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Channel: Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle
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Small pellets of noodle dough in Jewish cuisine / SUN 7-27-14 / Pathet old revolutionary group / Longtime baseball union exec Donald / European capital to natives / Exemplar of indecision / Names featured in Al Hirschfeld drawings

July 27, 2014, 6:29 am
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Constructor: Randolph Ross

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME:"What's My Line?"— Theme clues are all familiar phrases following the pattern [___ line], and answers are all "lines" in the sense of something someone might say (i.e. unexpected answers, not immediately associated with the apparently context of the clue) (so, for instance, [Fault line] is a line one might utter if one was at fault, and not anything to do with an earthquake)

Theme answers:
  • SORRY WRONG NUMBER (22A: Telephone line)
  • SHOW ME THE MONEY (30A: Cruise line)
  • I'LL GET IT (14D: Help line) 
  • MAY I SEE YOU AGAIN? (15D: Date line)
  • ONCE UPON A TIME (52A: Story line)
  • MIGHT MAKES RIGHT (39D: Power line)
  • THAT'S ALL FOLKS (77A: Finish line)
  • IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME (101A: Fault line)
  • EAT FRESH (84D: Subway line) —this struck me as the freshest (!) of the bunch
  • TAKE MY WIFE, PLEASE (111A: Laugh line)

Word of the Day: FARFEL (99A: Small pellets of noodle dough in Jewish cuisine) —
noun, plural far·fel. Jewish Cookery.
a solid foodstuff broken into small pieces: matzo farfel; noodle farfel.
Origin: 
1890–95;  < Yiddish farfl;  compare Middle High German varveln noodles
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2014. 
• • •

This was one for people who are a. way, way older than I am, and b. have a very, very different sense of humor than I do. Essentially, if you thought the NYT crossword puzzle had its heyday circa 1980, this was the puzzle for you. You can really taste the Maleska. Almost completely void of any contemporary frame of reference? Check. Cultural center of gravity of roughly 1955? Check. "Humor" (i.e. very very mild guffaws or chuckles that are guaranteed family-friendly and TRITE)? Check. Short fill that is ridiculously, bafflingly arcane, in places where it could easily, with little reworking, be replaced by something reasonable and familiar? Checkity check. I stopped solving within the first minute, at PRAHA, because I couldn't believe it was right. "No way you'd have that in an easy-to-fill corner like that … No way." And yet, way. I mean, that corner's got PSIS and ITGO, so it's not like PRAHA is doing some kind of valiant, Atlas-like labor  and holding the whole area up. Dear lord. HATLO!? "They'll Do It Ever Time"? OK, HATLO's work looks interesting, but that guy's been dead over 50 years and his strip was never terribly major to begin with. Real answers with clever / interesting clues beat obscure proper nouns (especially barely inferable ones like these) Every Single Time. It's construction 101. At this point, we're dealing w/ an editing problem, not a construction one. This theme is so stale, and the fill so mediocre-to-poor (and dated), that I don't know how puzzles like these keep getting published. In 2014. Solving this felt like slightly like punishment. Where was the fun? This was about as fun as filling out a SCHEDULE A (I imagine).


What year is it? Who says "MAY I SEE YOU AGAIN?" No, you may not, and get rid of the bow tie and desperate squeaking voice, and Vote Truman! The fact that the [Laugh line] is TAKE MY WIFE, PLEASE tells you everything you need to know about this puzzle. I want you to walk outside right now and just start exclaiming "FARFEL FEHR!" When people ask "Why are you talking gibberish?" just say "Not Gibberish! It was in my puzzle! FARFEL FEHR!" The whole thing started feeling like a trivia contest—as if the puzzle were made harder by the inclusion of stuff like [Pathet ___ (old revolutionary group)] and [___ de Champlain (founder of Quebec)] and [Astronaut Slayton]. I wanted (much) more stuff like "IN THERE" (which is at least colloquial and has some zing) or DATA FLOW. But mostly all I got was punishing moldy stuff.

"Why are you opposed to learning new things!?" Because I'm a small-minded American. Also, I'm not opposed. I'm opposed to people using lame excuses for why cruddy fill is in their grids. Put it this way: if I put Samuel ETO'O in a grid, your reaction would not be, "Oh, I am so glad to learn of this Cameroonian footballer who is a star striker for Chelsea FC." Your reaction would be "WTF?" or "Not *sports* again [groan]" (yeah, I see you) or "Paging Dr. OOXTEPLERNON!" or some such. And much as I enjoy the names of footballers from around the globe, if my puzzle were a mainstream puzzle (such as the NYT), You Would Be Right To Groan, not because ETO'O is not a great name (it is) but because four-letter answers should not be spent on obscure names unless Absolutely Positively Necessary. See also, five-letter words, six-letter words, etc. And by "obscure" I mean "obscure to the majority of the target audience." To many football fans, ETO'O is not obscure.

Also, where is [Party line]? [Shore line]? [Zip line]? [Panty line]? [Bee line]? There Are So Many Lines, with (one imagines) So Many potential different answers, any number of which might've been entertaining / amusing / clever / fresh.


Had to suspend my Puzzle of the Week feature for a bit because I haven't been keeping up w/ All The Puzzles during my travels. I'll probably do something collective for July. I'm taking nominations if you've got 'em. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go gas up the ol'LANDAU (44A: Vinyl-roofed car).
The landau description was revived during the 1960s. There was a trend for making "fake convertibles" by applying vinyl roofs on regular cars. Some of these vehicles were called "landaus" by their manufacturers, and many were fitted with landau bars on the rear quarters (faux cabriolet). Some used the term "Town Landau" such as for one of the 1967 models in the Ford Thunderbird line. This generally meant a wider rear pillar with no rear quarter windows, or a partial vinyl roof that was applied only over the rear seat area (and is thus reminiscent of a town car).

A landau roof is also commonly used on the North American hearse; very long closed rear quarters, a vinyl roof, and huge, polished landau bars have been the preferred hearse style since before World War II. (wikipedia) (emph. mine)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Weasley family owl / MON 7-28-14 / Plump songbird / Nickelodeon show whose protagonist has football-shaped head / Those who put lot of effort into social-climbing in modern lingo

July 27, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Constructor: Tom McCoy

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



THEME: STRING QUARTET (37A: Classical music group … or what the four sets of circled letters make up?) — I don't know how to describe this theme. Circled/embedded letters spell out … what? Strings can be made of "nylon"… and they are analogous in shape to the other three … I honestly don't understand what makes this theme consistent. Mainly I do not understand "nylon." Seems like a huge Odd Man Out.

Theme answers:
  • ZEROPERCENT (17A: Chance of an impossibility)
  • "HEYARNOLD" (30A: Nickelodeon show whose protagonist has a football-shaped head)
  • ANYLONAGER (44A: For even a second more)
  • VOCABLESSON (59A: Component of a language class, informally)
Word of the Day: TRY-HARDS (38D: Those who put a lot of effort into social climbing, in modern lingo) —
[I have googled [define "try-hards"] and mainly what comes up are gaming sites and sites where people are asking the question "what (the hell) is a 'try-hard'?" I'm deeply suspicious of the reality of this answer. I love "modern lingo," but certain minimum qualities of familiarity must be met, I think.] [Here's a "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" message board, if that helps]
• • •

Well, insofar as the fill was kind of zippy, and the overall puzzle was much tougher than your normal Monday, I was pleased. Probably should've been a Tuesday, but whatevs. Close enough for horseshoes etc. But there is one major problem here—kind of a deal breaker. This theme makes no sense. Or, it makes sense in only the loosest, vaguest way, like "here's some stuff in the broad galaxy of string-ish things." And if you're going to go that route, why not pearls, cheese, theory, etc? But here, there's ROPE, YARN, and CABLE … all of which can be made of many, many things, and share with "string" a physical shape (spaghetti-ESQUE is, I believe, the technical term). But NYLON is the material out of which one might *make* string, or rope, I think. So there's a consistency issue here. You want your revealer to just *snap* the whole puzzle into place. "AH … yes. Bam. Got it." Is the reaction you want. Here, I just made a face at the puzzle and then tried to piece together my comprehension failure. I asked my group (I have a group) and it turns out I wasn't alone in my bafflement, so … yeah. If you don't give a rat's [beep] about tightness of themes, then you can just enjoy the atypically crunchy fill and let it go. But this looks like Theme Fail to me.


What made this one slower than most Mondays. Well, first off, the theme answers are not exactly common phrases. They're real things, but all of them took me crosses / thought to come up with (not always the case on Mondays). "HEY, ARNOLD" was by far the toughest, as I had completely forgotten that show existed. My kid never watched it, I never watched it … I know it only because it's Out There. In the Air. Man. [Chance of an impossibility] sounds like it's going to be some interesting colloquialism, but ends up being highly literal. YOU was clued toughly (32D: Word pronounced the same when its first two letters are removed). I mean, not so's you'd be up all night sussing it out, but still, these little difficulties add up on a Monday. I was over 3:30, I think, which is 30+ seconds slower than usual (those thirty seconds feel much longer than than they are). I'd say 90+% of my Monday times fall in a very tight group between 2:45 and 3:15, so when the times are outside that range, I know something's up. But again, no big deal. I like a little struggle, a little bite, on Monday, as long as the end result is a good puzzle. Today … things didn't quite come together, theme-wise, but it wasn't a total loss.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Mujer of mixed race / TUE 7-29-14 / Rapper who hosted MTV's Pimp My Ride / Away from a chat program say / Noted filmmaker with dog named Indiana

July 28, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Constructor: Timothy Polin

Relative difficulty: Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)



THEME: Plants with animal names— First theme clue begins "Nursery worker's suggestion …" and then each clue simply follows the pattern "… for a ___"; nothing in the clues about animals, so that's just an added thing you have to figure out (after you figure out which kind of "nursery" the clue is on about, and after you figure out where the "first" theme clue is so you know what the first part of the theme clue phrase is, because w/o it, you've just got these ellipsis clues staring at you, which can be maddening …)

Theme answers:
  • SNAKEPLANT (18A: Nursery worker's suggest for a backstabber?)
  • CRABGRASS (3D: … for a grouch?)
  • DOGWOOD (36A: … for a scoundrel?)
  • WOLFSBANE (32D: … for a lothario?)
  • GOATSBEARD (57A: … for a fall guy?)

