreation is set / Month after Av / Body of water on Uzbek border

≪ Previous: Nagg's wife in Samuel Beckett's Endgame / FRI 2-15-13 / Piranha director 1978 / 1890-1941 Italian colony / Ziploc bag introducer / CW series based on French film / Wicker seat place / Knuckles the Echidna's company

Constructor: Michael Ashley

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: RUBATO (53A: Not strictly adhering to tempo) —

ru·ba·to

n. pl. ru·ba·tos

Rhythmic flexibility within a phrase or measure; a relaxation of strict time.

adj.

Containing or characterized by rubato. (freedictionary.com)

• • •

Not up to yesterday's standards, but OK. Main issue here was what seemed to me like a tin ear. XTREME GAMES sounds like several things that are things, but does not itself sound like a thing (7D: They might include BMX and wakeboarding, informally). You venture an opinion much more than you hazard one; you hazard a guess much more than you do an opinion. You do HAZARD AN OPINION, but it's just ... eh (38A: Dare to put in ONE'S two cents). There are some nice answers here in there, but mostly this is a bit workmanlike and plodding. STOOD IN LINE kind of sums it up—this puzzle is about that exciting. FOZZIE BEAR is the one true bright spot (27D: Orange children's character). I also somewhat like the preponderance of multi-word answers, like GO ALL IN and IN ON IT. But now I'm noticing SENT IN and AS IN (crossing!), which makes five INs in the grid, which is now sapping what little enthusiasm I had for this thing. Bah.

I started slow on this one, with only INXS, 'NEATH, and HOP sitting solidly in the grid for what felt like ever. Tried EXCITER (yipes) and ERIE early on (4D: ___ Railroad, 1832-1960), but pulled them when I couldn't get anything going. Eventually hopped to NE corner, where a lone "S" (at the end of what would becomes ORES) gave me SENT IN, then AS IN, and from that terminal "I" and a limited number of first letter possibilities (thank you, Roman numerals!), I got MENOTTI (18A: "The Consul" composer). After much hacking about, I got to MOZILLA and thus back to FIREFOX. This is part of that "tin ear" issue I mentioned earlier. If you really want to do this corporate name thing at the top of your grid, at least put the names in the right order (MOZILLA comes first: it's "MOZILLA FIREFOX"). FIREFOX opened that NW right up, and then I tore through this grid until the SW, where I slowed right down again. Well, actually, I didn't slow down so much as botch one answer badly. Off the -UB- I wrote in SUBITO for 53A: Not strictly adhering to tempo (RUBATO). Now ... I'm not sure why I know this "word." I feel like it means "quickly" in Latin. Or something in Latin. Actually, turns out SUBITO is *also* a musical direction—meaning "suddenly or abruptly." So, right universe, wrong answer. Ended up with SMILLA (which is something), but also SAGU (which is nothing). Didn't notice until the applet rejected my grid. Remember folks: Always Check Your Crosses. Ugh. Anyhoo, fixed the errors and still finished under 10.

[Zulu's counterpart] might have frustrated me quite a lot if I hadn't had AGHAS (25D: Eastern generals) and FOZZIE to help me out. AGHAS and FOZZIE also got me the HAZARD part of HAZARD AN OPINION. Everyone knows the Gloria Estefan song "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," but I doubt even people who bought the album remember its name ("LET IT LOOSE"). Thus, not my favorite answer. This Butterfield person is someone I'll have to add to my ASA stockpile (28D: Actor Butterfield of "Hugo"). I assume he's the kid in that movie ... yes. Oh, looks like he'll play Ender Wiggin in the upcoming adaptation of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game." Card's having a bit of a P.R. problem at the moment. He's on the board of the National Organization for Marriage (probably the best known and most vocal opponents of gay marriage in the country). He's also slated to write an upcoming "Adventures of Superman" story, and many Superman fans (and comic book stores) are, let's say, less than happy.

↧

Summation symbol in math / SUN 2-17-13 / 1968 movie directed by Paul Newman / Island SW of Majorca / Post-1968 tennis / Post-1858 rule / Rank below group captain / Bridge dividing San Marco San Polo districts / Old West casino game / Fictional Indiana town where Parks Recreation is set / Month after Av / Body of water on Uzbek border

February 16, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Home of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil / MON 2-18-13 / Green with 2010 hit Forget You / Los Angeles district near Sherman Oaks / Stringed instrument for madrigal / Mortise's partner in carpentry / Singsongy cadence / Set of people receiving placebo

≪ Previous: Not strictly adhering to tempo / SAT 2-16-13 / Consul composer / Year Tosca premiered / Zulu's counterpart / Orange children's character / Triple platinum Gloria Estefan album with Rhythm Is Gonna Get You / Creature whose English name genus name are same

Constructor: Ian Livengood and J.A.S.A. Crossword Class

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "Mark My Words"— five squares work as punctuation marks in the Acrosses and letter strings in the Downs

C.S.I.: NY / COLONEL MUSTARD
THE IN-CROWD / BALDERDASH
"RACHEL, RACHEL" / WING COMMANDER [Rank below group captain]
"FROST/NIXON" / SLASHER FILM
DR. DRE / EDWARDIAN PERIOD

Word of the Day: FARO (77D: Old West casino game) —

n.
A card game in which the players lay wagers on the top card of the dealer's pack.

