WSJ 8:35
Sun 6:24
NYT 5:37
CHE 5:17
LAT 3:41
CS 3:12
(updated at 11:45 a.m. Friday)
Hey, word nerds! Do you like spelling? Check out the online Spelling Bee at the Virtual Thesaurus site. It uses all sorts of fancy-pants algorithms to figure out what sort of words to give you—if you're not a terrific speller, it won't give you words like caracole. If you do have mad spelling skillz, it'll challenge you a lot but not punish you for getting some difficult words wrong. The top score is 800, and I can attest that you can score 800 despite missing a sizeable percentage of your words. (I flubbed 8 of my last 50 words.) If you play long enough, it'll give you another crack at words you gave up on—and it shows you the correct spelling when you "surrender," so pay attention to those freebie answers.
I learned about the Spelling Bee from Ben Zimmer's OUPblog post.
I must tear myself away from the Spelling Bee to tend to the crosswords.
Jim Page's New York Times crossword starts with a mini-theme—["Easy does it!"] clues the two intersecting 15-letter answers, TAKE A DEEP BREATH and WHAT'S THE BIG RUSH—and builds the rest of the puzzle around it with fill that groups itself into assorted topic areas.
We've got some pop culture:
And some geography:
And some high culture:
And some nibbles:
I had a couple favorite clues here. [Be too reserved?] clues OVERBOOKS, as in a restaurant or flight. [Artemis or Atalanta] is a HUNTRESS. Forget the hunting part—have you seen Free To Be You and Me, in particular the Atalanta story? It's a feminist retelling of the Atalanta myth.
I was ready for Donna Hoke Kahwaty's Sun crossword, "For Startlers," since I'd already done two Halloween-themed puzzles with BOO words this week. This time, the BOOs are bunched into eight rebus squares, with RAY "[BOO]M [BOO]M" MANCINI holding down the fort in the middle. Lots of hard clues in this puzzle:
If this puzzle took you longer than you thought it would, you can take solace in the fact that it has 15 more squares than usual—the grid is 16 rows tall, not the standard 15. Before I hit the sack, let me single out one other marvelous answer—[BOO][BOO] BEAR, the [Ursine sidekick] of Yogi Bear.
Updated:
Donna Levin's LA Times crossword contains some voting-related puns that took me a while to unravel:
Favorite clues: [Like a unicorn tamer, in myth] for CHASTE; [Malay word for "man"] for ORANG; and [Rose born William Bruce] for AXL. Tricky bits: [Ready, willing and able: Abbr.] for ADJS (short for "adjectives"); [Glacier National Park's Garden Wall, e.g.] for ARETE.
The trio of Todd McClary, Craig Kasper, and Andrew M. Greene teamed up to make this week's Wall Street Journal crossword, "Election Headlines." The meat of each plausible news headlines is clued as if it pertains to a particular person. Three examples:
Randall Hartman's CrosSynergy puzzle, "In a Stew," says that [What you're working on (and a literal hint to 17-, 28-, and 47-Across)] is a CROSSWORD PUZZLE or rather, a puzzle containing cross words:
The two longest Down answers sort of tie in with the theme. To [Have a cow] is to GET UPSET, but after all the crossness, the wise one FORGIVES, or [Shows compassion, perhaps]. [Comedian Murray] clues JAN, and that name didn't ring a bell for me. Turns out Jan Murray was a Borscht Belt comedian, né Murray Janofsky. [Those who stop Lightning strikes?] was no gimme for me—it's GOALIES, so the Lightning must be a hockey team. Or maybe soccer? No, hockey—the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning.
Todd McClary also has a solo outing today, with this week's Chronicle of Higher Education puzzle, "Literary Bent." There's one standard theme entry, POETS' CORNER at 16-Down ([Westminster Abbey burial ground, four residents of which are hidden in this grid (in appropriate places)]. Apparently there are 28 writers buried there, as well as many others commemorated with plaques. Four of those buried there are also interred in the poets' corners of this crossword grid. Edmund SPENSER runs around the NW corner, upwards in EPSOM and to the right in the unusual ENSERFS ([Binds to the land]). Abraham COWLEY rest in the NE corner, in SCOWL and LEYTE. John DRYDEN goes down in REDRY and backwards at the end of KENNEDY in the SE quadrant. And Thomas HARDY occupies the last corner, backwards in AHEAD and upwards in HYDRA.