Word of the Day: MESTIZA (49D: Illusions) —
noun
noun: mestiza; plural noun: mestizas
  1. (in Latin America) a woman of mixed race, especially the offspring of a Spaniard and an American Indian. (google)
• • •
At a minimum, it was interesting. And it was certainly way harder than the typical Tuesday, what with the rather complicated / double-unstated theme (unstated first because there's no clue tip to the animal angle, and unstated second because unless you know which theme answer is the so-called "first" one, all your theme clues are just partial clues). Seems like 3D should've been "first," in that it is closest to the upper left, where most people start, but there certainly is convention on the side of making the "first" theme clue be the first theme clue that appears in an Across position. Anyway, my first theme answer was SNAKE PLANT, a thing I've never heard of, so I just … had no idea what was going on. Eventually, after figuring out a bunch of themers via crosses, I could see that we were dealing w/ animal plants, and things got a tad easier. But then there was the whole XZIBIT (!) MESTIZA area, which is right hard for any day. I actually know both the rapper and the "mixed race" term, but the latter never dawned on me (til late) and the former … is he still somebody people know? Seems like he is solidly and completely bound in amber from circa 2003.


I fell into a horribly stupid self-made pit when, faced with --KEN at 64A: Wheelbarrow or thimble, in Monopoly, my eye took in only the first word and I wrote in (with what, in retrospect, was a weird amount of confidence) OAKEN. This did two things. First, it gave me a perfectly acceptable word at 58D: Spanish "that" (ESO—I had ESA); second, it gave me -IO as the last two letters of the rapper, and wham bam thank you COOLIO! Then things got ugly. Because just as I'd never heard of SNAKE PLANT, I'd never heard of GOAT'S BEARD, and the leap from "fall guy" to GOAT (given all the imaginative thematic nursery leaps I was already having to make) was pretty far. When I see "fall guy" I just see Lee Majors doing stunts and … what, solving crimes? Did he do that? I never actually watched the show.


So theme was … let's be generous and say "layered" in an "interesting" way. Felt a bit wonky as set up, clue-wise, and as I said, at least two of the plants meant nothing to me, so I didn't Love the theme, but the core concept holds up, and I rather like most of the fill. Except ICE FOG. I'm not fully convinced that's real. ICE stuff is like E-stuff, in that the puzzle keeps trying to sell me new products, and I just get increasingly skeptical. ICE TEA ICE RUN ICE AXE. I think I draw the line at ICEAX(E). OK, that's all.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Romanian Rhapsodies composer / WED 7-30-14 / Karmann classic German sports car / Rapper with 3x platinum single Hold On We're Going Home / Dress smartly in old parlance / Turbo Tax alternative for short

July 29, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Constructor: Jean O'Conor

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium



THEME: Recluing kitchen stuff— items found in the kitchen are clued ("?"-style) as if they are not items found in the kitchen, but some other items altogether.

Theme answers:
  • COOKIE SHEET (17A: List of user IDs?)
  • MEASURING CUP (22A: Undergarment fitting device?)
  • CAN OPENER (30A: Jailer with a key ring?)
  • MICROWAVE (43A: Hardly an attraction for a surfer?)
  • CUTTING BOARD (49A: Directors in charge of downsizing?)
  • CHAFING DISH (58A: Attractive but annoying date?)

Word of the Day:"Cookie" (COOKIE SHEET (17A: List of user IDs?)) —
A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user's web browser while the user is browsing that website. Every time the user loads the website, the browser sends the cookie back to the server to notify the website of the user's previous activity. Cookies were designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember stateful information (such as items in a shopping cart) or to record the user's browsing activity (including clicking particular buttons, logging in, or recording which pages were visited by the user as far back as months or years ago).
• • •

The theme on this one holds up pretty well. The fill really should've been edited into much better shape. It's rough and musty all over the place. Clearly someone got in there mucked with the cluing at 54D: Rapper with the 3x platinum single "Hold On, We're Going Home" (DRAKE), a clue that stands out like a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake [simile stolen from Raymond Chandler] compared to the hoary quality of the rest of the clues. But rapping up one clue hardly constitutes serious editing. In America, we say "first grade," notGRADE ONE (55A: Elementary start). We also never say TOG UP ever. GHIA is horrible as a stand-alone answer (though KARMANNGHIA would be righteous). Many NEINS? Nein. Then there's your usual assortment of tired stuff like ISAO and ENESCO (the grid-friendlist 6-letter composer—can also be ENESCU: handy!). STELA SAXE OSAGES-plural. NUM! I mean, you've got two sets of cheaters* (SW, NE)—the fill in those tiny sections should at least be passable. How 'bout GHEE! GHEE is a thing. A real thing. GHIA wishes it were GHEE.


The theme clues felt a tiny bit tortured, though I got a kick out of the CHAFING DISH clue, for sure. Reasonable theme, weak fill. Pretty much par for the course, of late. Actually, a bit better than some of the stuff I've seen since returning from my time among the MAORI (6D: Most Cook Islanders).

One thing about the theme—seems like you could make a pretty funny Sunday-sized puzzle out of it. The options seem manifold, if not limitless: [Sex in southern Ireland?] (9), for instance.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*cheaters (or cheater squares) are black squares that do not increase word count, inserted primarily to make a grid easier to construct [today, black squares before 10A and below 12D, as well as their rotational symmetry counterparts]
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Financial writer Marshall / THU 7-31-14 / Noire Russie borderer / Sardonic Larry / Antipolio pioneer / Pacific nation once known as Pleasant Island / Hit 1996 live-action / animated film

July 30, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Constructor: Jeff Chen and Jill Denny

Relative difficulty: Challenging



THEME: [SPACE BAR] (55A: Visual representation of this puzzle's theme) — rebus puzzle where  you have to insert (or imagine) "SPACE" in each of the squares in 55A in order for all the crosses to work. Two other theme answers take [SPACE BAR] as their clues (one straight, one wacky):

20A: 55-Across, e.g. (COMPUTER KEY)
28A: 55-Across, e.g.? ("STAR WARS" CANTINA)

SPACE answers:
  • AIR SPACES (41D: Areas that may be protected by military jets)
  • DISK SPACE (36D: You might need a lot of it for your files)
  • "SPACE JAM" (56D: Hit 1996 live-action / animated film)
  • SPACE AGE (57D: We're living in it) (I thought I was living in the Digital Age)
  • SPACE BAR (58D: Name for 55-Across)
  • DEEP SPACE (37D: It's far out)
  • SUBSPACES (43D: Regions within regions)

Word of the Day: ANDREA Bargnani (9D: Bargnani of the N.B.A.) —
Andrea Bargnani Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛa barˈɲani] (born 26 October 1985) is an Italian professional basketball player who currently plays for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. He is a power forward/centerstanding at 213 cm (7 ft 0 in) and weighing 113 kg (250 lbs). Prior to his NBA career, Bargnani played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian Serie A and theEuroleague. In his first two seasons with the Raptors, he helped the team reach the NBA Playoffs. They won the Atlantic Division title in 2006–07. (wikipedia)
• • •

This one was doubly tough—first, the theme was nowhere to be found up top (except possibly by inference from COMPUTER KEY if you were able to piece that one together entirely from crosses) and took some work to uncover even when I got down to where the [SPACE BAR] was; second, the cluing on the short stuff was toughened up quite a bit in places (see, for instance, [Where the nose is] for BOW (of a ship), or [Stroke, in a way] for OAR or [It might make one's shadow disappear] for RAZOR, etc.). I don't normally like definitions as answers, but the cleverness of "STAR WARS" CANTINA as an additional type of [SPACE BAR] won me over. The SPACE crosses were a little ugly on the ends, with the plurals, and I thought 54A *was* the [SPACE BAR], so having [SPACE] BAR be a separate answer was slightly odd / redundant, but otherwise I thought this pretty solid and entertaining. Tough, though. Not brutal, but definitely well on the tough side of Thursday.


Where did I shoot myself in the foot today? Well, the foot, presumably. The question kind of answers itself. But where, geographically? Well, worst early mistake was having --TA- at 32A: Come to and writing in GET AT. I was thinking that one might "come to" one's point, i.e. GET AT something. It's a poor answer, I admit, but there it was. Stalled me over there. Oh, that error was compounded by a (possibly) worse one at 5D: Who said "The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers" (CHOPRA). I would like to apologize to Frederic CHOPIN for ever considering that me might have uttered / written such a banal piece of bathroom-mirror affirmation nonsense. Well, not nonsense. I'm sure it's true enough, the sentiment. But it's hardly an original thought. Here is some CHOPIN as a token of my sincere regret at the brief misattribution.



