LAT 3:13
CS 2:54
NYS 2:51
NYT 2:40 (the applet didn't load until 23 seconds had ticked away)
The New York Times puzzle by Jeff Armstrong is jam-packed with theme entries—eight 8- to 10-letter phrases in which each word can separately follow AIR (36-Across). For example, BASEBALL splits off to make an air base and an air ball, and SHOWTIME yields an air show and airtime. The fill is excellent given the limitations posed by including 69 squares of thematic content—SPLASH, HOLY COW, and DOTCOM are fairly lively, and there are no ugly or awkward spots, no overreliance on proper names or abbreviations, no ARIA, ALOE, ERIE, ERA, OLEO, ERE, OREO, ANTE, or ORE. Was anyone else tempted to AIR out the 7-letter fill answers, TEE SHOT and HOLY COW? I don't know what an air cow would be, exactly, but I'm intrigued. (P.S. Congrats on your NYT debut, Jeff!)
The baseball season is kicking off (so to speak), and Alan Arbesfeld's New York Sun crossword, "Getting to Second Base," offers a primer in baseball terminology. Actually, it doesn't educate so much as assume you know the terms—which I don't, but that didn't get in the way of solving. It just made me not grasp all of the theme. LEADING ROLES is a theme entry because of the take a lead sense of the word, I think. And tagging isn't just about getting tagged out (who knew?). SLIDING (SCALE), STEALING (AWAY), WALK, and SAFE were much more familiar to me. Favorite answers/clues: Britney's ex K-FED (Kevin Federline), ANAGRAM clued as [Trenchcoats, to technocrats], and BAGGIES.
Updated:
Four daft synonyms take center stage in Randall Hartman's CrosSynergy crossword, "Mad About You," with the Across theme entries ending with BATS and NUTS and the Downs beginning with CRAZY and CUCKOO. In the fill, the PREAMBLE is clued as ["We the people" site]; here's the Schoolhouse Rock song that has taught so many 8th graders what they needed to know for their civics test. Plenty of short geography answers today—the Philippine island of LUZON beside the Indonesian island BALI; the African country TOGO and the Caribbean nation HAITI; two cities, LIMA, Peru, and ORAN, Algeria; and UNION clued as a word in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Shall we change the puzzle's title to "Mad About World Geography"?
Joy Frank's LA Times crossword has a "clever" theme—each theme entry begins with a synonym of that word (e.g. SHARP CURVE, QUICK BREAD). Just for kicks, the fill includes RED SQUARE, and I'm trying to think of a theme that would include RED SQUARE among other colored shapes. BLUE CROSS, YELLOW STAR, and...ORANGE RHOMBUS? No, that's too long, and too nonexistent.
March 30, 2008
Monday, 3/31
June 27, 2007
Thursday, 6/28
NYS 8:10
LAT 3:50
NYT 3:37
CS 3:25
(updated at 10:40 a.m. Thursday)
Ooh! Happy crossword day! No, it's not a holiday—I'm just suffused with cruciverbal delight.
Joseph Crowley is the name atop the Thursday NYT crossword, and it's not a name I recognize though Google tells me there's a congressman by that name. Crossword-constructing debut? If so, congrats and thank you! It's a lovely puzzle, with four delicious colorful foods, deftly stacked in pairs of 15-letter entries (with only a couple crossing 3-letter words per pair) bound together thematically by RAINBOW / SHERBET spanning the center of the grid. (If you're counting, that's an impressive 74 theme squares.) Add fill like YUPPIE, BJORK, DWEEB, and REVERSI, and the puzzle gets more fun. Favorite clues: [Possible cause of heavy breathing] for SMOG; the tongue twister clue for ESAU (so much more fun than biblical references!); and [Kind of place] for ONES. Best of all, the theme entries actually taste good. MIXED GREEN SALAD? Yes, please. Balsamic vinaigrette on the side. ORANGE MARMALADE? On toast. (Made from Seville oranges, a.k.a. bigarades.) BLUEBERRY MUFFIN? With lots of crunchy sugar crystals on top. RED BEANS AND RICE? I'll pass that one over to my husband, and he will devour it. My cousin will scarf down the RAINBOW SHERBET.
In the Sun, Byron Walden's written a Themeless Thursday puzzle, and either I'm off my stride, or it's Weekend Warrior level rather than Thursday. (How tough did you think it was?) Speaking of Seville oranges, here's ARRIBA clued as [Seville shout]. I mangled the upper left corner by misattributing "Give me liberty or give me death!" to Thomas Paine instead of Patrick HENRY, but eventually I worked my way back to that section and straightened things out. In the mini-theme, someone has A DEVIL OF A TIME and thus gets in at SOME UNGODLY HOUR—I suspect it's THE STUD at 1-Across. BEA ARTHUR and MEL TORME lead a pack of AMERICANS, ART LOVERS all, in storming the ASTRODOME. On the way, they stopped at a REST AREA to PIG OUT on Taco Bell GORDITAs. Why? I don't know. You'd have to ask BYRON (["For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction" penner]). Favorite clues: [Golf partner] for PASSAT; [Shots from downtown] for TREYS (meaning three-point shots in basketball); [Person whose address is moving] for ORATOR; [Antlered ungulate] and [Humming ungulate] for DEER and ALPACA, respectively; [Gadget label?] for INSPECTOR Gadget; [Halts] as a noun (MORATORIA) next to [Yanks] as a noun (AMERICANS); and the two stocking stuffers, COAL and TOE.
Updated:
Harvey Estes' "Ring Leaders" puzzle from CrosSynergy has five theme entries starting with kinds of rings. A DIAMOND (JIM) ring is lovely, of course (provided it's not a conflict diamond). I bought a CLASS (ACT) ring in high school because my sister did—what was I thinking? Totally not worth it. KEY (LARGO) ring, indispensable, of course. ONION (SKIN) ring, blech. Do not care for onions as anything more significant than a small ingredient. The MOOD (INDIGO) ring, on the other hand—I have an abiding nostalgia for mood rings.
Jeff Armstrong's LA Times puzzle has four theme entries tied together by a fifth, FRONT ENDS—the other four begin with OFFICE, RUNNER, DOOR, and MONEY, which can all follow FRONT. Is this puzzle by the Jeff A who comments at this blog, or is that a different Jeff A? This crossword, like Harvey's puzzle above, has corners filled with 7-letter words and phrases, and that generally livens things up. (And both of these puzzles contain EGO TRIP and DAY ONE!) Favorite clue: [Stick in the cupboard, maybe] hints at a verb or the dreaded oleo, but it's a PRETZEL. It would be an awfully sad cupboard if it had just a single pretzel, though.