[Alteration of PHARAOH.]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/faro-1#ixzz2L7MvEf4W

• • •

I have this weird sense of déjà vu with this one—seems like I've seen punctuation mark puzzles before, maybe even from Ian himself (???). No matter, this one works nicely, and the rebus squares are symmetrical (!?), which you almost never see in a rebus. Usually too hard to do, and usually makes rebus too easy to solve. Not today, though. Never occurred to me to look for symmetry, so the symmetry feature didn't help me at all. Took me waaaaay too long to figure out the theme. I just couldn't figure out why there was a blank in "THE IN [blank] CROWD," and because of that mystery square, I also could Not get up into the north. Clues on everything were supremely unhelpful. BIG BAT took me forever, and I'm a baseball fan. Clues on L.A. LAKER (23A: Magic, once) and ARAL SEA (19A: Body of water on the Uzbek border) were not at all obvious. GALA (8D: Big do) could've been AFRO or BASH. Couldn't remember the first two letters of ARLEN's name (20D: "Blues in the Night" composer Harold). So that area was Rough. Finally figured out the gimmick way over at "CSI: NY," and after that, the puzzle got much easier, but never Easy. I was gonna call foul on "CSI: NY" because I thought there were periods in the abbreviations, but looks like there isn't a period to be seen on either side of the colon. I've never even heard of "RACHEL, RACHEL," so that part of the grid was also rough, but no matter—it's fine to struggle sometimes, and the fill here is mostly very good and even entertaining in parts. Weak in the ENSILE-over-OSE area, but really strong in the SE, where ALEX TREBEK wears FAKE FUR to IBIZA (what a diva!) (122A: Island SW of Majorca), and the NW, where MONEYPENNY and "IRONSIDE" create a nice crime/spy fiction nexus.

Crosswordese Experience helped a bunch today, as IONIA (2D: Coastal Anatolian region) slid right in, ENSILE was no problem at all, ELUL (54D: Month after Av) was virtually second nature, and KIRS (115D: Cocktails with crème de cassis) felt like an old friend (even though the last three are words I know *only* from crosswords). Of course there was the little matter of crossing crosswordese wires at RAJ (120D: Post-1858 rule) (I went with HAJ), and then needing almost every cross for ZERO G. Always happy to see a "Parks & Rec" clue—I forget sometimes that PAWNEE is fake, since I know more about it than any other place in Indiana (86A: Fictional Indiana town where "Parks & Recreation" is set). I liked the clue [Gotham-bound luggage letters] (LGA) both because I love Batman and because I will be Gotham-bound myself in about three weeks to attend yet another American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). YE GODS! I haven't made my hotel reservations yet. Gotta go.

↧

Home of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil / MON 2-18-13 / Green with 2010 hit Forget You / Los Angeles district near Sherman Oaks / Stringed instrument for madrigal / Mortise's partner in carpentry / Singsongy cadence / Set of people receiving placebo

February 17, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Coastal Brazilian state / TUE 2-19-13 / Ottoman nabob / Sainted king who inspired carol / Old one in Austria / Elongated fruit from tree / Pertaining to Hindu scriptures / Furry allies of Luke Skywalker

≪ Previous: Summation symbol in math / SUN 2-17-13 / 1968 movie directed by Paul Newman / Island SW of Majorca / Post-1968 tennis / Post-1858 rule / Rank below group captain / Bridge dividing San Marco San Polo districts / Old West casino game / Fictional Indiana town where Parks Recreation is set / Month after Av / Body of water on Uzbek border

Constructor: Jeffrey Harris

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: CONTROL GROUP (46A: Set of people receiving a placebo ... or what the ends of 20-, 28- and 41-Across belong to?) — theme answers all end with words that are kinds of controls (such as one might find on a TV or dashboard)

GOBBLER'S KNOB (20A: Home of the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil)
CUTE AS A BUTTON (28A: Simply adorable)
BAIT AND SWITCH (Underhanded commercial ploy)

Word of the Day: GOBBLER'S KNOB —

Punxsutawney Phil Sowerby is a groundhog resident of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. On February 2 (Groundhog Day) of each year, the town of Punxsutawney celebrates the beloved groundhog with a festive atmosphere of music and food. During the ceremony, which begins well before the winter sunrise (which occurs at 7:26 AM Eastern Standard Time on February 2 in Punxsutawney)^[1], Phil emerges from his temporary home on Gobbler's Knob, located in a rural area about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of town. According to the tradition, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an "early spring."^[2] The date of Phil's prognostication is known as Groundhog Day in the United States and Canada. He is considered to be the world's most famous prognosticating rodent. During the rest of the year, Phil lives in the town library with his "wife" Phyllis.
A select group, called the Inner Circle, takes care of Phil year-round and also plans the annual ceremony. Members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle are recognizable by their top hats and tuxedos. As of 2011, Phil has two co-handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths. (wikipedia)

• • •

Oh, puzzle, you had me at GOBBLER'S KNOB. I watched "Groundhog Day" this past Groundhog Day, and am more convinced than ever that it's among the greatest comedies of all time. Probably one of the ten best movies of the '90s. Just perfect. Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the film's release, so this answer is all kinds of timely. However, it is likely to slow most Monday solvers down, since unless you've seen and know the film Really well (as I do), it's possible you fumbled around a bit there. Also possibly at ACRED (wtf?), and, if you're like me, at JEEZ (I swear I *just* did a puzzle where it was spelled GEEZ ...). Oh, and THE BLUES—that was a pretty tricky clue (4D: Low spirits, as experienced by St. Louis's hockey team?). So tricky, I actually thought it was a theme clue at first. So there are a bunch of places one might get briefly snagged, but the rest was typically Monday-easy, so overall, it was a Monday. A Monday Monday, albeit one I liked more than I typically like Mondays. The theme is of a very basic (last words) type, but with theme answers like those, the unoriginality of theme type is meaningless. Theme works, fill is great, so: success.

Oh, and maybe you didn't know CEE-LO (39A: Green with the 2010 hit "Forget You"). The clue is accurate but misleading, as the song is really called "F*ck You," but for radio play they obviously had to change it. I know his name well and still froze a bit when trying to enter it. Somehow I want it to be C-LO, like J-LO ... but with a C.

