Gary Steinmehl's "Yellables" puzzle in the Sun predisposes one to shouting, as the theme entries begin with words like FIRE! and STOP! I like clues that ask the solver to look beyond the meaning of the words, at the letters themselves (I group these generically in the "SILENT T" or "LONG I" class); this puzzle has ENS clued as "Nonwinning half?" I wasn't familiar with the word TEETOTUM; you might find this write-up from World Wide Words interesting. Teetotums are dreidel-like spinning tops with labeled sides. If you ever wondered how a collector might classify tops (and I'll bet you didn't), then holy crap! you should take a look at this guy's classification scheme. This topic reminds me of a great clue I just saw today in the NYT X-Treme X-Words book—in the November 30, 2002, puzzle by Jim Page, DREIDEL was clued as "place to see a nun"...
Kevan Choset's NYT TRIPLE CROWN puzzle includes the names of five horses that won the Triple Crown. I knew I'd seen at least one similar puzzle in the past—the Cruciverb database led me to Nancy Salomon's May 5, 2004, puzzle, which featured seven Triple Crown winners. The common entries were AFFIRMED, CITATION, and OMAHA; the new puzzle adds SECRETARIAT and ASSAULT, while the prior one included WAR ADMIRAL, WHIRLAWAY, SIR BARTON, and COUNT FLEET. Still waiting for his turn in the cruciverbal spotlight is Seattle Slew; Gallant Fox has appeared twice in CrosSynergy puzzles.
Updated:
Those last two horses joined the other seven Triple Crown winners in Peter Gordon's 17x17 NYT diagramless puzzle on January 7, 2001 (included in Peter's latest book). Between that puzzle and the two subsequent daily puzzles, I call for a moratorium on further horse puzzles.
Paula Gamache's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Way to Fly," was easy but fun. • Gene Newman's LA Times puzzle celebrates FRED ASTAIRE's 107th birthday.
NYS 4:27
NYT 3:53
LAT 3:32
CS 2:42
May 09, 2006
Woden's day
May 08, 2006
Tuesday is Blindauer Spaghetti Day
Patrick Blindauer garners the lion's share of attention for the day by having his byline in both the NYT and the Sun ("Throw in the Towel"). In the NYT, the theme is palindromes, and Patrick doesn't duplicate any of the theme entries in Merl Reagle's recent palindrome-palooza. All right, who else thought "Gives a hand?" was CLAPS before you entered SLAPS? Plenty of good 6-, 7-, and 8-letter fill, too (SWAHILI, PET NAME, etc.).
In Patrick's Sun puzzle, he plunks a RAG into four phrases, yielding things like FRAGILE CABINET and THE DAPPER DRAGON. Favorite clues: "Fit to serve?" for EDIBLE, and "Experts in pop psychology?" for MOMS. I think I like this theme better than the one in the NYT, but there's juicier fill in the NYT puzzle. Thanks for the double-dip, Patrick—I do enjoy your work.
Updated:
Best clue in this week's Ben Tausig puzzle: "John, to Paul, George, and Ringo" = LOO!
Tausig 4:43
NYT 3:59
NYS 3:53
CS 3:25
LAT 3:11
May 07, 2006
Monday
Woo! Alan Arbesfeld doesn't include a zoo animal, but in the Sun puzzle, "Oo La La," he's got seven other two-word phrases that start with a single iteration of a [X]OO (hence no Goo Goo Dolls). Seven theme entries—that's pretty fancy puzzlin' for a Monday. Lots of Scrabbly fill, too, like ZONKS.
Good Monday puzzle by Norm Guggenbiller in the NYT. The theme entries sit BOY/GIRL/BOY/GIRL, like they're at a nice dinner, but I'm not sure what sort of conversation the VALLEY GIRL and the GOOD OLE BOY would have. CARBS, BILLFOLDS, FOGEYS, and LUSTY are nice entries...