Plenty of tough clues, like [Post-recession measure?] for a TOUPEE, STU [Holcomb who coached for Miami and Purdue] (who?), and WELCH [__ Hall (Yale freshman dormitory)].
October 30, 2008
Friday, 10/31
September 25, 2007
Wednesday, 9/26
NYS 4:34
NYT 3:31
LAT 3:25
CS 3:11
Lee Glickstein and Craig Kasper co-constructed the New York Times crossword, but it's hard for an online solver to know that when an unnecessary solving hint obliterates the byline. (The hint is: "Note: The 13 starred clues have something in common." Now, the fact that those clues are starred should be help enough, no? The "hint" adds nothing.) Anyway. The 13 theme entries, 4 to 8 letters apiece (79 letters in all for this theme), are all one-word Broadway musicals, I believe: OLIVER, OKLAHOMA, SPAMALOT, RENT, HAIR, CABARET, EVITA, CANDIDE (When was this on Broadway? Oh, Google tells me 1956, 1974, and 1997. Look for it again in another decade.), AIDA, FAME, CAROUSEL, SHOWBOAT, and KISMET—and none of them clued as musicals. A lovely Wednesday theme that flowed smoothly from start to finish. Some tough words: LAVALIER ([Bejeweled pendant]); COXES ([Regatta crew leaders]); OCULAR as a noun ([Eyepiece]); ALISO [Viejo (California city near Laguna Beach], which is utterly unfamiliar to me; KPAX, the [2001 film set in a mental institution] (Kevin Spacey as a purported alien); the [Ancient garland] called an ANADEM; the [Renaissance instrument] called a REBEC (which I first learned via a Frank Longo crossword); and DSC, because I seldom remember the [U.S. mil. medal] clues. These are a few of my favorite things: [1950s All-Star outfielder Minnie] MINOSO, because he lives four blocks away from me and has a garage parking space right next to my cousin's; the X/Z/K Scrabbly action; the intersection between NEONATAL, [Like some nursery care], and the LAMAZE [Kind of class] that might precede that stage; [Air ___] for JORDAN basketball shoes; and the automotive LYNX and CARAVAN.
Mark Feldman's New York Sun puzzle, "Backdrafts," made me thirsty after I figured out the theme. Having spent some time this afternoon in Crypticland, I was looking backwards within the theme entries for the theme—but really, it's just that a draft of cold beer can be found at the back end of each theme entry. STRIPED BASS goes with Bass Ale, which is (I just learned from Wikipedia) depicted in Manet's A Bar at the Folies Bergère (the bottle with the red triangle at right). I've never heard of the plant called DUSTY MILLER, but Miller beer is, alas, inescapable in America. ONCE IN A BLUE MOON...I once ordered a Blue Moon beer, unaware that it was a Belgian-style wheat beer, and I do not care for witbier, weissbier, or wheat beer. I hated Blue Moon until I added that orange slice, and then it was delicious. (Everything is better with Orange!) The AEOLIAN HARP links to Harp Lager, which is all right but I do prefer darker beers. The theme winds down on the sunny beach with SOLAR CORONA; among Mexican beers, I'll take the Negra Modelo, por favor. I don't know that I want to wash down my SNO-CAPS chocolate nonpareils with any of these libations, but I always like seeing SNO-CAPS on the candy shelf or in the crossword. Other tasty fill: LOWBALL, VAN BUREN, SNUGLI baby carriers, and IT'S PAT.
Updated:
Dan Naddor's LA Times crossword has six kinds of WEIGHTS (or word components that can precede WEIGHT) at the beginning of the theme entries: FIGHTING, PAPER, FREE, DEAD, HEAVY, and COUNTER. Cool grid, with the 8-letter theme entries stacked (in part) parallel to the 11s and crossing the 10s. Between those and the central 7, every section of the puzzle is hooked to the theme entries. The only eyesore in the fill was [LPGA co-founder Marlene] HAGGE, whose name was unknown to me. Apparently she was a hotshot in her youth and won a Boys Junior title at age 10.