[WARNING: Profanity ahead]
CANOERS (39D: Ones paddling down a river, say) made me wince a bit, but in retrospect I don't see anything terribly wrong with the word. It's just that when words get -ERed and pluralized at the same, that's usually a bad sign. I mean, fine for, say, BOMBERS, but bad for, say, SCARERS. I didn't set a personal record time on this puzzle, but I did manage to put my name on top of the leaderboard at the NYT site for the first time ever. That bit of glory lasted all of thirty minutes, and since then many of my friends have posted times *well* under mine. Oh well. At least I'll always have this screenshot (that's me at #1):

See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Coastal Brazilian state / TUE 2-19-13 / Ottoman nabob / Sainted king who inspired carol / Old one in Austria / Elongated fruit from tree / Pertaining to Hindu scriptures / Furry allies of Luke Skywalker

February 18, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Arthur his family in Hoop Dreams / WED 2-20-13 / Repeated cry in Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop / Kazakh border lake / Classico rival / Burmese P.M.

≪ Previous: Home of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil / MON 2-18-13 / Green with 2010 hit Forget You / Los Angeles district near Sherman Oaks / Stringed instrument for madrigal / Mortise's partner in carpentry / Singsongy cadence / Set of people receiving placebo

Constructor: Barry Franklin and Sara Kaplan

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Interrogative-ish — first syllables of theme answers (mostly) sound like question words "who" "what" "when" "where" "how" and "why"

Word of the Day: BAHIA (6D: Coastal Brazilian state) —

Bahia (local pronunciation: [baˈi.ɐ] is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size. Bahia's capital is the city of Salvador, or more properly, São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, and is located at the junction of the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of All Saints,officially first seen by European sailors in 1501. The name "bahia" is an archaic spelling of the Portuguese word baía, meaning "bay". (wikipedia)

• • •

BAHIA + BEV = wretched. The latter is especially wretched because *utterly* unnecessary. Who says "BEV"? That's a woman's nickname, at best. Change that "B" to "R" or "N" or something that makes -EV recognizable. Do waitresses say "BEV?" Who Says BEV?! With the exception of LET IT SNOW (3D: Phrase sung three times in a row in a holiday song) and KNEE SOCKS (4D: Shin coverers) (both nice), the fill is so-so, at best. With six theme answers, this is perhaps not surprising. Anyway, I didn't enjoy this, partly because of the BAHIA / BEV thing, partly because of the multiple Christmas songs out of season, and partly because I've apparently been pronouncing WATSON wrong all these years. It's WHAT-son, is it? Those vowel sounds are from different worlds when I say them, whereas the others are pretty close matches.

Theme answers:

HOOVER DAM (18A: Construction on the Colorado River)
WATSON AND CRICK (23A: DNA modelers)
WENCESLAUS (I do not like the carol and I do not like the ridiculous spelling of this guy's name) (29A: Sainted king who inspired a carol)
WEREWOLVES (these, I like) (41A: Lycanthropes)
HOUSING PROJECT (45A: Publicly funded residential complex)
WYATT EARP (55A: Lawman at the O.K. Corral)

Crosswordese expertise came in handy today—for the first time ever, I got PAPAW right off the bat (or more accurately off the "P") (1D: Elongated fruit from a tree). Recent puzzle of mine had the theme answer BEY OF PIGS, so BEY was front-of-brain (58D: Ottoman nabob). Konrad Adenauer was known as "Der ALTE," or so crosswords tell me; at any rate, ALTE's a gimme for me now (59A: Old one, in Austria). And everyone knows the EWOKS, or should (37A: Furry allies of Luke Skywalker). I have to say that while I don't like EELY or ERINS or TERRI (10D: Country singer Gibbs) in that NE corner, I do like VEDIC (11D: Pertaining to Hindu scriptures). It just looks cool. Also, I like PLANK, esp. as clued (12D: Pirate ship feature). Took me several crosses to pick it up, and when I got it, I thought, "Yes. That's good." I'm in the middle of a great comic about pirates right now—"Cursed Pirate Girl" by Jeremy Bastian. No PLANKs yet, but I'm only about half done.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Arthur his family in Hoop Dreams / WED 2-20-13 / Repeated cry in Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop / Kazakh border lake / Classico rival / Burmese P.M.

February 19, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Apiarist's facial display / THU 2-21-13 / Grand ungodly godlike man of fiction / Biblical hunter / Last Pope Paulo numerically / Bewitched wife familiarly / wonder Tone Loc Crowded House / Offenbach's belle nuit o nuit d'amour

≪ Previous: Coastal Brazilian state / TUE 2-19-13 / Ottoman nabob / Sainted king who inspired carol / Old one in Austria / Elongated fruit from tree / Pertaining to Hindu scriptures / Furry allies of Luke Skywalker

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: BOOK — circled letters in corners spell out "BOOK"; puzzle note reads: "The answer to each starred clue is a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase. A certain four-letter word (spelled out clockwise by the circled squares) [i.e. BOOK] can follow the first half and precede the second half of each of these answers, in each case to complete another compound word or familiar two-word phrase."

Word of the Day: U NU (15A: Burmese P.M.) —

U Nu (Burmese: [...] also Thakin Nu; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995) was a leading Burmese nationalist and political figure of the 20th century. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the provisions of the 1947 Constitution of the Union of Burma, from 4 January 1948 to 12 June 1956, again from 28 February 1957 to 28 October 1958, and finally from 4 April 1960 to 2 March 1962.

