NYS 4:23
NYT 3:50
LAT 3:04
CS 2:57
Whizzing through Liz Gorski's New York Times puzzle, I didn't piece together the theme, but once I finished, my eyes scanned the grid and nodded their approval. (What, your eyeballs don't nod?) (And before you think, "Pfft! Speed-solving is for the birds! She didn't even see how the theme hung together until after she finished the puzzle," let me say that I don't think it much matters when that "aha" moment hits—it's good during, and it's good after.) 62-Across tells you there's a WORD ladder involved, and the seven starred clues, 4 letters apiece, compose a word ladder in which one letter is changed in each step: SOUP to COUP to COOP to COOS to COTS to CUTS to NUTS. And what does the phrase from soup to nuts mean? 38-Across, THE WHOLE SHEBANG. The other longish entries are just there to hold the grid together (they're not thematic)—there's a STRING TRIO containing a [Violin, viola, and cello] (Liz plays the viola, I believe) and OPERA ROLES (shorter music: ALTOS and excerpts from three songs); CORN SALAD (this recipe for zucchini, corn, and tomato salad looks tasty) might be prepped with a POWER SAW; and the DESK CLERK surely is not qualified to operate a BETATRON ([Particle accelerator]). I like the JESSES [James and Jackson]; PISCES; the Joe Jackson song, "IS SHE Really Going Out With Him?"; [Sprites in bottles?] for SODAS; [Chicago's Dan ___ Expressway] for RYAN (out-of-staters call it 90/94; we call it the Ryan); "OH, HI" (["I didn't think you'd be here..."]); and [They might be high in Manhattan] for RENTS. I had no idea that [Charles Laughton's role in "The Sign of the Cross"] was NERO, nor that there was ever such a movie, nor what Charles Laughton looks like. Nor that the [highest point in the Pennine Alps] is Monte ROSA.
The New York Sun crossword by Robert Wolfe is called "End to End," and I'm not sure why. Z is at one end of the alphabet, but what's the other end in the title? The five theme entries in this 15x16 grid change a final S to a Z, where the Z word is entirely different. Undershorts means one thing, but UNDER SHORTZ is altogether different; same with bar bets/BAR BETZ, spot ads/SPOT ADZ, counterplots/COUNTER PLOTZ, and contact lens/CONTACT LENZ. (The people in three of theme entries are enigmatologist Will Shortz, former tennis star Pauline Betz, and actress Kay Lenz; guess whose Wikipedia entry is the longest.) I'm fond of the letter Z, so this puzzle's got plenty of zingy fill crossing the theme entries: J.C. CHASEZ of 'N Sync, the Polish ZLOTY, postal MR. ZIP, SNOOZED, and BOOZED. Favorite clues: [What you might do when looking at the bright side?] for SQUINT; ["Father of the Italian language"] for DANTE; ["Fight Club" character Durden] for TYLER; and [Fashion designer Marc who bought Barry Bonds's 756th home run ball and let the public vote to brand it with an asterisk] for ECKO.
Updated:
Russell Brown's LA Times puzzle returns us to early childhood with its evocation of KNICK-KNACK PADDY-WHACK, GIVE A DOG A BONE. The KNICK, KNACK, PADDY, and WHACK begin other phrases—the KNICKERBOCKER of the NBA, meaty KNACKWURST, the [Rice field frequenter better known as the Java sparrow] also called the PADDY BIRD (it's...small but edible), and WHACK-A-MOLE (clued in an unfamiliar computery way—[Computer term, based on an arcade game, regarding the annoyance of fending off recurring spammers]). Great theme! Fill highlights: the [2001 Spacey film] K-PAX, FT DIX, RANKLES, CHRONICLE, and VENERABLE. DRIVE-IN is clued as [Popular '50s-'60s date spot] (someone was just asking me if drive-in movie theaters still existed—any near you?), and I remember [Former U.S. soccer team captain Claudio] REYNA—though his last name could really use three more letters. By the way, the [Medicinal herb] SENNA? It's a laxative.
The theme in Martin Ashwood-Smith's CrosSynergy crossword, "Cerealization," is Rice Krispies sounds: SNAP, CRACKLE, and POP begin the theme entries. Question about the clue for SEGA: Does [Nintendo alternative] sound like it means "rival in the video game market," or "rival to the Nintendo game consoles"? Sega hasn't sold game consoles for seven years, but "alternative" rather than "rival" makes it sound like one could comparison-shop for a Sega or Nintendo.
