Edmonton six / TUE 3-31-15 / Broadway compose Jule / California county east of Sonoma / Picasso's "Lady With ___" / Singer Bareilles / Source of the line "The Lord is thy keeper" / California county east of Sonoma

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Just About Right


THEME: VERBAL GYMNASTICS (38A: Fancy, evasive language)— Theme answers are common phrases the second word of which can also be a word for a piece of gymnastics apparatus

Theme answers:

• 18A: ONION RINGS (Deep-fried side dish)
• 26A: LASER BEAM (Metaphor for straightness)
• 54A: HIGH HORSE (Snootiness)
• 65A: COFFEE BARS (Java joints)

Hey you. Yeah, you! What's up? I haven't seen you in a while. Unless you were in Stamford this weekend and then I probably did. Yep, that's right. It's me, PuzzleGirl, filling in for Rex today while he is traveling. I'm going to tell you right upfront that this is not going to be a long, involved blog post. I did not get much sleep over the last few days because I was participating in the best weekend of the year, otherwise known as the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Had a blast, as usual.



Finn Vigeland, Elizabeth Olson White (PuzzleSister), Sam Donaldson, Vega Subramaniam, and Doug Peterson getting froyo in Stamford

I was actually nervous about it moving back to Stamford because I didn't start attending until it was in Brooklyn and I don't like change. Also I'm a pessimist by nature. So I was just sure there were going to be all kinds of things wrong with the whole set-up. But I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was nice (and way cheaper than Brooklyn), the neighborhood was nice, and it was actually quite a bit easier for me to get to (which I know was not true for everybody). Really the only complaint I have about the weekend is that the room was waaaaay too crowded. 

Me and a couple of weirdos (Doug Peterson and Jeff Chen)

My thought is that if you're committed to having the event in Stamford then you should set it up so that it can be accommodated in Stamford, which I guess would mean capping the registration or (as I've heard they've done in the past) using two ballrooms. No one I talked to seemed all that excited about the two-ballroom idea (although, frankly, I don't see any particular downside), so why not only accept the number of people that can actually fit in the room? Just a thought.



Me and the champ, Dan Feyer

But hey, we're not here to talk about my desire to be in charge of every damn thing. We're here to talk about the puzzle. What did you think? I thought it was not bad. Two of the theme clues didn't really work for me but that happens sometimes. I can accept that someone somewhere has used the phrase "straight as a laser beam" even though I personally have never heard it. And I guess HIGH HORSE might be the actual snootiness itself even though I think the "metaphor for ..." construction would have worked better here. The phrase us "up on your HIGH HORSE," right? So you're up on your ... snootiness? No, you're up on your HIGH HORSE and that means you're snooty. I don't know. It's not working for me is what I'm saying.



Last meal in Stamford: Kristian House, Gabe Gonzalez, Vega Subramaniam, Mala Nagarajan, Alex Jeffrey, Ollie Roeder, Mike Nothnagel, Doug Peterson, Sam Donaldson, PuzzleSister

So, as I said, I'm really tired and I think what I'll do here is leave the rest to you all. If you came here looking for answers, I posted the grid for you. If you have questions about a specific clue or answer, go ahead and comment. It'll get answered. Probably several times! I'll see you all back here next time. With any luck, Rex will be back tomorrow.

Love, PuzzleGirl