• • •

Weird. This is one of those puzzles that seems quite competently made, but that I did not enjoy solving at all. There are a gajillion theme answers + the BOOK thing, which is impressive, from a purely architectural standpoint. Given that density, the fill is actually pretty good. But stuff like U NU (which I think was a big gimme for enthusiasts before my time, but which, thankfully, has been virtually exterminated in the Shortz era) and AGEES (?) (25D: Arthur and his family in "Hoop Dreams") and KATS and INKA andKOH (22D: ___-i-noor diamond) still hurt. Worst was SLC, which I couldn't make any sense of. I figured I had an error. I didn't know if the "capital" in the clue was maybe ... a monetary denomination? Wasn't til UTAH finally went in that I realized that I did indeed have NARCO spelled right, and that SLC was Salt Lake City. I've heard the term BLUE JACKET, but had no idea it meant simply "Sailor." So this was just ... someone else's puzzle. Maybe a much older person. Lastly, I am not a big fan of having to read a lot of $%#@ at the end to figure out what the theme is. Also, never heard of "Vanity BOOK." That must've meant something to someone at some time. Just nothing to me today.

Theme answers:

17A: *Approval indicators (CHECK MARKS)
21A: *Ban (BLACKLIST)
39A: *December 31 (YEAR END)
55A: *What a "forever" stamp lacks (FACE VALUE)
64A: *Union supporter? (MATCHMAKER)
11D: *Magazine with an annual Hollywood issue ("VANITY FAIR")
28D: *Sailor (BLUE JACKET)

There were some lovely and original answers and clues here and there. Loved everything about HEY HO (31A: Repeated cry in the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"), mostly because it quite literally forced me to remember the song, tune and all. Had to sing it to myself to remember the answer. Somehow the clue on ARC also struck me as fresh (35A: Shape of the Aleutian Islands, on a map), or at least thoughtful / creative. Don't know what "judokas" are, but I know what "judo" is, so DOJOS clue was both colorful and gettable (48A: Places for judokas). Less happy with OSH, both for just ... being OSH ... and then for being clued in a cross-referenced clue (71A: City ESE of the 10-Down). Pro tip: don't tangle your crap fill up in cross-rerferences. Just makes it more annoying. Also, what the hell is up with the clue on KOBE (59A: 2007-08 N.B.A. M.V.P., to fans)? You know why "fans" call him that? 'Cause that is actually his name. KG, K-ROD, DR.K—these are what sports stars are "to fans." I'm trying to imagine "MICHAEL" or "STEVE" clued this way, and can't.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Apiarist's facial display / THU 2-21-13 / Grand ungodly godlike man of fiction / Biblical hunter / Last Pope Paulo numerically / Bewitched wife familiarly / wonder Tone Loc Crowded House / Offenbach's belle nuit o nuit d'amour

February 20, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Handel work featuring David / SAT 2-22-13 / Cretan peak / Yucca named by Mormon settlers / Live at Apollo airer / Coiner of phrase global village / Phishing string / Noted Titanic couple / Biblical figure believed to be buried near Basra / 1994 Emmy winner for Dvorak in Prague

≪ Previous: Arthur his family in Hoop Dreams / WED 2-20-13 / Repeated cry in Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop / Kazakh border lake / Classico rival / Burmese P.M.

Constructor: Paul Hunsberger

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: ROUGH / AROUND THE / EDGES (32D: With 21- and 25-Down, lacking refinement ... like this puzzle's grid) — letter string "ROUGH" appears once on each side of the grid (in DROUGHT, BOROUGHS, TROUGHS, and THOROUGH)

Word of the Day: RED ALE (2D: Traditional Irish brew) —

Irish Red Ale, also known simply as Irish Ale or Red Ale, is a style of sweet, malty ale brewed by many Irish breweries. The red color comes from the use of small amounts of dark or roasted grains. Despite the name, this beer style may also be brewed as a lager. (homebrewtalk.com)

• • •

Marred for me by the completely fake answer TWO-HIT (7D: ___ wonder (Tone Loc or Crowded House, e.g.). I see that the term has some google traction, but most often as part of a larger discussion of the *real* term, "one-hit wonder." I am a Crowded House fan, so I saw the clue and went "ugh, they're calling them 'one-hit wonders' again," because I'm used to people doing that: remembering "Don't Dream It's Over" and forgetting "Something So Strong." I simply thought the clue was being very loose with the term "hit," as people who use the term "one-hit wonder" often are. No one uses the term "two-hit wonder," so it never Ever occurred to me that it could be a thing, let alone a thing that might appear in a puzzle. The fact that it's essentially a partial is just the cruddy icing on the stale cake. Also, while I love the answer BEE BEARD for the image alone, but "facial display?" (8D: Apiarist's facial display) What apiarist puts bees on his face for display? This sounds like some kind of circus trick, not something a professional apiarist would do. Weird. The puzzle as a whole represents a decent attempt to build a puzzle (here, a kind of visual pun) out of a common expression. There's not that much ickiness, but what little there is really hurts. TWO-HIT, SESTO (27A: Last Pope Paulo, numerically), and ECH (!?!) are real gut kicks. RAMA isn't helping. But most of the rest is solid.

I started Very slowly—absolutely tanking the NW before moving on to the NE, where I got some traction. Why DROUGHT didn't occur to me right off the bat at 1A: Dust Bowl phenomenon, I have no idea. Ugh. And of course once I wrote in ONE-HIT, all hope was lost up there (until the very end). Got going with BED to EDY to BEE-something to EDUARDO (a name I know only bec. I once blew it in a crossword—then I saw "The Social Network"; now I remember) (15A: Facebook co-founder Saverin). That corner fell, but I couldn't get out (the BEARD part of BEE BEARD not being intuitive to me). Started over with MASSE in the SE (another good / common crossword word) (50A: Spin-heavy shot), and worked that corner all the way around to the center, finally hammering out ROUGH, which immediately gave me the reveal, ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES. Before I got ROUGH, I thought it was going to be something ACROSS THE something. After I got the reveal, the rest was pretty easy. SE fell fast (easy once you know ROUGH is on the edge somewhere) and then I finished in the formerly intractable NW. If not for the ROUGH I knew had to go in there, I could still very well be stuck. ULULATE helped too (4D: Howl). Rough corner—SESTO and RED ALE took some real effort.