Bullets:
  • 1A: Financial writer Marshall (LOEB) — No idea. Never had one, never will. I am doomed to continue not knowing this person's name forever. I accept this.
  • 10A: Captain played by Patrick Stewart (AHAB) — Here's where I first suspected a rebus, because PICARD didn't fit...
  • 25A: Dangling piece of jewelry (EARBOB)— [frowny face]. This differs from an EARRING how? Oh, not at all. I see. Wonderful.
  • 34A: Antipolio pioneer (SABIN)— I got caught in no man's land among SALK, (Nick) SABAN, and (Carl) SAGAN. Apologies to you, too, Mr. SABIN.
  • 22D: Nebr. neighbor (KANS.) — Ouch. That's about as bad as OREG. … which I have also seen, sadly. My guess is that whoever is still using these four-letter abbrevs. is also wearing EARBOBs.
  • 51D: Pacific nation once known as Pleasant Island (NAURU) — I kind of have to let "Pacific nations" slowing come together from crosses. I feel like there are a bunch of 5-letter ones, though write now I can think only of TONGA and PALAU. 
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Ultra 93 vendor / FRI 8-1-14 / Winner of inaugural Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent / First talking pet in American comics / Boorish member of Round Table / First substitute on basketball bench / Indian novelist Raja / It means sulfur island in Japanese / Deity with more than 16000 wives / Catchphrase for paranoid

July 31, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Constructor: Ashton Anderson and James Mulhern

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: none

Word of the Day: AI WEIWEI  (16A: Winner of the inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent (2012)) —
Ai Weiwei […] born on 28 August 1957 in Beijing, China, is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. As a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He has investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of so-called "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, following his arrest at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, he was held for 81 days without any official charges being filed; officials alluded to their allegations of "economic crimes". (wikipedia)
• • •

Yes. More of this. All of the Friday puzzles should by these guys, until they run out of ideas and are no longer of any use to me. This puzzle is alive and current and colloquial and wide-ranging and clean. It's got one of my favorite literary characters—the overconfident, incompetent dickhead, SIR KAY—and a phrase I use all the time—DONE AND DONE ("and I mean Done!"—Homer Simpson), and there's hardly a clunker in sight. Whatever little annoyances there are—prefixes or directions or Latin plant names—are a. small and b. holding up tremendous stuff. Use your dull short stuff wisely! I am quite stunned by the three long, adjacent colloquialisms in the NW, mirrored by two others in the SE (as well as AM RADIO, with its superb clue, 37D: Rush home?). There are even clever little touches, like the placement of JAG and TIGE over TAMER (I know lions are usually the big cats being tamed, but I liked the big cat imagery just the same), or the strong noirish feel achieved by juxtaposing TRUST NO ONE and TAKE THE FALL. Then there's the fact that "TRUST NO ONE" is actually a catchphrase from "The X-Files" (see 47A). Nice. I do have one objection to this puzzle, though.  I'm not crazy about AI WEIWEI He's not so well-known yet, and his name is crazily spelled and not inferable. . . Wait, no. That's not my opinion. That's a direct quote from Will Shortz to me and Caleb Madison re: a Sunday puzzle we published a couple years back. My mistake! (See here; mentioned on Buzzfeed here) (Congrats to WS on smartly, if belatedly, coming around on that one)


Had an easier time in the east than I did in the west with this one; or at least I finished the east first. That NW didn't fall for me til late. Didn't know about CUL, despite 7 years of French (2D: French bottom). It sounds profane. "Un film de cul" is a porn film, so … yeah. It's a rough equivalent of "ass," I think, in that "ass" (as well as "tail") can mean "sex" in colloquial American English (he said, sexily over-explaining things). Wanted only ACERBIC (no fit) at 1A: Very harsh (ACIDIC), and therefore didn't get far up there at first. The fact that all those long Downs up there are multi-word colloquialisms made them pretty tough to parse. 



 I wrote in GENT at 20A: "I say" sayer (BRIT), only to have GENT come right back around with a bright "cheerio" at 27D: Hat-tipping sort. Could not fathom what the hell 47A: "The X-Files" program, for short even meant … until I could (SETI—Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). SIXTH MAN! THE CLOUD! NEW-AGEY! (which I hear way more often than the way, way commoner (in crosswords) NEW-AGER). Supercool work all around.

 Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Joanie's mom to Fonzie / SAT 8-2-14 / Punch Out platform for short / Portmanteau bird / David had him killed / She came to Theseus' aid / Shakespeare character who asks To whose hands have you sent lunatic king / Perennial NCAA hoops powerhouse

August 1, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: none

Word of the Day: VEAL OSCAR (17A: Dish with crab meat and Béarnaise) —
Veal Oscar is a culinary creation said to have been named in honor of Sweden's King Oscar II, who was especially partial to its ingredients. The dish consists of sauteed veal cutlets topped with crab or crayfish meat and bearnaise. Traditionally Veal Oscar is garnished with asparagus spears. Chicken can be used instead of veal to create Chicken Oscar. (wikipedia) [I would think anything could be substituted to create Anything Oscar]
• • •

10D + rotational symmetry counterpart 33D = Hello, Dolly! I'd've given the puzzle thumbs-up (as it were) on the basis of that little flourish alone.


Doesn't have the panache of yesterday's offering, but still holds up pretty well. Startlingly easy, though. I finished two minutes faster than I finished yesterday's, and pretty close to a Saturday record for me—somewhere in the low 5s. High word count + common answers + Fridayish cluing = breeze. Once I got a pace going, a bunch of the long answers just filled themselves in without much effort on my part. ROALD DAHL, for instance (44A: Subject of the 2010 biography "Storyteller"). I just looked at the letter pattern I had (which included the -AHL at the end) and just wrote it in. Got TURDUCKEN and ORWELLIAN after just a quick glance at each clue (62A: Portmanteau bird? and 32A: Like a Big Brother society, respectively). Had more trouble getting started than I did anywhere else, and even that wasn't too tough. I mean, what else is 2D: Operating without ___ (A NET) going to be?? Followed by 19A: Allen in history (ETHAN). Then NOAH (3D: Webster's first?) and we're off and running.


I would like to bench ENER RUY OWER ELEE VALS ANET PRIERS NES TSE and especially YEST, which is among my most detested alleged abbreviations. I would also like to bench, then fire, then exile the clue on NIECE (12D: ___-in-law). What's the word for something that is somehow simultaneously preposterous and transparent. A nice, actual clue there would've been very welcome. Only hiccups involved trying to come up with URIAH (16A: David had him killed, in the bible), thinking BUCKNAKED must be the answer in question, having to wait on crosses before spelling out KEBAB properly, and being forced eventually to change CLOP CLOP to CLIP CLOP (54A: Sound reproducible with coconut shells). Oh, and I wrestled with the BLUE part of BLUE STATE for like ten seconds, I think. And I blanked on SAVOIR, weirdly. OK, I think that's it. Fast, fun, and I'm not furious. That's what we call a "good day."
    Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
    ↧

    Filmmaker Nicolas / SUN 8-3-14 / Loser to Pierce in 1852 / Film title character who likes to high-five / Celebrated Bombay-born conductor / Rider of war horse Babieca / Italian town with Giotto frescoes / Former Potala Palace resident / Record label co-founded by Jay-Z / Iroquois foe in Beaver wars / Chinese dynasty preceding three kingdoms / Kaffiyeh wearers / Home of Merlin in Arthurian legend / Ex-Disney chief Michael

    August 2, 2014, 9:00 pm
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    Constructor: Ian Livengood

    Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


    THEME:"Chee Whiz!"— Add "chee" sound to the ends of words in familiar phrases, get The Wacky!

    Theme answers:
    • WOUNDED NIETZSCHE (24A: German philosopher with an injury?)
    • FILTHY RITCHIE (30A: Guy who's covered in mud?)
    • BLACK TAICHI (51A: African-American martial art?)
    • THE LONE STARCHY STATE (64A: Only form that carbohydrates take?)
    • I GUESS SOCHI (80A: Unsure answer to "Where were the 2014 Winter Olympics held?"?)
    • TABLE FOR TUCCI (97A: Actor Stanley's dinner reservation?)
    • ARCHIE-RATED MOVIE (107A: Film reviewed by Jughead's friend?)
    Word of the Day: ROC-A-FELLA (75A: Record label co-founded by Jay-Z) —
    Roc-A-Fella Records is a record label founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. It operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, being distributed by Universal Music Distribution. (wikipedia)

    • • •

    Livengood is top-notch, and if you see his name, it's really, really unlikely you're gonna get a tired puzzle. Today I thought the theme was just OK, but the theme answers he came up with were pretty funny, and since he let the the grid breathe (i.e. didn't try to cram a ton of themers in there) we get a nice overall solving experience. The non-theme fill is solid, even if there aren't That many longer answers on display. Short stuff doesn't have to be dull—I'm liking FIVE-O (which I had as FOUR-O at first … not sure why … I went through FUZZ and PO-PO and somehow "four" seemed like the number I wanted before that "O," but then, of course, "Hawaii FIVE-O"…) (98D: Police, in slang) and ZULU and BAWDY as well as the flashier, longer good stuff like ROC-A-FELLA and BATTLEAXE. I do have a criticism about the theme, though: I wish it had zagged more. That is to say, I wish the "CHEE" sound had been moved around the theme phrases more liberally. So many come at the end that I figured they all did. That made discovering LONE STARCHY STATE not thrilling (as it should've been) but annoying. I had three end-CHEEs by that point. Since there's only one more (that's 5 at the end, 2 not), those two stand out badly. If the CHEE had been sprayed around from the get-go … well, there'd've been more variety, and I would've preferred that to this. But I still liked this fine.