Ray Hamel's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Tec Support," clues four fictional detectives by saying who helped them with their cases. Nice trivia twist on a category theme.
August 25, 2007
Sunday, 8/26
NYT 11:28
BG 10:10
LAT 9:43
PI 8:04
WaPo 7:01
CS 4:18
Strange thing, that. Last night I overimbibed and still finished the Saturday Times puzzle about 15% faster than Byron Walden, my NYT applet benchmark. Today I spent 12 hours with my son, two nephews, and assorted kids (and plenty of grown-ups) at the Museum of Science and Industry, and I finished the Sunday puzzle about 25% slower than Byron. Sheesh, I probably shouldn't drive after spending that much time with young children. Clouds the noggin!
The New York Times puzzle, "Getting Ahead," is credited to two constructors, Andrew Greene and Craig Kasper, but Craig let me know that he and Andrew had two other collaborators, Todd McClary and Jeffrey Harris, who would perhaps be listed as co-constructors if the byline had enough room. This marks Andrew's debut, and if you happen to take any photos of people solving this puzzle, he'd love to get a copy. The theme of the foursome's puzzle is getting a head into the grid: The circled squares spell out facial/head features in the appropriate places. HAIR atop SCALP over the BROWS, a pair of EYES with vertical EARS just past them, a NOSE in the middle, and LIPS and CHIN holding the whole thing up. These 10 body parts are contained within long "theme entries," unrelated but for the inclusion of facial features. And look, over there at 80-Across—somebody's got a TOE dangling from an EAR. (Here are some badger toe bone earrings to complete the puzzle.)
What took me longer than usual? Well, that whole 1-Across corner fought me, for one. The [Toddler's mealtime accessory] is a BOOSTER CHAIR, but somehow having a 7-year-old means I've wiped the slate clean of toddler memories. The cross-referencing of 1-Across to 7-Across, which in turn referenced 1-Across and 61-Across, was kind of a nasty trick. (The EMBLEM of the IMAC is an APPLE.) The [Steve Martin romantic comedy] killed me, too—I thought of ALL OF ME and ROXANNE (but not THE JERK) when the 7-letter movie title needed was L.A. STORY. Ack! Cluing EBB as a noun ([Point of decline]) and sprinkling in BORAXO ([Heavy-duty hand soap]) and MOORAGE ([Dock payment]) didn't help that corner fall easily.
Favorite clues: [Crawl space?] for PUB; [Safari, e.g.] for WEB BROWSER; [Knight time?] for YORE; [___ Rose] for AXL; [Worth trying?] for ACTIONABLE, as in giving cause for legal action (here is an entertaining rant about the word being shanghaied by corporatese types); and [Subj. follower] for PRED. (short for predicate, as learned from Schoolhouse Rock's "The Tale of Mr. Morton"). Why is a KAZOO a [Skiffle instrument]? Skiffle is a "type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence, usually using homemade or improvised instruments."
Unfavorite aspects: ACIDY and RETAG are the kind of words that may appear at the end of a dictionary entry for the main word, in a fat and comprehensive dictionary, but don't get much use in the language. They're thisclose to being "roll your own" words. BLARNEYED ([Persuaded with flattery]) as a verb, also not as common as the noun blarney. That word and HEYERDAHL ([Noted explorer of Polynesia]) contain EYEs and the A of the crossing EARs. [Defense contractor whose stock symbol is the same as its name] is much less fun than Cousin Itt when it comes to ITT clues. I didn't know [Creatio ex ___ (Christian tenet)]; here's a definition of creatio ex NIHILO.
Updated:
Henry Hook's onlineBoston Globe puzzle, "Takeout Menu," strips the theme entries of a word in the clue, leaving an incomplete answer. Thus, [Thrill-seeker, out of tune?] is soldier of fortune minus tune, or SOLDIER OF FOR. Most obscure clue/answer, for me: [College basketball's Coach of the Year Award eponym] for Henry IBA, a complete unknown to me. (I wasn't following Oklahoma State hoops action during my toddler years, nor before I was born.) It's a tad surprising that this name doesn't find its way into crosswords more often. Two-thirds vowels?