Bullets:

20A: "Grand, ungodly, godlike man" of fiction (AHAB) — went from "how the hell am I supposed to ...?" to "Oh, of course" pretty quickly.
54A: Spin-o-___ (360-degree hockey maneuver) (RAMA) — never ever heard this. Good thing I never saw the clue.
10D: Offenbach's "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour," e.g. (DUET) — nooooo idea. Would've guessed ARIA if crosses hadn't prevented it.
37D: One is named for the explorer James Ross (POLAR SEA) — Close to a gimme for me. ROSSSEA is a not-uncommon crossword answer. Three consecutive Ss makes it, let's say, useful in certain tight spots.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Handel work featuring David / SAT 2-22-13 / Cretan peak / Yucca named by Mormon settlers / Live at Apollo airer / Coiner of phrase global village / Phishing string / Noted Titanic couple / Biblical figure believed to be buried near Basra / 1994 Emmy winner for Dvorak in Prague

February 21, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Violin virtuoso Leopold / SAT 2-23-13 / Board game found in Egyptian tombs / Yeomen of Guard officer / Dublin-born singer with 1990 #1 hit / Mil branch disbanded in 1978 / Roots family surname / Cerebral canals

≪ Previous: Apiarist's facial display / THU 2-21-13 / Grand ungodly godlike man of fiction / Biblical hunter / Last Pope Paulo numerically / Bewitched wife familiarly / wonder Tone Loc Crowded House / Offenbach's belle nuit o nuit d'amour

Constructor: Martin Ashwood-Smith

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: "Mrs. 'ARRIS" (11D: "Mrs." in a Paul Gallico novel title) —

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris is the title of a Paul Gallico novel originally published in 1958. In the United Kingdom, it was published as Flowers for Mrs Harris. It was the first in a series of four books about the adventures of a London charwoman. (wikipedia)

• • •

As quad-stacks go, this is fine, but quad-stacks are generally miserable things, and I mostly felt miserable solving this thing. First, it was misplaced on a Friday (very clearly a Saturday puzzle, difficulty-wise). Second, just ... all the junk you get with quad-stacks. MARSHALL MCLUHAN is a very fine 15 (29A: Coiner of the phrase "global village"), but the rest are just OK at best. WTF is an ORATORIO SOCIETY? (38A: Group that might perform 16-Across) That's a thing? I know each of those words individually, but would never think to put them together. That's the thing about most tall stacks—you get at least one if not several 15s that are perhaps defensible, but pretty weak. ACCOUTERING is a word I hope never to encounter again (24D: Getting in gear). I eat OATMEAL every morning. I suppose that I have OATMEAL CEREAL every morning (9D: Quaker offering), but of course I'd never say that. The most irksome thing about the puzzle was how many "?" clues there were. Ridiculous. Lost their charm Very quickly. I think half a dozen should be about the max, and they should be *spot* on. Today, 11 (?!?!). And most are ... you know, OK, though "suggestion" is absurd for SEDAN (13D: Auto suggestion?) and the distance between your average BOXER and "lord" is pretty great (49D: Lord of the ring?). Overall, this was just a slog, with only Mr. Mcluhan, JOSHUA TREE, and JUDY GARLAND giving me any pleasure (15D: "Judgment at Nuremberg" Oscar nominee).

Pretty quick start in the NW, but this is a highly segmented grid, so making good progress in one area doesn't have much bearing on your overall success. So I came out of there and couldn't turn down, so went across and methodically put away the NE. But no matter what I did, the quad-stack wouldn't budge. Even when I drove ASTORS (26D: Noted Titanic couple), TEN HORSEPOWER (19D: Like some outboard motors), and JUDY GARLAND right through it, none of the Acrosses made any sense to me. A lot of those short Downs in there were super-ambiguous. In fact ... I think AT ME and NYE'S were the only ones I had. PEAK for HEAP (35D: Mountain). GYNS (is that a thing?) for MOMS (29D: Delivery people?). ROOF for LIEN (32D: It may be on the house). EAVE for LIEN. MARIO'S for LUIGI'S (26D: Nintendo's ___ Mansion). Bumbled around in the south and eventually worked it all out, but that still left a ridiculously empty middle. So I just started throwing in answers off the top of my head, just to get some kind of action going, something that might turn up a juxtaposition or letter string that triggered a correct 15. It was changing MARIO'S to LUIGI'S that got me both -GAME and -SOCIETY, which finally tipped the scales in my favor. I think I ended with A RAT—somewhere in there.

You have to admire the alliteration in 14A: Biblical figure believed to be buried near Basra (EZRA), if nothing else. I always thought of JOSHUA TREE as a place (in CA), not an actual tree, so that clue / answer surprised me a bit (15A: Yucca named by Mormon settlers). I'd complain about there being nothing to signal the abbrev. in MT. IDA, but a. I've been told that, arbitrarily, one doesn't really have to signal it in "hard" puzzles (?), and b. I knew instantly that it was MT. something (20A: Cretan peak). OSSA was too long, so ... IDA. SSNS is bad fill, but [Phishing string: Abbr.] is about as good a clue as that answer's ever gonna get. Steinbeck's twins? Ugh, I don't even remember what this is from. East of Eden? Yup. Caleb (CAL) and Aaron. OK. Probably should remember that. Thought the "That '70s Show" answer was OWEN WILSON at first (it's been a while since I saw that show) (and it's LUKE WILSON) (57A: He played Casey Kelso on "That '70s Show"). Needed 3 of 4 crosses to get [Linchpin locale] (AXLE). Strangely, CRUET was the first thing I put in the grid (3D: Oil vessel). Without it, man, I'd've been lost up there. OZAWA won an Emmy? (2D: 1994 Emmy winner for "Dvorák in Prague) JESSE Reno is ... somebody? (1D: General Reno for whom Reno, Nev. is named) "SAUL" is a Handel work? (16A: Handel work featuring David) Easy with CRUET, likely impossible without it.