    Today's write-up will have to be short, as I'm off again *early* tomorrow morning. Unless I get some volunteers pretty quick, I'll mostly be covering the blog myself while on Vacation 2 (The Shorter Vacation). So I got someone coming in tomorrow, but I'll likely be back after that. Or I won't. Who can say? Not me. Certainly not you. Alrighty then. Hey, wanna see something cool? Yes, you do. We were on our way to Ithaca to pick up The Daughter from music camp, and we stopped in Owego to get coffee (The Goat Boy—great place, look it up if you're ever in the neighborhood). Afterward we walked to ATM, and we walked past a used bookstore (Riverow: again, good, look it up), so of course we had to pop in. One quick peek in the bargain basement and … this was lying out. In plain view. Screaming at me. It's a 1925 magazine. A little "humor" magazine called Laughs & Chuckles, dated Feb. 1925 (!). Certain words on its cover made it, uh, stand out:


    Those word? "X-WORD"! and "CONTEST"! Also, 1925!! I partly thought it was fake at first, but then … who would fake *this*? So I opened it up. And there it is: The Contest Puzzle. Un. Solved. I collect vintage paperbacks (two and three and four decades later than this magazine) and you virtually never find the crossword books at all, and if you do, they are usually at least partially solved. This one: untouched. And it's … let's just say we should all say a quiet thanks to Margaret Farrar tonight for taking the puzzle seriously and creating certain standards, because hoo-boy … good luck solving this (click image to enlarge):



    I like 7-Down. I mean "7-Vertical". Great clue.

    OK, see you soon.

    Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
    ↧
    Search

    Cacophony / MON 8-4-14 / German state whose capital is Dresden / "Exodus" hero / India's capital before New Delhi / Plant bristles

    August 3, 2014, 9:01 pm
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    Constructor: Joel Fagliano

    Relative difficulty: Monday (*for a Monday*)


    THEME: They haven't been called stewardesses for like 30 years— The last word of each theme answer describes a type of seat on an airplane

    Hey, everybody. PuzzleGirl here with you for your Monday puzzle. Rex is traveling today so asked me to cover for him, which I'm always happy to do because I love you guys! I also love "Orphan Black," which I've been watching with my whole family so I was basically forced to watch two episodes tonight and now it's almost 11:00 which is past my bedtime. So let's make this quick is what I'm saying. Good thing it's Monday.

    Theme answers:
    • 20A: Lets some air in, say (CRACKS A WINDOW)
    • 26A: Compromised, as two parties (MET IN THE MIDDLE)
    • 42A: Get hitched (GO DOWN THE AISLE)
    • 48A: What the ends of the answers to 20-, 26- and 42- are (AIRPLANE SEATS)
    Simple concept today. Perfect for a Monday. Let's see what there is to talk about.

    Bullets:
    • 10A: "___ out of your league, man!" (SHE'S). I swear my first thought was I'M. Not sure what that says about me, but it's probably not flattering.
    • 18A: Muppet with a long bluish nose (GONZO). I don't get this clue. Does Gonzo have a blue nose or not? If not, maybe he should have been described some other way.
    • 30A: Actor Damon (MATT).This video right here is the best thing I've ever seen Matt Damon do. Don't watch it if you don't like F-bombs though. They're bleeped out, but still.
    • 53A: Mideast's ___ Heights (GOLAN). Quite the Mideast flavor today (see also: GAZA (8D: Mideast's ___ Strip)).
    • 59A: Horror film assistant with a Russian name (IGOR). I can never remember if this name is supposed to start with I or Y.
    • 62A: Word that's only coincidentally made up of the four main compass points (NEWS). I really don't understand this clue At All. Is there some reason the word "news" would be made up of the four main compass points for a reason other than coincidence??
    • 4D: Sheer awfulness (ENORMITY). Great clue.
    • 12D: Shout after the band leaves the stage (ENCORE). My first thought? FREE BIRD. But I guess that's shouted before the band leaves the stage.
    • 34D: Facetious fall guy for one's wrongdoings, maybe (EVIL TWIN). Speaking of "Orphan Black." If you haven't seen it, you probably should. Great show.

    Love, PuzzleGirl
    ↧
    ↧

    Article 0

    August 4, 2014, 9:38 pm
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    Constructor: Lynn Lempel

    Relative difficulty: Easy




    THEME: Baseball + name puns-- Names of famous people clued in terms of baseball, then turned into familiar two-word phrases.

    Word of the Day: BUGABOOS (25D: persistent problems) —
    1. Something that makes people very worried or upset
    2. An imaginary object of fear, see BUGBEAR
    3. slang: An annoying person, especially one make unwanted sexual advances

    (Question: which of these definitions appealed the most to the makers of the BUGABOO luxury baby stroller? Was it the fear, worry, or unwanted sexual advances? Don't tell me they just thought it was fun to say, it reminded them of "buggy," and no one looked it up.)



    Hello there, it's me, Catherine Park, sitting in for Rex while he's on vacation. Tonight I was trying to explain to my sons why I had a super important job to do and could not read them a story, so I tried to put it in terms they could relate to. I said, "It's like he's the PewDiePie of the crossword puzzling world, and I'm hosting for him for one day." My 7-year-old said, "You mean he uses a lot of bad words?" My 11-year-old said, "From my perspective, it's amazing that this exists at all." Neither of which was the awestruck silence, the stunned new-found respect, that I was going for. (If you like watching other people play video games while making a profanity-laced English/Swedish running commentary, or you are a male between the ages of 10 and 25 years of age, you would just love PewDiePie!)

    So today's puzzle is sort of what you want in a Tuesday. It's light and you don't have to be able to bend a spoon with your mind tools to do it. It has a little pay-off that you can turn this way and that for a few minutes and go, "I get it!" And then feel sort of a low-grade smugness for a short time before you set it down and it disappears from your memory entirely.


    Theme answers:
    • PETER'S OUT (17A: "That makes three strikes for O'Toole!")
    • PAT'S DOWN (26A: "Oh-oh, Sajak has fallen in the field!")
    • JACK'S UP (40A: "Now we have Nicklaus at bat!")
    • MARK'S OFF (50A: "There goes Zuckerberg, trying for a steal!") 
    • CARRIE'S ON (64A: "Fisher made it to first base!") 
    That being said, fluffy confection though it is, I found plenty of ways to ERR. I got off on the wrong foot right away, tossing in PABA instead of ALOE (14A: common sunscreen additive). I blithely threw down PAL instead of MAC (9D: Bub). I could not correctly spell HAYDN (13D: Joseph who wrote the "Surprise" Symphony). (I felt that HYDAN was a perfectly nice way to spell it, although looking at it now it's just like duh.) Thus I managed to get the whole north coast completely garbled up. The theme actually helped bail me out of my own sinking rowboat, however. I knew everyone's first name. I know a thing or two about baseball. I got it sorted out.

    I really enjoyed the little Shakespeare motif going on, what with ROMEO (11D: The "Thou" in "Wherefore art thou?") abutting SHREW (12D: Headstrong woman, as in Shakespeare), and then the additional flourish of TEMPEST (48A: Shakespearean storm). I also liked the geographic references to my adopted home state of Ohio,  ERIE (67A: Lake in an old railroad name) and although I normally frown upon directions, I gave NNE (39A: Cincinnati to Detroit dir.) a dispensation this time because you have to basically pass my house to make that drive. I also enjoyed NEHI (68A: Classic soda brand), because it reminded me of Radar on M*A*S*H. Finally, I smiled at SLIP (27D: Freudian mistake), because it brought to mind my childhood hero, B. Kliban.



    Adios,
    Catherine Park, Condesa de CrossWorld
    www.fineyoungfauves.com
    ↧

    Tribal symbol of luck / WED 8-6-14 / Rapper with the 2008 hit "Paper Planes" / The Time Traveler's hosts / "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" lyricist Harbach / 1998 Alanis Morissette hit with a slangy misspelling / "Catch-22" character who "hasn't got brains enough to be unhappy" / Dreyfus Affair chronicler

    August 5, 2014, 9:25 pm
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    Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

    Relative difficulty: Let's go with Medium-Challenging, since it felt tougher than normal



    THEME:BBQ (or, phonetically, "B Be Q")— B's in normal phrases turn into Q's, phrases become Wacky. The revealer BBQ is at 63D: Summer event, briefly … or a phonetic hint to 19-, 26-, 47- and 53-Across.

    Word of the Day:ISADORA (38A: Dancer Duncan) —


    Angela Isadora Duncan (May 27, 1877 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer. Born in California, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. She performed to acclaim throughout Europe after being exiled from the United States for her pro-Soviet sympathies.

    Duncan's fondness for flowing scarves contributed to her death in an automobile accident in Nice, France, when she was a passenger in an Amilcar. Her silk scarf, draped around her neck, became entangled around the open-spoked wheels and rear axle, breaking her neck. In 1987, she was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame. (Wikipedia)
    • • •


    'Sup, CrossWorld. Devil Cross puzzler-in-chief Evan Birnholz here, taking a double dip in the dangerous waters that is Rex Parker's blog today and tomorrow. Let's do this thing.



    Theme answers:
    • 19A: French chicken dish garnished with kernels? (CORN ON THE COQ) – I'm pre-pubescently tittering about this answer if only for the fact that coq au vin means “cock with wine,” so putting corn on the cock, well…..you'd titter too.
    • 26A: Quartet on an online help page? (THE FAQ FOUR)
    • 47A: What Ben stitched for his business partner? (JERRY QUILT) – This is fine, but I thought this screamed out for a Seinfeld clue. [Appropriate gift for Seinfeld at the premiere of "Bee Movie"?], perhaps?
    • 53A: Royal ending to a mathematical proof? (QUEEN SIZE QED)


    This puzzle....I dunno, there's something that felt a little clunkier than what I'm used to seeing from Brendan's work. This was harder for me than I expected, but that's not really what's bugging me about it. A challenge during a midweek puzzle is fine. It's just that some of the theme answers fell a little flat for me, and the fill isn't particularly sparkly. THE FAB FOUR is a nice base phrase, but THE FAQ FOUR doesn't conjure up a humorous wacky image in my imagination – four what? Four questions? Same sorta deal with QUEEN SIZE QED. Good base phrase, but the resulting theme entry feels a little strange. Is it that the QED is written in larger print, or that it has a royal flourish? It's just confusing. If you go wacky, go Wacky. I'm also whistling QUEEN SIZE QED for a 10-yard holding penalty for the extra unchanged Q.


