Constructor: Joel Fagliano
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: BATTLESHIP (56A: Four units, in 56-Across) — answers are all kinds of ships found in the game "BATTLESHIP," clued by how many "units" (i.e. how much board space) they take up:
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: ONE TEN (52A: Early afternoon time) —
Not enough thought was given to two questions here. First, why? Second, what will the solving experience be like? This looks like a puzzle that was made *solely* because of the discovery of the, let's say, for the sake of generosity, fortuitous fact that the theme answers could be arranged symmetrically. Because no one thinking straight is going to think, "You know what people will like? Entering names of various vessels. And let's clue them in an utterly bland and self-enclosed/self-referential way. That'll be good." There's maybe an "oh, OK" moment at the end when you hit "BATTLESHIP," but otherwise, it's just "units" this and vessel that and blah. Nothing pops. Nothing is clever or sparkly. At least not in the theme.
Finished in the same time as yesterday, which means this was still on the hard side for its day of the week. Tough clues everywhere. On OTTER (48D: "The Wind in the Willows" character), on SNIPE (50D: Bid at the last second, as on eBay), even on NEPTUNE (25D: Roman god of horses). Clue on OIL TYCOON (34D: One whose success is well-earned?) is fantastic but Totally out of place on a Tuesday. Fill overall is good. Probably above average for a Tuesday. But the theme was nod-off boring to me, and the pretty good fill just didn't make up for it. Yuck = RVERS, SETTS, ONE TEN, I TRY (I will never like this last answer, mostly because it reeks of false modesty, not because it's something no one would ever say).
Bullets:
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. the very cool Knuckle Ball t-shirt I'm wearing in two of these pics was designed by Amelie Mancini at Left Field Cards. Funny, quirky, thoughtful baseball art. Check it out. The "Bartleby" tshirt/baseball jersey I'm wearing in the first pic is from Novel-T—they have lots of author/book-related baseball Ts. Check them out too. (No one's paying me to say this—I just love these designers' work)
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: BATTLESHIP (56A: Four units, in 56-Across) — answers are all kinds of ships found in the game "BATTLESHIP," clued by how many "units" (i.e. how much board space) they take up:
Theme answers:
- 18A: Two units, in 56-Across (PATROL BOAT)
- 23A: Three units, in 56-Across (SUBMARINE)
- 37A: Five units, in 56-Across (AIRCRAFT CARRIER)
- 49A: Three units, in 56-Across (DESTROYER)
Word of the Day: ONE TEN (52A: Early afternoon time) —
The answer that opens the floodgates for SIXTWELVE, EIGHTTWENTYTHREE, etc.
• • •
Not enough thought was given to two questions here. First, why? Second, what will the solving experience be like? This looks like a puzzle that was made *solely* because of the discovery of the, let's say, for the sake of generosity, fortuitous fact that the theme answers could be arranged symmetrically. Because no one thinking straight is going to think, "You know what people will like? Entering names of various vessels. And let's clue them in an utterly bland and self-enclosed/self-referential way. That'll be good." There's maybe an "oh, OK" moment at the end when you hit "BATTLESHIP," but otherwise, it's just "units" this and vessel that and blah. Nothing pops. Nothing is clever or sparkly. At least not in the theme.
Finished in the same time as yesterday, which means this was still on the hard side for its day of the week. Tough clues everywhere. On OTTER (48D: "The Wind in the Willows" character), on SNIPE (50D: Bid at the last second, as on eBay), even on NEPTUNE (25D: Roman god of horses). Clue on OIL TYCOON (34D: One whose success is well-earned?) is fantastic but Totally out of place on a Tuesday. Fill overall is good. Probably above average for a Tuesday. But the theme was nod-off boring to me, and the pretty good fill just didn't make up for it. Yuck = RVERS, SETTS, ONE TEN, I TRY (I will never like this last answer, mostly because it reeks of false modesty, not because it's something no one would ever say).
Bullets:
- 33A: John McCain and Kurt Vonnegut, once, for short (POWS) — Knew this about McCain, but forgot it about Vonnegut. Thus, I had to take a couple passes at this to get it.
- 8D: Drop a fly ball, e.g. (A-ROD) — actually, technically, he muffed a grounder on Sunday, but ERR is ERR is ERR, and it was fun to watch (he also hit a homer—less fun).
- 24D: It was originally first on the Roman calendar (MARCH) — I was looking for something more ... Roman. It's just a month. Sometimes I overthink. More often, I don't think enough, but sometimes. . .
I would like to describe this past weekend's Lollpuzzoola 6 tournament in detail to you, but the at-home version of the game is still going on (through this weekend, details here). So I'll just give you some photo highlights.
So first on Friday there was a party at Dan Feyer's place on the upper west side. That was cool, expect for the woman who passed out in front of me and hit the kitchen floor Hard. That caused me several minutes of semi-panic. Is she responsive? (sorta) Can I get her into a chair? (omg dead weight is So Heavy) etc. Heat + alcohol = bad combo. She ended up being fine. Moving on. Up on tourney day for a very disappointing diner breakfast but some great coffee and then—All Soul's Church, chock full o' people I know. Milling, meeting, greeting (none of which, actually, comes naturally to me). Doug Peterson brought me the sleazy paperbacks he always brings me every time I see him at a tournament (these books provide fodder for That Other Blog I write).
Other people were there too. Vega tried to read the sleaze that Doug brought me, even though it came with a clear warning label.
There were various constructors about (Patrick Blindauer, Mike Nothnagel):
And several judges judging (Howard, Janie, Dan, Joanna, Brad, Ben, Brian, Mike):
Later there was dinner and what not. The next day, my long-awaited pilgrimage to Dun-Well Doughnuts in Brooklyn with my friend Katie Hamill. Here she is, as happy as it is possible for a human to be:
Then after lunch, the Tigers/Yankees game, which was dramatic, as I mentioned yesterday. Here I am looking elated because I am watching the best hitter in baseball.
Later, I rode the subway with this guy (who happens to be the future of speed-solving; yes, this guy, Univ. of Maryland student Erik Agard; this guy; also, he constructs puzzles—get 'em here):
Finally, I rounded the night off with a nice Italian dinner, followed by some disturbingly small cupcakes:
And the end. Sorry I can't say more about the tournament puzzles (yet), but I can say they were entertaining, tough, creative, and of a very high quality. I will be back again next year and for as long as Brian (or someone) keeps putting it together.
Here's my wife's write-up of the weekend, in case you need more.
Here's my wife's write-up of the weekend, in case you need more.
P.S. the very cool Knuckle Ball t-shirt I'm wearing in two of these pics was designed by Amelie Mancini at Left Field Cards. Funny, quirky, thoughtful baseball art. Check it out. The "Bartleby" tshirt/baseball jersey I'm wearing in the first pic is from Novel-T—they have lots of author/book-related baseball Ts. Check them out too. (No one's paying me to say this—I just love these designers' work)