Good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Violin virtuoso Leopold / SAT 2-23-13 / Board game found in Egyptian tombs / Yeomen of Guard officer / Dublin-born singer with 1990 #1 hit / Mil branch disbanded in 1978 / Roots family surname / Cerebral canals

February 22, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Hostage playwright 1958 / SUN 2-24-13 / Boxer nicknamed Hands of Stone / Best-selling author who served as nurse in Civil War / Postseason football game played in Mobile Ala / Big name in '60s peace activism / Candy since 1927 / Four-time baseball All-Star Jose

≪ Previous: Handel work featuring David / SAT 2-22-13 / Cretan peak / Yucca named by Mormon settlers / Live at Apollo airer / Coiner of phrase global village / Phishing string / Noted Titanic couple / Biblical figure believed to be buried near Basra / 1994 Emmy winner for Dvorak in Prague

Constructor: Todd Gross

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: balls — actually, none (there are symmetrical numbered balls clues, but that's not a theme ... unless the whole puzzle is ball-shaped, and thus ... who knows/cares?

Word of the Day: EXON (35A: Yeomen of the Guard officer) —

n.
A sequence of DNA that codes information for protein synthesis that is transcribed to messenger RNA.

[ex(pressed) + -ON¹.]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/exon#ixzz2Lgover4U

[Actually, probably this ...]

An exon is one of the officers rank in the Yeomen of the Guard.

The first mention of Exon is in the ceremony of All Nights, which is fully described in the chapter relating to Charles II. They were added to the staff of officers in 1668 just about the time when Marsham’s account of All Night was written. The derivation and meaning of the word Exon has been and is a puzzle to many, but it is undoubtedly the French pronunciation of the word exempt. An exempt was an officer in the old French Garde Du Corps. “Exempts des Guedes du Corps” are described in a military dictionary as “Exons belonging to the Body Guards,” There was in France an officer of police called “Un Exempt (exon) de Police.” When Charles II formed his Horse Guards he created a commissioned officer who was styled indiscriminately the exempt or the Exon, and in each of the two troops this officer ranked with the Captain. There is further confusion connected with the title of Exon, for in his commission he is styled corporal. But it appears that in Elizabeth’s reign “corporal” was a commissioned officer, and the term was synonymous with Captain. Down to the time of the Coronation of George III, which took place on 22 September 1761, corporal was only another word for Exon, as may be seen on referring to the official programme of the Coronation, wherein mention is made of “the Corporals or Exons of the Yeomen of the Guard.” The exempt in the French Garde du corps always had charge of the Night Watch, and the Exon is the English Body Guard was especially appointed for that service. Curiously enough the word Exempt is also used in the orders of the Yeomen of the Guard with its English meaning. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is why only the best of the best should go to such a low word count. Why oh why would you make a *mostly* good themeless when the parts that are *not* good are *so* not good. You're close! Work on it 'til it's right. EXON is terrible, but I'll give you that. And I'll give you EDAS, I guess, though that's pushing it (7D: Writer LeShan and others). IEST ... ugh, OK, we're reaching my limit, but still—the long answers around the whole circle really are nice, so ... fine. Now all you have to do is finish up in the center and bam, done. So go ahead. Do it. Always Be Closing! But this—what is this? CER? (28D: Battle of ___ (first Allied victory of W.W. I)) Uh, OK, we're limping toward the finish line now, but it's in sight, it's in sight, IT'S NOT FAR. It's ... uh ... oh come on. Really? This is the whimper with which this world ends? SE-ET / A-ILINE? (Board game found in Egyptian tombs + Chemical used in dyes). I realize now, in retrospect, that if ANIL is a dye (the crosswordesiest of dyes, but a dye nonetheless), then ANILINE perhaps should be inferrable. To some. But I guarantee you that that one square is going to derail scads of folks today. And not in a "oh, too clever for me, wish I coulda figured it out" kind of way. No, in a "what? [run the alphabet] ugh, I give up" kind of way. That. Crossing. Is. Objectively. Terrible. This puzzle should've been accepted conditionally—the condition being "fix that damned center." Long answers, good. Short answers, and esp. middle, unacceptable. As a constructor-friend said just now: "The longer entries are nice but can't make up for the short fill. This puzzle is like eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's and then getting tased."

But for that one square, the puzzle wasn't that hard for me. Many of those longer answers were gimmes or near-gimmes. I put in METROSEXUAL (12D: GQ sort of guy) off the "M." SINEAD O'CONNOR (10D: Dublin-born singer with a 1990 #1 hit) off the "SI-." STAPLES CENTER with just a smattering of letters in place. Once I got the top set up, the rest of the big circle seemed to fall like a series of dominoes—inexorably. But the creamy center, the dreaded creamy center, accessible by only two roads—the dominoes did not have any effect there. I actually knew both words leading into that center, but I still struggled somewhat. And then I was staring at just SE-ET / A-ILINE. The end. I guessed "M"—wrong! I guess "N." Right. The end.

Thought 1A: Dragging vehicles were DOG SLEDS or some kind of SLEDS. Wrong kind of drag (ROADSTERS). I did not know SAMUEL ADAMS was 10A: Massachusetts governor after John Hancock, but he wasn't too hard to piece together. I had OMNIA for OMNES at first, but ITERA looked wrong as the plural [Cerebral canals]. And it was (ITERS). So I fixed OMNIA. Young adult series about vampires somehow fall outside the entire reading Venn diagram of my household, which is surprising, as young adult stuff gets consumed by the bucketload here (not by me, but by wife and daughter). Sorry, TOD (26A: "The Chronicles of Vladimir ___" (hit young adult book series about a vampire). Leopold AUER was a gimme! AUER will be with me forever, as he derailed me very early on in my blogging career, and I have never forgotten. I might have sworn eternal vengeance, I'm not sure. Wasn't sure of the spelling on KINTE, but guessed right (41D: "Roots" family surname). Sumac by any other preceding adjective is still YMA (47D: Soprano Sumac). 1978 did nothing to lead me to WAC, but crosses were all easy, so, no sweat (48D: Mil. branch disbanded in 1978).