Harvey Estes' themeless CrosSynergy puzzle, is packed with lots of colloquialisms, so it's a fun solve.
Gail Grabowski's syndicated LA Times puzzle, "In Reverse," adds BACK to the end of each theme entry, since BACK can change the meaning of the second part of each theme entry. I was fooled by the first theme entry, DIAMOND CUTBACK, because diamondback is also a meaningful word, but actually, the theme hinges on diamond cut and cutback. (Unless, that is, chicken back and jelly back are meaningful entities...)
Robert Doll's Washington Post crossword, "I Spy," has seven theme entries starting with spy-type words, like SECRET (INGREDIENT), UNSEEN (DANGER) and CRYPTIC (CROSSWORD). Nice theme, and a super-smooth, easy solve.
Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer offering, "A Kinder, Gentler Puzzle," puns on nine violent phrases to make them more palatable. For example, Give 'Em Hell, Harry morphs into GIVE 'EM HELP, HARRY, and barroom brawlers no longer have blood on their hands, they have spilled BUD ON THEIR HANDS.
June 14, 2007
Friday, 6/15
NYS 8:37—the Friday Sun .pdf can be downloaded here
6/1 CHE 6:20
NYT 5:19
LAT 4:22
Jonesin' 4:14
CS 3:07
WSJ 8:11
Reagle tba
(updated at 9 a.m. Friday)
Have y'all been able to track down the .pdf for the Friday NY Sun crossword? It's Craig Kasper's "Holy Crossword, Batman!" (It's now available at the Sun now.)
Speaking of Batman, when my kid and I went to investigate the slew of movie trailers around the corner this afternoon, we learned that they were filming interior scenes for The Dark Knight, the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Starring Christian Bale as Batman, Heath Ledger as a villain, Gary Oldman as the police chief (one neighbor saw Oldman walking to his trailer), and the excellent Maggie Gyllenhaal taking over Katie Holmes' part. About 25 trailers and RVs were parked on the school grounds at Ben's school, the extras were hanging out inside the school, and the film crew was filming inside an apartment the next block up from our street. I took a few pictures with my cell phone of a Gotham Police Department patrol car and the City of Gotham license plates on a row of vehicles. Now I want to see the movie next July to try to pick out all the local scenery masquerading as Gotham. And I can't wait to see what the school spends its Hollywood paycheck on—the school's last windfall brought a digital music lab. My husband just returned home and says the filming action continues even at this late hour. They do need to finish up and clear out before 28 school buses invade the school property in the morning so the kids can pick up their final report cards.
I don't know if any of you watched the short-lived 2001 live-action show, The Tick. It starred Patrick Warburton (David Puddy on Seinfeld) as the titular Tick, a superhero with a moth sidekick named Arthur. One of the other characters on the show was named Batmanuel. He had a Spanish accent. This relates not at all to crosswords, but hey, today's recurring motif is Batman.
The Friday NYT is a themeless 70-worder by Nancy Joline who has, as far as I know, no direct connection to Batman. (We do not hold this against a crossword constructor, of course.) I wasn't sure that HOROSCOPER was actually a word—it doesn't get many Google hits and I've never heard it used—but I checked my Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and lo and behold, it's there as an inflected form of the archaic horoscopy. I didn't know that Halliburton was cofounded by one ERLE Halliburton—at last, a plausible alternative to Erle Stanley Gardner! I hadn't been familiar with TV chef PAULA Deen until a few days ago, when a blogger was horrified by her boil-in-the-bag omelet and posted this how-to link. Highlights: VANUATU, combining geography geekdom with Survivor pop-cult; [Pops] for OLD-TIMER; the BLUE / NOTE jazz label pair of entries; [Pennsylvania, e.g.] for AVENUE; [Gentlemen of Verona] for SIGNORE (thanks to the NYT Today's Puzzle forum folks for lambasting SIGNORS in a recent puzzle and cementing the SIGNORE plural in my head); [Drub] for PLASTER; and reference to Patti LABELLE's "Lady Marmalade." I rather liked the vague, short clues that leave you guessing as to which sense of a word is meant. For example, [Tramp] could be HOBO or HARLOT, but it's TRAIPSE; [Tell] means TATTLE but [Turns in] meaning RETIRES rather than RATS OUT. I hadn't known that EVITA PERON was a [First lady who was once a prominent radio actress], but had too many of the letters from the crossing words to be duped into thinking of U.S. first ladies from the radio era. One partial duplication, with GRANOLA BAR and OPEN BAR—but who can object to the inclusion of an OPEN BAR? Not I.