    Plus, owing to all of those Q's, the fill gets pretty constrained – THANK U (8D: 1998 Alanis Morissette hit with a slangy misspelling) and BASQUE (36D: Like the sport of jai alai) are nice entries, and who doesn't love JUJU right at 1-Across? But there’s also the FRAS/ATNO combo in the northeast, the ICBM/COS/ESQS/MES mash-up in the southeast, and other answers like ORR/ENOS/ELOI/UTNE/ONER elsewhere (though the latter is salvaged a little bit by its duplicate clue with QUID (53D: British Pound, informally)).

    The phonetic revealer itself is cute, and appropriate given Brendan's initials. From a constructing standpoint, I'll also grant that it’s very difficult to find enough words (actually, anywords) where you can change a B to Q and get a viable new word and, on top of that, have it work reasonably well in a common phrase. I assume that's why of the four theme answers, only one of them changes a B at the beginning of a word – just not many options when the new Q comes at the end. The only other theme answer I can sorta come up with is VAMPIRE QAT [Dracula’s chewable African stimulant?], but, eh.
     



    Like I said, this was a Wednesday toughie. I couldn't crack any theme answer until I wandered down to the southeast corner where BBQ was sitting. The cluing was pretty ambiguous in other places. 40D: Flat fish must be GAR....no, it's EEL....no, it's actually RAY. 31D: "You're right about that" has to be SO TRUE, yes? Nope, it's SO IT IS (one of those pesky 6-letter 3-word answers). The clue for OTTO (7D: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" lyricist Harbach) is quite challenging for a Wednesday, and I had no idea who ISADORA Duncan was, though both were fairly crossed. I think UNICEF would be maybe the 10th or 11th thing I'd think for the clue 4D: Trick-or-treater's cause, since I'm always expecting it to be candy-related, but it's definitely a creative clue.

    So, perhaps this one didn't have the punch I would have hoped for, though the challenging cluing raises it up somewhat. Admittedly I'm probably spoiled by Brendan's awesome puzzles at his indie site -- his themeless Mondays and his themed Thursdays always offer up some fresh new phrases and interesting twists. In fact, Matt Gaffney nominated BEQ's "Check Your Privilege" puzzle for Puzzle of the Month for July -- a well-deserved nomination, in my opinion. Go do that puzzle if you haven't yet.

    Bullets:
    • 23D: Deceitful (SHIFTY)— I had CRAFTY at first. Oh, how heads would have rolled if that crossing OFT (37A: Frequent, in odes) had instead been crossword staple OTT.
    • 49D: John who won two Pulitzers for fiction (UPDIKE)— He always wins my childhood for having probably the fewest number of lines for a celebrity guest on "The Simpsons" and being told by Krusty the Clown, "Shut up, Updike!"
    • 57D: Book of Mormon prophet (ENOS)— My wife and I just saw The Book of Mormon this past weekend, yet I don't think ENOS came up at all in the dialogue. Still a hella good show either way.
    Finally, some crossworthy announcements:

    1) First, meta master and occasional Rex substitute Matt Gaffney is running his annual tip jar drive -- please chip in whatever you can to support his great puzzle work.

    2) Speaking of metas, Pete Muller just released his monthly music meta for August. Go do it before the deadline on Sunday, August 10 at 11 pm ET. I haven't solved it yet but according to the leaderboard it looks a little easier than the last couple of them.

    3) Speaking of metas x2, *I* just released a meta of my own at Devil Cross. E-mail me your answer before the deadline on Tuesday, August 12 at 6 pm ET. One random winner gets a free t-shirt. Without giving anything away, Monsieur Gaffney has the following to say about it: "Ah, I see you've got the crazy. Congratulations." Which is kind of the best quotation ever.

    Signed, EVAN Birnholz, Earl of CrossWorld
    ↧

    Saturn's wife / THU 8-7-14 / Singer with the 1971 hit "Mercy Mercy Me" / Dorothy of old "Road" films / Jackson with 13 #1 country albums / Sch. of 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston / Wordsmith who wrote "Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague"

    August 6, 2014, 11:03 pm
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    Constructor: Joe DiPietro

    Relative difficulty: Medium




    THEME: Quips About Puns About Jokes About Anagrams About Me Which Is Funny Hahahahaha — Quip puzzle where the joke is broken into give symmetric pieces and spells out IS IT / JUST ME OR / ARE THERE OTHER / ANAGRAMS OF 'EM? (i.e. there are no anagrams of "'em" except for "me")

    Word of the Day: JOACHIM (21D: ___ Löw, coach of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning team)—


    Joachim "Jogi" Löw, born 3 February 1960, is the current manager of the German national football team and a former football midfielder. In 2014, he led the German team to victory at the World Cup in Brazil.
    Germany started their 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign with a 4–0 victory over Portugal. In the second game against Ghana, Germany came from behind to draw the match 2–2. In the third game, Germany beat the USA, led by former German coach Jürgen Klinsmann, 1–0, with the lone goal scored by Thomas Müller. In the second round match against Algeria, Löw's tactics were called into question after playing a high defensive line allowing Algeria to break through on numerous occasions. Nonetheless, Germany won 2–1 after extra time, thereby setting up a quarter-final clash with France. Germany edged France 1–0.
    In a remarkable World Cup semi-final match Germany defeated Brazil 7–1 to reach the tournament's final. The result was Brazil's worst defeat in FIFA World Cup history. Löw led Germany to their fourth World Cup title win with a 1–0 victory in extra time against Argentina in the final. (Wikipedia)
    • • •
    Howdy, folks. Evan again, back for Round II of my double-header. A reminder that Lollapuzzoola 7 -- only the most fun crossword tournament on a Saturday in August -- is right around the corner. If you're still on the fence about going, get off said fence and go. And say hi to me while you're there. Oh, and I know I plugged some indie meta puzzles yesterday, but there's another one just out: Francis Heaney's contest puzzle for the American Values Club Crossword (the deadline is this Sunday). I haven't gotten to it yet, but Francis has made some stunningly brilliant metas for them before, so I very much look forward to solving it.

    So, we've got ourselves a quip puzzle, which is a rare species of crossword at the Gray Lady nowadays. For my own taste, I don't so much care for quote themes since it requires cross-referencing multiple answers and doesn't usually involve enough wordplay. Its value hinges primarily on how funny you think the resulting punchline is, and you only get the one punchline when you've pieced it all together, rather than multiple bits of cleverness in four or five theme answers. So if it's a really funny or unexpected joke, the theme looks pretty good. If it's a lame joke, then the theme is pretty bland. I found this quip only sorta amusing, and I think it really only works in print. I can't really imagine it getting a great laugh if you said it aloud since I think most people would assume you were saying "them" rather than "'em," and you'd have to spend time explaining it all.


    So the theme wasn't really for me. Having said that, there are only 37 letters occupying theme squares, which means the grid can breathe a little bit with some good fill answers like NO COMMENT, DUST MITE, MAN UP, USERNAME,RUNS A TAB, and KATE SPADE (with a clever though fairly recently used clue, 56A: Bag lady?). There isn't much in the way of crap fill, which is good, though MUNIS (24A: City bonds, informally) isn't my favorite answer and I keep looking askance at DITSY (17A: Like a dingbat) as though it should be spelled DITZY. Overall, the fill is solid.


    I will, however, take issue with some non-thematic stuff. First, HE’S GOT IT (38D: Approving remark after "By Jove") seems like a long, arbitrary partial answer. It wasn't hard to get since I know it from the complete phrase "By Jove/George I (think) he's got it," and if BY JOVE or BY GEORGE were singular answers, I'd have no problem with it since they're exclamations that stand on their own. But HE'S GOT IT by itself is missing the crucial piece to the phrase. It would be like if BY ITS COVER were an answer, clued as [How you should not judge a book]. It's part of a common phrase we all know, but the answer itself is incomplete.

    Second....the JOACHIM/OPS/CROSS stepladder. JOACHIM isn't exactly the most common name and may be completely unrecognizable for those who didn't follow the World Cup. I'll even say that I like JOACHIM as an answer -- he makes a very timely appearance in the grid and he's an unusual though lively entry (and how long until his nickname JOGI becomes a regular answer?). I was fortunate enough to dredge his name up from memory of the World Cup broadcasts, but if you didn't watch it, you're not going to get much help from the crossing clue on OPS (23A: Saturn's wife), so you may be tempted to write in JEACHIM OR JUACHIM (by the way, OPS is the Roman equivalent of the Greek RHEA). Even OPS as clued crossing CROSS as clued (7D: Pen name) is just cruel (it's a brand of pen, in case it's not clear). I wouldn't mind those tough clues in a late-week puzzle by themselves, but if you're not up on your World Cup coaches, or your Roman deities without planetary names, or your brand of writing instruments -- and I'll go out on a limb and say that these particular proper nouns are not going to be familiar to many, many solvers -- then that combo is going to be an absolute killer. Easy fix: just clue OPS like [Black ___] or [Photo ___] or something like that. Problem solved. And it's not like an easy clue would be unusual for a Thursday puzzle -- see 25D: Composer Stravinsky (IGOR) and 28D: Kit ___ bar (KAT).

    Last, I’m giving IT IS I a few demerits for the fact that it’s a little too close to the first piece of the theme IS IT (and that there’s another stray “it” in HE’S GOT IT). I don’t mind the occasional repeat of small, common words like “is” or “it” when they’re part of the general fill (for instance, "up" repeats with MAN UP and EYES UP (46D: Looks at covetously)), but the repeats stand out a little more here because a) in one instance they're part of the theme and in another instance they're not; and b) two non-thematic repeats of the same word in one puzzle is a lot.