Nothing else to say, so goodnight.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

↧

Hostage playwright 1958 / SUN 2-24-13 / Boxer nicknamed Hands of Stone / Best-selling author who served as nurse in Civil War / Postseason football game played in Mobile Ala / Big name in '60s peace activism / Candy since 1927 / Four-time baseball All-Star Jose

February 23, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Hunger Games chaperon / MON 2-25-13 / Old-time actress Dolores / Observance prescribed in Book of Esther / It's headquartered at Naval Station Pearl Harbor / Actor Brendan of Journey to Center of Earth / Hearty-flavored brew / Slender shorebird

≪ Previous: Violin virtuoso Leopold / SAT 2-23-13 / Board game found in Egyptian tombs / Yeomen of Guard officer / Dublin-born singer with 1990 #1 hit / Mil branch disbanded in 1978 / Roots family surname / Cerebral canals

Constructor: Joe DiPietro

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "I Surrender" — Nine [Back down] clues. Each answer runs BACKward and then veers DOWN

Word of the Day: ARS (29A: Some seen in mirrors?) —

The letter "R" ... here pluralized. See, there are "R"s in the word "mirrors," so ... tada?

• • •

This is an ingenious puzzle. Something about its structure made it tougher-than-usual. Shouldn't have been, once I grasped the concept, but it was. Couldn't think of right words to go in missing slots much of the time—what does one do to a white flag (I could think only of RAISE)? Likewise, couldn't come up with the GIVE part of (reversed) GIVE SOME GROUND for a while. I think the cluing difficulty may have been slightly elevated as well. Fill manages to be fairly solid despite demanding theme. I despise ARS— it's terrible fill, and a cutesy "?" clue is about the worst thing you can do to terrible fill. It's still terrible, but now it's irksome and hostile. ARS? Come on. But that's about the only vomitous thing in the grid. There was some stuff I didn't know, like CLEM (38A: Mrs. Miniver's husband in "Mrs. Miniver") ("oh, in "Mrs. Miniver"! I'm glad you put that in the clue because otherwise I might have confused her with the Mrs. Miniver in "Sanford & Son"), but mainly my slowness was due to tricky / vague cluing and failures of pattern recognition. Oh, and PALTERS. Don't know that word (77A: Talks without sincerity). Am I being sincere? Yes. Ironically, or aptly, yes.

Your back downs:

22A: BEAT A HASTY RETREAT
24A: CAPITULATE
43A: HEAD FOR THE HILLS
53A: PULL OUT
65A: LOSE ONE'S NERVE
82A: WITHDRAW
90A: GIVE SOME GROUND
112A: CRY UNCLE
115A: WAVE THE WHITE FLAG

Got started quickly with FIFER at 1A: Drummer's accompanier (took me somewhat longer to get [Ball partner] (ARNAZ)). My favorite wrong answer of the day was at 6A: Best-selling author who served as a nurse in the Civil War. I wrote in AL CAPP. And then thought, "Whoa. That is *fascinating*." I'm serious. Two seconds later I realized my considerable error (it's Louisa May ALCOTT). Just guessed the [Big name in '60s peace activism] was ONO. Just glad it wasn't U NU. Managed to pull BEHAN out of my crossword bag o' tricks (32D: "The Hostage" playwright, 1958). I've been burned by him before. Actually I pulled BEHA- from my bag—couldn't remember if last letter was "R" or "N." The only expression I associate with Roberto DURAN is "No mas!" so 123A: Boxer nicknamed "Hands of Stone" took a good bit of effort. REYES, however, was considerably easier (5D: Four-time baseball All-Star Jose). Helps that he's still playing. And that I actually follow baseball. I don't know if SENIOR BOWL is original or not, but it feels so, and I liked it for that reason. I can't remember ever watching one, but I'm aware of its existence—good enough (67D: Postseason football game played in Mobile, Ala.). PEZ turns 100 in 14 years (76D: Candy since 1927). Get to work, commemorative crossword constructors! I'm sure you'll have competition.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. If you haven't yet downloaded "American Red Crosswords" (24 original puzzles from the country's top constructors, ed. by Patrick Blindauer, intro by Will Shortz), you should do that. Donate money to the Red Cross and get a mess of good puzzles. It's win-win.

P.P.S. a biggish announcement: "American Red Crosswords" will be available for your iPhone/iPad very soon. This is kind of a big deal. Very exciting. I'll keep you posted.

↧

Hunger Games chaperon / MON 2-25-13 / Old-time actress Dolores / Observance prescribed in Book of Esther / It's headquartered at Naval Station Pearl Harbor / Actor Brendan of Journey to Center of Earth / Hearty-flavored brew / Slender shorebird

February 24, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Peer Gynt widow / TUE 2-26-13 / Figure in the tale of Jason and Argonauts / Times Square sign shown in lowercase letters / Liquide clair / Raccoon relative

≪ Previous: Hostage playwright 1958 / SUN 2-24-13 / Boxer nicknamed Hands of Stone / Best-selling author who served as nurse in Civil War / Postseason football game played in Mobile Ala / Big name in '60s peace activism / Candy since 1927 / Four-time baseball All-Star Jose

Constructor: Angela Olson Halsted

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (*for a Monday*)

THEME: Cut to the quick— theme answers all end in words that can mean "quick"

Theme answers:

17A: Iced tea brand (LIPTON BRISK)
27A: Observance prescribed in the Book of Esther (THREE-DAY FAST)
47A: It's headquartered at Naval Station Pearl Harbor (PACIFIC FLEET)
62A: Country singer with the 2012 #1 hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (TAYLOR SWIFT)