Updated:
In the Sun, Craig Kasper doubles up on the Batman theme action with cartoony sound effects (ZAP! KAPOW! BONK! BAM!) embedded in the long entries together with scattered Batman villains: CATWOMAN at 34-Across, the PENGUIN at 48-Across, the PUZZLER at 4-Down, and the JOKER (portrayed in the in-production movie by Heath Ledger) at 51-Down. I didn't notice this at first, but now that I do, WHAMMO! I'm knocked out. Each of the sound effects comes from Batman socking the villain, with the sound effect and bad guy intersecting.
The toughest corner for me was the lower left, but eventually it came together when I figured out what 3-letter movie ending in K was a 1991 Best Picture nominee (JFK), took a wild-ass guess that Senator Chuck Hagel was once president of the USO, took another wild guess that BIC makes glue sticks (Staples.com doesn't sell Bic's sticks, but it does sell OIC brand glue sticks. Sure hope none of you were familiar with OIC glue sticks!). I didn't do the Roman-numeral math for [Divisor of MMMDCCC], but indeed, CLII × XXV = 3,800. I don't think I've ever played JOTTO, the [Word-guessing game], but reckon I'd like it. Highlights: [Like a private getaway, maybe?] for AWOL; [Apple core creator] for INTEL (the new Intel-based Macs); the BAOBABS or monkey bread trees; [Tap-in location] for LIP; [Unplugged] for ACOUSTIC (this CD is my favorite from the MTV Unplugged series); WOOLGATHER; [O no.] for CIRC (as in the circulation of O magazine); [Pittance] for SONG; [Clearances] for the plural noun OKAYS; and [When to expect a touchdown[ for ETA. Anyone else mystified by ["The ___ McLaughlins" (1924 Pulitzer winner)]? Turns out to be The Able McLaughlins.
Just quick takes on the rest—my son's school day is just 90 minutes long today (picking up report cards and saying their farewells):
Harvey Estes' CrosSynergy puzzle includes some lively fill amid a theme of broken GRINs (with letters splitting the GR from the IN). Doug Peterson's LA Times changes -INE endings to -INGs. Favorite example: [Ostrich relative in a holiday pageant?] is CAROLING RHEA. Matt Jones's Jonesin' puzzle, "Don't Sweat It," has a theme of people with the initials B.O., with a pop-cultury vibe I enjoyed. Patrick Berry's June 1 Chronicle of Higher Ed crossword provides a good challenge—figuring out the spoonerisms in the theme entries. (Had not heard of the [1819 Shelley poem, with "The"]—"The CENCI." Apparently it is a verse drama seldom performed as a play owing to its incest theme.) Vic Fleming's Wall Street Journal puzzle, "Pop Quiz," marks Father's Day (which is this Sunday) with an apt rebus. I got stuck at the intersection of a numerical prefix (usually it's OCTO, but don't we sometimes see OCTA?) and a 4-letter ELO song that turns out to be "DO YA.".
March 17, 2007
Sunday, 3/18
LAT 9:46
NYT 9:18
WaPo 9:11
BG 7:47
CS 3:46
(updated at 11 a.m. Sunday)
Color me amazed at what Craig Kasper pulled off in his Sunday NYT puzzle. If you were underwhelmed by the theme, look again or read on.