    Bullets:
    • 1A: Extends credit (LENDS) — I got off on the wrong foot with LOANS. Same problem with putting in LSAT where I wanted MCAT (6A: Exam for a future G.P.), though that mistake was more about carelessness in reading the clue; I think I saw G.P. only out of the corner of my eye and assumed it was D.A., or something. Who knows.
    • 22A: Temple of ___ (DOOM) — This is odd. It feels like there should be a more explicit reference to Indiana Jones in the clue, yet they made it look like it’s a standalone phrase. Is “Temple of Doom” a common phrase outside of the movie? If so, I haven’t heard of it.
    • 41A: Italian Riviera resort (SAN REMO) — I got this one confused with SALERNO before RUNS A TAB jumped out at me.
    • 48A: Still liquidy (UNSET) — The puzzle: U_SET. Me: "How can that be any word except UPSET?" Brain: "It's not UPSET. Stop trying to force an answer where it doesn't work." Me: "Shut up, Brain, or I'll stab you with a Q-tip!"
    • 49A: Lead-in to a 2000s “-gate” (CIA) — The Valerie Plame affair, yes? Yes. I first considered SPY(gate), a.k.a. the scandal surrounding the 2007 New England Patriots when the NFL discovered they were videotaping other teams’ defensive signals during games … which, coincidentally, seems fitting with the correct answer.
    • 54D: Oversize sunglasses, these days (RAGE)— If you say so. The only oversize glasses I ever got a real kick out of was Will Ferrell as Harry Caray.
    • 56D: Company with a bucket list? (KFC)— Nice clue.
    • 58A: Formal response at the door (IT IS I) — Sorry, one more thing about this....yes, it’s grammatically formal, but the thing is, nobody would really say this at the door unless they were being faux-pretentious. 
    Alright, best of luck to all at Lollapuzzoola. The floor is yours.

    Signed, IT IS I, Evan Birnholz, Judge/Jury/Executioner of Devil Cross
    (Tweet to me if you're one of them tweeters.)
    ↧

    NCIS actor Joe / FRI 8-8-14 / Anderson of Nurses / It was you, operatically / Lovingly, on a music score / Rostock bar stock

    August 7, 2014, 9:26 pm
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    Constructor: Bruce Haight

    Relative difficulty: Piscine


    THEME: Goldfish— Three little goldfish swimming northwest.

    Word of the Day: MAIDEN (7D: First ) —
    Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, east London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. The band's discography has grown to thirty-seven albums, including fifteen studio albums, eleven live albums, four EPs, and seven compilations.
    Pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Iron Maiden achieved initial success during the early 1980s. After several line-up changes, the band went on to release a series of US and UK platinum and gold albums. Despite little radio or television support, Iron Maiden are considered one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history, with The New York Times reporting in 2010 that they have sold over 85 million records worldwide. The band won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2002. As of October 2013, the band have played over 2000 live shows throughout their career.
    • • •
    Hello, crossword fans. Doug here, filling in at the last minute. One of Rex's subs bailed out, so I got the assignment. Lucky me. Right now, I'm sitting in a room in Manhattan with PuzzleGirl, gearing up for Lollapuzzoola on Saturday! She says "Hi" to everybody. Have you signed up for Lollapuzzoola yet? If not, stop reading the blog and get on it. I'll be here when you get back.

    Interesting mini-theme in this one, with the fishy squares relating to the two 15-letter entries, SOMETHING'S FISHY & ON THE WATERFRONT. I'm semi-comatose after a big dinner at Shake Shack, so let's jump right to bullets.

    Bullets:
    • ALL THAT (37A: Excellent, in slang)— I had the H from ROHE and typed in BITCHIN. BITCHIN is a more bitchin' answer than ALL THAT, don't you think? 
    • FOP (60D: Metrosexual sort)— Fun word.
    • LOOK-SEE (62A: Gander)— PuzzleGirl liked this one. I do too. (How's that for incisive commentary?)
    • LEAN-TOS (39D: Rough housing)— That's a nice tricky clue.
    • OSCARS (28D: They're clutched during some speeches)— Clue of the Day. Loved it.
    As I look back at the grid, I see a lot of subpar short stuff: AS AN, OSIS, EROO, ROHE, EIS, ALIA, NOI, ESOS, HOS. The fish were fun, but the plankton-level fill needs work.
      Signed, Doug Peterson, Sleepyhead of CrossWorld
      ↧
      ↧

      Creature that moves by jet propulsion, 8-9-2014, Biblical quartet, Spelunking supply, British footballer Wayne ___, Lear's youngest, How Mount Etna erupts

      August 9, 2014, 1:20 am
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      Constructor: Josh Knapp

      Relative difficulty: medium-challenging



      THEME: none

      Word of the Day: LASCAUX (30A French locale of prehistoric cave paintings) —
      Lascaux (Lascaux Caves) (English /læsˈkoʊ/,[1] French: [lasko][2]) is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in thedepartment of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 17,300 years old.[3][4] They primarily consist of images of large animals, most of which are known from fossilevidence to have lived in the area at the time. In 1979, Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list along with other prehistoric sites in the Vézère valley.[5] (from Wikipedia)
      • • •
      Hello, Rexworld. This is treedweller, filling in while Rex completes his photo essay, "Crosswordese in the Wild." Sorry for the late post; though I got through it, I couldn't help but FALL ASLEEP (2D Drop off) a few times during this one. Don't get the wrong idea—if it had been a lousy puzzle, I probably would have just googled for the solution and moved on. But, as I'm beginning to appreciate more each time, the best thing about late-week grids is when I'm sure I'll never finish, but then I do. This one was a nice mix of things I knew but couldn't see at first because of the vague cluing, and things I guessed wrong and eventually managed to correct. If not for the proper-name crossing in the SW, there would be nothing in the grid that I wasn't at least a little familiar with after I got it. Some will call that one cross a Natick (41D Fashion Designer THOM Browne / 45ABritish footballer Wayne ROONEY), but, really, what could have gone there except O?

      Bullets:
      • 1A Colonel's charge, once KFC — I started with TNT, tried out PFC, and eventually backed into the right answer. It seems like a clunky way to start, but it works for me. I remember when it was Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I know they changed the name some time ago.
      • 1D Contents of some lockers KNAPSACKS — I'm not sure I ever heard anyone use this word in real life (though I like the two Ks). Perhaps these lockers are in 1954.
      • 25D Monocle, in British slang GLASS ONION — been hearing the Beatles all my life, but never new what this meant. 

      • 44D Conqueror of Valencia, with "the" CID — I only ever saw it con "el."
      • 49A Curtains END — nicely placed.
      Signed, treedweller
      ↧

      "Coffee Cantata" composer / SUN 8-10-14 / Baseball's Alvarez / ___ prosequi / French "Inc." / City north of Seattle

      August 9, 2014, 9:28 pm
      $
      0
      0
      Constructor: Elizabeth C. Gorski

      Relative difficulty: Pretty Easy



      THEME: Number-One Friends — Theme answers are familiar phrases, the first words of which are all names of White House dogs.

      Hi, everybody. It's PuzzleGirl again and this write-up is going to be super super short. As you probably know, today was a big day. Lollapuzzoola 7! The puzzles were great this year and the day really couldn't have been any more fun. Brian and Patrick have done such a great job with this tournament! Congratulations to the big winners, Jon Delfin (Express Division) and Patti Varol (Local Division). Lots of other trophies and prizes too. Seriously, what other tournament rewards people for cheating (Jonah Wolf), worst handwriting (Joon Pahk), and singing a cheesy 1980s novelty song (Adesina Koiki)? Too much fun!

      If you want to get the tournament puzzles (and trust me, you do), surf on over to the LP7 website and order them for $10. Tell them PuzzleGirl sent you.

      So let's do a quick recap of this puzzle. Of course, the first thing you want to do with a Liz Gorski puzzle is take a look at the grid and see what awesome thing she has done with it. I thought this one was a teddy bear, but turns out it's a dog, which is also pretty cool.

      Theme answers:
      • 24A: *What to call a female ambassador [the Johnsons] (HER EXCELLENCY)
      • 116A: *Pairing up for safety [the Clintons] (BUDDY SYSTEM)
      • 3D: *Cleaning supply [the Bushes 43]
      • 15D: *"My Fair Lady" co-star [the Reagans] (REX HARRISON)
      • 67D: *Singer with the 1964 #2 hit "My Boy Lollipop" [the Bushes 41] (MILLIE SMALL)
      • 70D: *Egg order [the Obamas] (SUNNY SIDE UP)
      • 62A: What the answer to each of the six starred clues starts with (WHITE HOUSE DOG)
      I had the most trouble in the southwest corner where MILLIE SMALL was completely unknown to me. I vaguely remembered that MILLIE was the name of a White House pet, but I don't recall ever seeing the word MARL (121A: Earthy deposit) and I wasn't 100% sure on RAMA (115A: Any of nine kings of Thailand), so I was a little surprised to see Mr. Happy Pencil.

      Other than that, I think I'll just say that I noticed some fun cluing and a bit of Scrabbliness. I don't understand 68-Across at all: Max Peel, for example: Abbr. (ANAG). But I'm sure I'll feel stupid when you explain it to me. Favorite entries for me include TEST RIDES (50A: Motorcycle demos, e.g.) and CYCLOPS (One with an eye for a storyteller?) and favorite clues are probably 100A: What a packing person may pack (PISTOL) and 89A: Modern know-it-all? (SIRI).