February 12, 2008
Wednesday, 2/13
November 20, 2007
Wednesday, 11/21
NYS 4:44
NYT 4:21
CS 3:46
LAT 3:31
I'm heading out for a night of trivia with Tyler Hinman and friends. (Here's hoping I don't jinx them and destroy their good position in the standings this month.) So I won't be home until late, and may or may not have the energy for the Times puzzle before morning. Here's my Sun write-up for now. Feel free to chat about the NYT too—if I forget and read spoilers in the comments before I solve the NYT (the comments are e-mailed to me), I will chastise you for my own forgetfulness. Fair enough?
Russell Brown, who comments here fairly often, has ponied up a rebus puzzle with 10 rebus-filled answers for the New York Sun. (Russell also does grid design, sort of, for turned wood bowls and vases.) The theme gave itself away easily enough since I know that confectioner's sugar contains CORN ST[ARCH]—I just had to figure out if the rebus was [STAR] or [ARCH]. And no, the title, "Gateway," didn't give it away because I often forget to utilize the title. (The Gateway Arch is near where Lewis and Clark set out from.) The Kansas City MON[ARCH]S Negro League team crosses the CLE[AR CH]ANNEL radio conglomerate. CORN ST[ARCH] meets up with the [Tomboy of fiction], JO M[ARCH]. 53-Across threw me because CHART fits into five spaces just as well as B[AR CH]ART does; the latter crosses WEB SE[ARCH]ING, which runs alongside PALE BLUE, [Like liquid oxygen] (Pretty! And not a fact I knew.). In the middle there's the pro-wrestling SUPERST[AR CH]ALLENGE crossing a CED[AR CH]EST. And at the bottom, [ARCH]ITECTS] crosses [ARCH]ERY, which has the "Wha?" clue of [Toxophilite's skill]. The exact symmetrical placement of the five rebus squares will appeal to Rex, though I thought it felt like they were asymmetrical while solving.
Updated:
Trivia night went well, and the team is well positioned in the overall standings so we've got a shot at the $1,000 prize next week. My shining moment: For the tossup question, "What year was The Godfather: Part II first released?"—for which points were awarded to the five teams closest to the actual answer—I guessed 1974, the correct year. My 20-something teammates were stumped. (Age has its benefits.) The last time I went, the tossup question was "How much does the Hummer [I forget which model] weigh?" Pfft! That seems far more random and arbitrary than '70s movie releases. (FYI: The Godfather, 1972; The Godfather: Part III, 1990 and far too late for anyone to care.)
I solved Kelsey Blakley's New York Times puzzle late last night. I was not at my peak. And I was too tired to blog about it then. Let's see what I recall now: The theme is movie-related phrases that start with words that are also military ranks, and those ranks are abbreviated in the grid. Hence, PVT SCREENING, MAJ MOTION PICTURE, and GEN ADMISSION. Movies, in the army? If only Stripes and Private Benjamin and Three Kings figured into it somehow. Outside of the theme, there are two giant fill entries, the Consumer Reports BUYER'S GUIDE and SMOKE SIGNAL, which would be lovely additions if they weren't mildly discomfiting by virtue of being as long as many theme entries. (Shorter than these three theme entries, and thus kosher, but still bringing pause.) And then the longest of the Down answers are just words...except that one of them, MATINEES, relates to movies and muddles my head a little. And this morning, my head is muddled enough as it is. [Ed: At the NYT forum, Ghulam points out that Consumer Reports compiles a Buying Guide, not a Buyer's Guide. I suppose the clue still works if you lowercase it to be a generic buyer's guide.]
Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke play with the basketball team in their LA Times crossword. STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRAETORIAN GUARD, and DETENTION CENTER all end with basketball positions, and fortunately, they've got funny clues tying them to the sport. If this theme included literal clues for those three entries plus a helper entry of, say, HOOPS, it would be a boring theme—but with the playfulness Stella and Bruce opted for, I liked it. Overall, the fill and clues had a fun vibe to them. Smooth puzzle!
Thomas Schier's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Oscillation," has a THURBER quote. Bleah, quote themes. Bizarre fill—ROOTWORM, ENDWAYS, and PLUMELET? Not on the tip of my tongue. (Thank goodness there are no rootworms on the tip of my tongue!)