Word of the Day: Dolores DEL RIO (36A: Old-time actress Dolores)—

Dolores del Río (August 3, 1905 in Durango, Mexico – April 11, 1983 in Newport Beach, California) was a Mexican film actress. She was a star inHollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, and was one of the most important female figures of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, a mythical figure in Latin America and quintessential representation of the feminine face of Mexico in the world. (wikipedia)

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Congratulations to my good friend Angela on this, her NYT solo debut. This was definitely crunchier than your average Monday, with some mild WTF-ery here and there (color me ignorant of the THREE-DAY FAST thing, and also of the RYE BEER (26D: Hearty-flavored brew), which, presumably, such a fast would preclude ... you can't drink beer on a fast, can you? Is there such thing as a beer fast? Is there!?). Had trouble here and there—with the aforementioned answers; with the end of LIPTON BRISK (me: "it's tea ... but 'tea' is in the clue ... but it's LIPTON tea ... uh ..."); with COAST (off the "T," I went with INLET for some reason) (37A: Where an ocean and a continent meet); with MASCULINE (at least until I got past the MA- part, which suggested any number of "man"-type answers ... yeah, I know, "man" is in the clue, but I was flying) (34D: Like a he-man); oh, and FRASER (51A: Actor Brendan of "Journey to the Center of the Earth")—that clue is absurd. Is that movie recent? If a movie falls in the woods ... I thought answer called for another "old-time" actor because the title certainly sounded old. But it's just the guy from "Encino Man." Weird. I had to laugh at TAYLOR SWIFT; Angela has a daughter about my daughter's age, and I know there is some Swift fandom in the house. Even though I'm a huge hardboiled fiction fan, I like the modern update on the old [Sam Spade's secretary] clue for EFFIE (53D: "The Hunger Games" chaperon). Interesting. So: simple theme, nicely executed, occasional weirdness. All in all, nice Monday, good debut.

I was playing Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" on my turntable earlier today. My first thought on looking at the album cover: "How in the world have I never seen either FERDE or GROFÉ in a puzzle before!? How Was This Man Denied His Place In Crosswordese History!?!"

Gotta run.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Peer Gynt widow / TUE 2-26-13 / Figure in the tale of Jason and Argonauts / Times Square sign shown in lowercase letters / Liquide clair / Raccoon relative

February 25, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Yellow-eyed birds of prey / WED 2-27-13 / Cybermenaces / Sonata finale often / Late 19th-century anarchist's foe / Pre-election ad buyer / Online party reminder

≪ Previous: Hunger Games chaperon / MON 2-25-13 / Old-time actress Dolores / Observance prescribed in Book of Esther / It's headquartered at Naval Station Pearl Harbor / Actor Brendan of Journey to Center of Earth / Hearty-flavored brew / Slender shorebird

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Road music — songs about roads

Theme answers:

THUNDER ROAD (17A: Where "we can make it if we run," per Bruce Springsteen (1975)
VENTURA HIGHWAY (24A: Where "the nights are stronger than moonshine," per America (1972)
PENNY LANE (37A: Where "all the people that come and go stop and say hello," per the Beatles (1967)
ELECTRIC AVENUE (52A: Where "we gonna rock down to," per Eddy Grant (1983)
BAKER STREET (61A: Where "you'll drink the night away and forget about everything," per Gerry Rafferty (1978)

Word of the Day: Alaska's KENAI Peninsula (14A) —

The Kenai Peninsula is a large peninsula jutting from the southern coast of Alaska in the United States. The name Kenai is probably derived from Kenayskaya, the Russian name for Cook Inlet, which borders the peninsula to the west. (wikipedia)

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An odd Tuesday. My time says "normal," but the sensation was odd. At 74 words, it's got a more open grid than you usually see on Tuesday (the result of which is longer non-theme answers: to wit, a bunch of 7s and a couple 9s running Down). Also, the theme seems like it will be very easy for those who follow popular music (me) and perhaps not for those who don't. Even though all these songs are at least 30 years old (holy @#$&, Eddy Grant was 30 yrs ago!?), I still imagine that many solvers will have to methodically piece together (from crosses) at least one of these—whereas I could enter them all with no crosses. These are not obscure songs, but still, all-pop-culture themes can really lock some people out (while inviting others right in). Lastly, on the oddness front, is the KENAI / TKTS crossing. If I hadn't had some vague glimmer of a recollection that TKTS was a theater-related abbreviation appropriate to "Times Square," I would've been dead (1D: Times Square sign shown in lowercase letters). I know I've seen KENAI before, but it sure wasn't coming to me. That [Times Square sign shown in lowercase letters] is gonna be even more you-know-it-or-you-don't than the theme answers: a gimme for New Yorkers (and theater-lovers, maybe), and a giant WTF "?" for many others. My favorite part of the solve was the brief moment where I had T-TS at 1D and thought "hmmm, Times Square, eh?... let me see ..."

There are two Extreme Ugh answers in this grid: HELLE (47A: Figure in the tale of Jason and the Argonauts) and ASE (65A: "Peer Gynt" widow). Terrible, obscure stuff that really has no business in a Tues. (or most any day). But as I've said before, any time you have a grid where you are trying to drive Downs through *three* theme answers, problems are bound to follow. It's kind of amazing there isn't more ickiness, actually. The center, for instance, is pretty clean. I started very slow on this puzzle, largely because of the mysterious TKTS. Also because I didn't look at theme answers early enough. If I had, I would've taken off. Whatever time I lost futzing around up front I made up for with my accrued pop music knowledge / storehouse of thousands of song lyrics that live in my head through no effort of my own. I liked the theme—it's consistent, and, insofar as I kinda had to sing to myself to get the answers, fun. Also, I just like the image of John Paul STEVENS (46D: Former Supreme Court justice often seen in a bow tie) in his bow tie crossing ELECTRIC AVENUE.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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