In the applet, you can key in an ampersand, but does The Machine accept it as correct? I don't know, so I used an A (for "and") and went back after I finished and switched the appropriate A's to &'s. In so doing, I discovered that Craig placed eight ampersands in symmetrical pairs, plus one more smack-dab in the center of the grid. And! And the short crossings look like abbreviations for each long theme entry; thus, MIX & MATCH crosses M & M, ADAM & EVE cross A & E, etc. It took me 45 minutes to notice that the short "&" entries correspond to the long "&" entries' initials. None of the short or long theme entries are remotely stretching plausibility; all are "in the language." Now, that is mind-bogglingly elegant, in both concept and execution.
There were a few creaky spots for me. TROAS is a place in Asia Minor where the apostle Paul was said to have a vision. Old actress BETSY Blair was unknown to me. CORNET can be pastry, a lesser-known meaning of the word. I seldom remember Theodore BIKEL's name. Is ABANDONEES a real word? Indeed it is. Is ENARM a real word? Not according to OneLook.com, but it's gettable anyway. Didn't know the French term idée REÇUE, either. Solve and learn, eh?
Overall, some terrific fill: the colloquial NO NO NO, ANY MINUTE, EASY AS PIE, ON THE CHIN ([One way to take it?]), AT ALL COSTS, and EPISODE I. I like the word SHIVAREE ([Noisy celebration]), which I might have learned from crosswords. And I love iTUNES, both as crossword fill and as a service. Favorite clues: [Major player in the movie biz?] for VCR (modestly dated, but a clever clue approach), and the nostalgia-inducing [Old "Romper Room" character with bouncing antennae], Mr. DO BEE.
Congratulations to Craig (and Will Shortz) on a most impressive crossword puzzle.
Updated:
Speaking of WIll Shortz, my mom just called after listening to Will on the radio. Apparently he reported that there are 700 registered entrants for the crossword tournament, including Phil Donahue. So presumably there will be 200+ rookies competing next week. How many of them are avid speed-solvers with a shot at making the finals? I wouldn't be surprised to see several new names in the top 20. (I just hope they don't beat me.)
I enjoyed Henry Hook's Boston Globe crossword, "On a First-Name Basis." In it, 10 compound words or two-word phrases have the second word swapped out for the first name of a famous person whose last name is the second part of the base phrase/word. For example, kilowatts are KILO NAOMI, scarecrow becomes SCARESHERYL, and fallen idol becomes FALLEN BILLY. Hook uses mainly people famous in the '80s and beyond, which I appreciate. Having an old crosswordese-type name (say, SAND IRENE for Irene Castle) would have dried out the puzzle, and I like my pop culture to be contemporary (i.e., not before my time). One bonus point for including PTOMAINE in the fill; has anyone ever come up with a clever theme involving words with a silent P?
Robert H. Wolfe's Washington Post puzzle, "Film Splicing," combines two one-word movie titles (clued by their stars' names), such as [Grant/Del Toro film about a Christmas headache?] for HOLIDAY TRAFFIC. I hadn't heard of all the movies, but it was a fun challenge! Good cluing, too.
Harvey Estes' themeless CrosSynergy Sunday Challenge has a sweet CREAMSICLE and NECTARINE. The clue for THOMAS NAST, [Tweed unraveller?], spurred me to read up today. A month or two ago, hordes of solvers Googled an NYT clue, [Tweed twitter Thomas], and found the answer at my blog or Rex's—I knew the basics of the Tweed/Nast story, but not the details. Nast was the political cartoonist who targeted Boss Tweed, the APOTHEOSIS of a corrupt politician. Tweed funneled New York government money to himself and his cronies via contractor overbilling (hmm, shades of Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois politics...). In reference to Nast's Harper's Weekly cartoons, Tweed was said to have exclaimed, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can't read, but, damn it, they can see pictures!"
The LA Times syndicated Sunday puzzle, "The Shoe Must Go On," is credited to Cathy Carulli, which unscrambles to "actually Rich" Norris. The theme involves shoe puns, such as LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOAFER, [Shoe banned in Britain?]. Favorite clue: [Capital asset?] for SHIFT KEY.