      And with that, I'm afraid I must leave you. With any luck, Rex will be back tomorrow.

      Love, PuzzleGirl
      ↧
      Search

      Polish hero Walesa / MON 8-11-14 / iPhone assistant / Longtime Nikon competitor / Annual El Paso football event / Company said to use about 1% of world's wood / Of ancient greek period / apt rhyme of crude /

      August 10, 2014, 9:00 pm
      $
      0
      0
      Constructor: David Steinberg & Bernice Gordon

      Relative difficulty: Medium



      THEME: H-LL vowel progression — five words that begin with letter pattern H-LL, with each successive themer bringing a new vowel in the second position (A thru U):

      Theme answers:
      • HALLELUJAH (18A: "Thank God Almighty!")
      • HELLENISTIC (23A: Of an ancient Greek period)
      • HILLBILLY (35A: Jed Clampett, e.g.)
      • HOLLANDAISE (49A: Sauce made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice)
      • HULLABALOO (55A: Uproar)
      Word of the Day: HERNIA (21D: Result of overstrain, maybe) —
      A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it from within. There are different kinds of hernias, each requiring a specific management or treatment. (wikipedia)
      • • •

      Well I MADE IT back from LA JOLLA—Seriously, super weird coincidence to see that answer (that juxtaposition!) today after my weeklong vacation there. Had a wonderful time with the whole (dad's side of the) family: dad and stepmom, their four kids (and spouses), and then *their* five kids. Fifteen total. Much beaching and drinking and Legolanding and Zooing and eating, not necessarily (though not unnecessarily) in that order. Had a delightful if comically absurd niche-fame moment when my (deep breath) stepbrother's stepdaughter's boyfriend (exhale), whose name is Logan, informed me one evening, when I was at my computer, mid-solve, that his mom reads my blog all the time and was not going to believe that he was meeting me. My family then tells him he should take a picture. So here I am, solving, having a conversation, and semi-posing for a picture, simultaneously. Hashtag TALENT.


      Just a little behind-the-scenes peek at the exciting world of Guy Sitting At His Computer. And now, the Monday puzzle.


      This puzzle was just fine. At 74 words (a little low for Monday) and with some not necessarily straightforward spellings, this one could've played a little tougher than normal, though it didn't for me—a shade under 3, and thus pretty much average. One nit, elegance-wise: HILLBILLY is an odd man out, insofar as those initial four letter spell a word related to the meaning of the larger word, i.e. the HALL-word is not related to a HALL, the HELL- word is not related to HELL, the HOLL- word is not related to HOLL because that's not a thing, and the HULL- word has nothing to do with any sort of HULL, but I'm pretty sure HILLBILL(ies) live in HILLs. Or near them. HILLARY or HILLEL might've made interesting candidates, though the latter couldn't have gone in the center. Anyway, HILLBILLY is at least a colorful word. Overall, the fill is average to slightly cleaner than average, I think. Doesn't contain anything too memorable, though it's got some nice touches like OLD CHAP and the aforementioned LA JOLLA. Also, can't recall ever seeing HERNIA before. I thought that word was on one of them there anatomical no-fly lists, but here it is. Look out for URINE, coming soon to a puzzle near you (and why not?).

      I had exactly one solving snag—NAIL UP (47D: Seal, as a shipping crate). I guess I've never done … that. Something about the UP part just didn't want to come. But it seems like a common enough expression. For crate shippers.
        Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

        P.S. Thanks to Evan, Keith, Catherine, Angela, and Doug, for allowing me to enjoy family time this past week, undistracted by the minutiae of blog management. I am, as always, grateful.
        ↧

        Actor Jack who was Quincy / TUE 8-12-14 / Single accompanier / Chocolaty spread since 1964 / Short opera piece / Counterfeiter fighter / Prologue follower / Fishbowl accessory / King in Little Mermaid

        August 11, 2014, 9:00 pm
        $
        0
        0
        Constructor: Robyn Weintraub

        Relative difficulty: Medium



        THEME:"I'M NOT A DOCTOR / BUT / I PLAY ONE ON TV" (26A: With 40- and 48-Across, much-mocked ad phrase that could have been said by the answers to the four starred clues) — quote, plus the names of four relevant actors:

        Theme answers:
        • DEMPSEY (13A: *"Grey's Anatomy" actor Patrick)
        • SEYMOUR (15A: *Actress Jane who was a "Medicine Woman")
        • KLUGMAN (68A: *Actor Jack who was "Quincy")
        • CLOONEY (69A: *"ER" actor George)
        Word of the Day: ARIETTA (16A: Short opera piece) —
        n.
        A short aria.
        [Italian, diminutive of aria, aria; see aria.]

        • • •

        I was really hoping to find ORK or even NANU in the puzzle today, but no dice. Robin Williams did play a doctor, but not on TV (that I know of … hang on … checking …). Huh. Looks like he played "Dr. Eddy" on a recent episode of "Wilfred," a TV show featuring a man in a DOG suit  (Here's a 1:30 interview with him re: that gig, actually). Well, that was an unexpected discovery. Anyway, my point is that it's a little difficult to focus on puzzles at the moment. I can't say I was a huge fan of Robin Williams' post-1980s work, but the 1980s stuff, from "Mork & Mindy" to "Good Morning, Vietnam," was all very iconic and formative for me. It's a big, sad loss, his death. Here's a VIDEO:


        The puzzle was OK. I liked the quote (though it was very easy to get and then write out in its entirety). The list of actors was … a list. Just names. Nothing exciting there. Arbitrary—7 letters? In you go! Fill on this was tilting toward the below-average side, with a lot of short dull stuff and some crosswordese (ARA, NENE) I actually hadn't seen in a long time. Absence has not made my heart grow fonder, strangely enough. But the theme is solid, in that it makes sense and has a clear rationale, and the fill is not terrible—it even has some nice-ish moments (INTRUDERS, SNOOPY, NUTELLA).

        Bullets:
        • 16A: Short opera piece (ARIETTA) — wasn't until I started googling this that I realized "Oh … that's gonna be just a short aria, I'll bet." And sure enough. I wonder what you call a short NENE.
        • 52A: ___ close to schedule (ON OR)— is this a phrase you all use? Wanted ON OR from the second I saw the clue, but resisted it, as … well, it seems among the more awkward options for the clue. Also, ON OR is never not terrible, generally, so I will always resist it, at least a little.
        • 31D: Bartender's stock (RYES) — wanted RUMS.
        • 10D: U.S. equivalent to the U.K.'s Laurence Olivier Award (TONY)— pretty badly written clue. Equivalence here would be "Olivier," not "Laurence Olivier Award." 
        OK, here you go. See you tomorrow.

        ["I said 'leave,' Mr. Keating…"]

        Let me add that there are other things in the world making it hard to focus on puzzles. Namely this:


        Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
        ↧
        ↧

        Sugary punch slangily / WED 8-13-14 / Eurasian plain / Twain's New York burial place / Brat holder / Jenner of reality tv / Children's author Asquith / Caron title role of 1958

        August 12, 2014, 9:00 pm
        $
        0
        0
        Constructor: Dan Schoenholz

        Relative difficulty: Medium



        THEME: LANGUAGE BARRIER (64A: Foreigner's obstacle … or a hint to the hidden words in 17-, 29-, 37- and 49-Across) — A language appears inside each theme answer, as a kind of "barrier" between the first word and the second word in each phrase:

        Theme answers:
        • ANGER MANAGEMENT (17A: Class for the hotheaded)
        • ALL ATINGLE (29A: Covered with goose bumps)
        • SHORT HAIR (37A: Result of a buzz cut)
        • THE BREWERS (49A: Miller Park crew)
        Word of the Day: KRIS Jenner (63D: Jenner of reality TV) —
        Kristen Mary "Kris" Jenner (née Houghton, formerly Kardashian; born November 5, 1955) is an American television personality, business woman and author who has appeared on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, Khloé & Lamar, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, Good Morning America, The Talk, America's Next Top Model and her own short-lived talk show, Kris.
        Divorced from lawyer Robert Kardashian, she has been married to Bruce Jenner since 1991. She has four children with Robert (Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Robert) and two with Bruce (Kendall and Kylie Jenner). Jenner's autobiography, Kris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian, was released on November 1, 2011. (wikipedia)
        • • •

        Well, after 4 different flights this spring/summer, after 14 different take-offs and landings and one trans-Pacific voyage, I finally got a cold. Thankfully, I got it on *this* end of the trip (i.e. the after part), which has not always been the case in the past. My sister likes to point to vents and say "This is where the virus gets in!" And it did. Anyway, this sucks. But one things the horrible state of the world will do is make your cold look pretty ***ing trivial, so I'm hanging in there, mostly lazing around in a half-stupor, watching movies (tonight, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"), and reminiscing with my sister about how disturbing the lyrics to "The Piña Colada Song (Escape)" were to our 10- and 7-year-old selves. (If you've seen "Guardians of the Galaxy" with your kids, then perhaps you too have been asked questions about this song—something along the lines of "What's it's real title? It can't just be called 'The Piña Colada Song'" or "What is a 'personal ad'?"


        This puzzle was about average. I'm surprised that it wasn't filled better—junk kind of abounds. I'm used to cleaner fill from this constructor. At least I think I am. See 'summer cold,' above. SLO EPT BRIC ONCEA and on and on—really, really rough. Also, THE BREWERS is a wicked bad theme answers. Theme answers need to land solid, and while the first two do, the third teeters badly, and the fourth faceplants. Not a fan of the THE. Actually, I am a fan of The The. Just not this the (the).

        [College … I wore this song out]

        Bottom part rocks a bit harder than the top. With the exception of ROS :( the SE is quite fine, and the BANG-UP / BEYONCÉ pairing is nice as well. Now I'm going to go watch late-night comedians remember Robin Williams (and maybe Lauren Bacall, too). See you tomorrow.


        Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
        ↧

        Czech reformer Jan / THU 8-14-14 / Lovable 650-pound TV character / Biblical betrayer / Commercial start for Pen / Former Ford full-sizes / Another name for Odysseus / First mass-production auto company outside the US

        August 13, 2014, 9:00 pm
        $
        0
        0
        Constructor: Jason Flinn

        Relative difficulty: Challenging



        THEME: UNDER/PASS (52A: One of two engineering features depicted in this puzzle) — six different answers go through an UNDER/PASS, i.e. start on one side of the grid but then get interrupted and continue on the other side of the grid:

        Theme answers:
        • SHOPA/HOLIC
        • DELIB/ERATE
        • GENT/LEBEN
        • UNDER/PASS
        • IDIDN/TDOIT
        • SENDS/ANOTE
        Additionally, two long Downs represent things an UNDER/PASS might go under:
        • ELEVATED HIGHWAY (5D: One reason for a 52-Across)
        • RAILROAD TRESTLE (7D: Another reason for a 52-Across)

        Word of the Day: HEL (15D: Daughter of Loki) —
        In Norse mythology, Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and theProse Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In addition, she is mentioned in poems recorded inHeimskringla and Egils saga that date from the 9th and 10th centuries, respectively. An episode in the Latin workGesta Danorum, written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, is generally considered to refer to Hel, and Hel may appear on various Migration Period bracteates.
        In the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, and Heimskringla, Hel is referred to as a daughter of Loki, and to "go to Hel" is to die. In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Hel is described as having been appointed by the god Odin as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in Niflheim. In the same source, her appearance is described as half black and half flesh-coloured and further as having a gloomy, downcast appearance. The Prose Edda details that Hel rules over vast mansions with many servants in her underworld realm and plays a key role in the attempted resurrection of the god Baldr.
        Scholarly theories have been proposed about Hel's potential connections to figures appearing in the 11th centuryOld English Gospel of Nicodemus and Old Norse Bartholomeus saga postola, potential Indo-European parallels toBhavani, Kali, and Mahakali, and her origins. (wikipedia)
        • • •

        Ambitious but faulty. A real UNDER/PASS would not divide the road (here represented by the broken words/phrases) in two—it would obscure the road from view. Lack of precision was one of several reasons this thing was Off The Charts hard for a Thursday. I don't know what the newspaper version of the puzzle looked like, but all the clues for the second parts of the split phrases were just "-" in the e-version that I solved. When I've seen this convention in the past, there is some kind of continuation from a previous or adjacent clue. Not so here. Also, big problem—the revealer was one of the clues affected by the phrase division. So I had no idea, none, for a very long time. Managed to put down everything on the east side of grid *except* those little 3-letter Downs (15D, 55D), so I had no clue how things were supposed to be pieced together. HEL??? (15D: Daughter of Loki) Ugh. I mean, super-ugh. PTA was gettable (55D: Org. concerned with pupils), but NEA could've gone there too, so I left it blank and kept flailing. Stalling, more accurately. All those (So Many) threes in the middle of the grid, too—ugsome to work through. VAL? AIR? HUS? WIT???? ASL? (as clued, "?"-wise). There was just nowhere to get traction. I forget … oh, no, now I remember. I figured out the broken phrase thing with 12A: One who gets a charge out of charging? (again, like this wasn't hard enough—damn "?" clues…). I could see SHOP- and thought "SHOPpers …" then the "-OLIC" bit across the grid called out to me. SHOPA HOLIC! After that, the puzzle sped up considerably, but man that took a lot of (often unpleasant) work.


        `Biggest obstacle to me, in coming up with the theme, was that I figured a "C" was somehow involved. You see the letter "C" there, right? Two of them, one top middle right, one bottom middle right. Because I didn't have HEL (again, ugh), I had -OLIC (so … COLIC?) and -RATE (so … CRATE?), but then there was -EBEN (no such thing as CEBEN). Down below, same issue. -ASS (so … Mama CASS?). -NOTE (so … C-NOTE?). But then, again, the outlier: -DOIT (CDOIT???? No). I sort of knew that "C" couldn't be involved (what were those reverse "C"s supposed to be, then?), but I couldn't shake the suspicion. Stupid "-" clues really had me thinking "adjacent." So I'm half-mad that I got stumped and half-mad at the fact that what stumped me was an inaccurate representation of the physical phenomenon in question (again, underpasses obscure—they don't divide). I like how CEE-LO showed up to taunt me later on (26D: Green formerly of "The Voice").


        Hard clues. CITROËN, rough (26A: First mass-production auto company outside the U.S.). OMICRON, rough (45A: Head of Olympus?). NOMAN (!!?), super-rough. Thank god most of the 7-letter Downs in the corners were pretty easy, 'cause otherwise I'd've been staring down a pretty empty grid (although Woe Unto You if you never knew / forgot about THE GAME; yikes!) (2D: Rapper whose 2006 album "Doctor's Advocate" was #1). EMO pop is not a thing. It's just not. EMO is a thing (or was). [EMOpop] is a Tuh-errible clue. Other possible confusion: RAIL for REED (35A: Epitome of thinness); ARTY for EDGY (63A: Avant-garde); AID for RID (43D: Relieve).

        Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
        ↧

        Sonatas have four of them / FRI 8-15-14 / Seed in Mexican cuisine / Wuornos Monster role / Location of William Tell legend / Lover of Orion in Greek Myth / Suffix with opal

        August 14, 2014, 9:00 pm
        $
        0
        0
        Constructor: Jeff Chen

        Relative difficulty: Medium



        THEME: PANAMA CANAL— circles spell this phrase out. Circles also (like the canal) connect the CARIBBEAN SEA (20A: One end of the [circled letters], which opened on 8/15/1914) and the PACIFIC OCEAN (50A: The other end of the [circled letters])

        Word of the Day: BLEB (7D: Air bubble) —
        n.
        1. A small blister or pustule.
        2. An air bubble.
        [Probably alteration of BLOB.]
        blebby bleb'by adj.

        Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/bleb#ixzz3AQVai9MO
        • • •

        A nice visual representation of the thing it's supposed to represent, and published on the right day. So it was fitting, and well executed. But one big drawback: the theme was *super* easy to uncover, and once you grok it, you just fill in all the relevant squares and … done! Only not done, because there's a themeless puzzle kind of superimposed on top of the whole thing. So it's a bit Frankenstein's monstery (no, spellcheck, not "monastery"), only less scary. Theme part is elegant in conception, ho-hum to solve. Themeless part is slightly below average (probably because it's Not Actually Themeless, and thus compromises had to be made with the fill that never have to be made in themlesseses (even if they sometimes are)).


        Some tough cluing in here, as well as some stuff I didn't know. In the latter category, ZAZU (still haven't even seen "The Lion King") (1A: "The Lion King" bird), and BABKA, which I wanted to be be BABA … BHABA? … BABBA? … (9A: Easter cake). NOURI might've been slightly hard for me to come up with, say, six months ago, but he's in the news, like, today. He just stepped aside for the new guy, whose name would Truly be hard, as I can't remember it (looks like it's Haider al-Abadi). Anyway, point is, NOURI was a gimme. Toughest part for me, by far, was the very far SW, where I finished the puzzle. I had everything but two squares. I had -I- for 53D: Peculiarity. This left -IRES for 53A: Sonatas have four of them and -LAPS for 60A: Gives it up, so to speak. None of this was computing. Had the wrong "Sonatas" in mind (an intentional trick, I'm imagining) and had no grasp of the idiom involved with the "it" was supposed to be giving up. You might've heard a host or emcee say, on introducing a musical act, "Give it up, for … Bread!" (actually, I think that's anachronistic, but you get the idea). "Giving it up," in that context, means clapping. But again, I couldn't see that at first. So I checked all my answers, and they all looked right, and then the Sonata/Hyundai connection kicked in, and boom TIRES bam TIC and (simultaneously) bam CLAPS. And the puzzle was solved.


        Love the clues on THE PILL (36D: Medical product with no conceivable use?) and CHESS (29A: What a check might be delivered in). I did not know HAJJI (40A: One with a once-in-a-lifetime experience?) could be spelled like that, but if HADJ can be HAJJ (which I have seen), then why not? Would've been nice if the fill weren't so rough around the edges (especially in that little northern patch, but in other peripheral places as well). But the theme gives it a nice visual element, and the tough cluing made it relatively fun to solve.

        Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

        P.S. A word about Lollapuzzoola, the greatest crossword tournament in the country, which took place just this past weekend. If, like me this year, you couldn't make it to NYC this year but really want to see what the LPZ puzzles are all about, good news: you can get them for yourself via the Play At Home option. And it's cheap! Here are all the deets, from tourney cohost Patrick Blindauer:



        Hope you're all having a great summer! I just got back from NYC where I cohosted the xword tourney known as "Lollapuzzoola 7: It Ain't Over 'til It's Over." If you missed it, don't worry: the puzzles are still available at www.bemoresmarter.com (until August 16th), and you can still compete in the At-Home Division, if you like. For $10, you can get a PDF which includes instructions, the 6 tournament puzzles, a tiebreaker puzzle, and a 6-puzzle mini-extravaganza that I wrote especially for the occasion. The other constructors this year were Cathy Allis, Mike Nothnagel, Tony Orbach, Doug Peterson, Brian Cimmet, and Patrick Berry, so you know you're in for a real treat.

        Visit www.bemoresmarter.com to order a copy for yourself and/or a friend, and hopefully we'll see you at Lollapuzzoola 8, which is already scheduled for 8/8 in NYC next year! 

        Puzzle on,
        Patrick
        ↧
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