Updated:
Today's LA Times puzzle by Jack McInturff provides a lesson in the study of crossword themes. This is a good Monday puzzle (Jack McInturff's byline is generally a good sign), but let's compare this theme and Arbesfeld's theme in the Sun. This one has five theme entries ending with [X]EE words, vs. seven theme entries in the Sun. Three of them are two-word phrases, one has three words, and one has four; in the Sun puzzle, all seven have two words. In my book, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the LA Times puzzle or its theme. But the Sun puzzle by Arbesfeld goes above and beyond what I'd expect for a Monday theme, with razor-sharp consistency (if consistency can be sharp) and the inclusion of all possible candidates for the theme (at least, I couldn't think of other possibilities that fit the criteria). The LA Times puzzle might plausibly have included entries like GOLLY GEE, RUPERT JEE, ROBERT E LEE, or RIDDLE ME REE, so it's not a complete set. There had been heated discussion of Lynn Lempel's January 3 NYT, which had the COLE'S LAW/BUCK'S KIN theme I enjoyed—some people thought the theme was impaired because it had been done before and could be done many more times with fresh entries, while others (including me) opined that it matters less whether the theme uses up all possible entries and has never been done before, as long as the puzzle's well-made and entertaining. I will give props for an elegantly wrought theme like Arbesfeld's, though.
CS 3:43
NYT 3:15
NYS 3:00
LAT 2:49
May 06, 2006
Sunday
I haven't gotten to the non-NYT Saturday puzzles yet (I will). I've done the Sunday NYT, but won't be showing up in the applet (temporary insanity in which I thought the applet had frozen up and so switched to Across Lite—but the applet's just fine, as it turns out). Anyway, the puzzle's by Trip Payne, and the theme hinges on Trip's Favorite Letter of the Alphabet®, Q. (Those of you have seen Wordplay should have a chuckle at that.) There were a few completely unfamiliar entries for me: the printer's measure EM QUAD, the French town of BLOIS ("King Louis XII's birthplace"), and the EPA's pollution measure, AQI (the all-important air quality index). Kudos for Trip (and/or Will) for livening up LATEX—previous NYT clues for that word have involved paint or gloves, but this puzzle has "skintight material." Other favorite clues are "con junction" for PRISON, "it's used with some frequency" for HAM RADIO, and "Reading and the like" for RRS. The theme's a fun one—the first letter of a phrase is changed to a Q, often drastically changing the pronunciation (as in Q AND A BEAR, QED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, and QUICK CENTURY—originally panda, red, and Buick). Trip, what was your initial theme phrase? I'm pulling for QBERT AND ROEPER. Or maybe QURAN DURAN. Or QUIT YOURSELF. Hey, they're all good.
Updated:
Will Johnston's themeless CrosSynergy Sunday Challenge has a lot of great entries, but the clues are mostly straightforward (i.e., fairly easy). One exception: "Lines at the grocery store?" for UPCS.
I like the themes in Patrick Jordan's Washington Post puzzle, "Banned Leaders," and Robert Wolfe' LA Times puzzle, "Urban Development" (hooray for geography-based crossword themes).
Henry Hook's LA Weekly puzzle, "After Taxes," takes out every last CENT. How is it that I never knew (or simply forgot) that E. E. Cummings' middle name was ESTLIN? I noticed a couple 7-letter partial entries (SKATE ON and OF TEXAS)—I know some people object, but I like the flexibility afforded by judicious departures from the so-called rules of construction.
NYT 10:54
LA Weekly 9:49
WaPo 8:14
LAT 8:42
CS 3:58
May 05, 2006
Saturday
Three weeks ago, James Buell had another Saturday NYT—only it ran on a Friday. Now he's got an actual Saturday puzzle, and...it's nowhere near as fearsome as that previous one. Mostly I was on Buell's wavelength—except for where the answers were completely unfamiliar. There's jazz trumpeter Ziggy ELMAN, the Ohio county and town of Van WERT, and the "compound used to treat chiggers and scabies," ROTENONE. Clues I liked included "cutting-edge features" = SAWTEETH, "sounding" = DEPTH, "hit list" = TOP TEN, "it's detected by the Marsh test, in forensics" = ARSENIC (maybe I should watch more "CSI"?), "like some dads" = STAY-AT-HOME, and "Where visitors can barely relax?" = NUDIST CAMP. Nifty entries included PASTA SALAD, BACKPEDALS, RAW BAR, COKED up, READY TO EAT, BOOK EDITOR, and PRESENT DAY. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't enjoy quasi-crosswordese entries like the ever-popular SMEW (clued here as "merganser relative"). But I appreciate having a quick toehold like that in the opening corner of a puzzle—SMEW yielded SAWTEETH crossing at the W, and coaxed out ARMORPLATE and DEEPSEATED. The southwest section had APU and the ARAL Sea as quick hits, and the southeast had RONA ("first name in gossip," Rona Barrett—read the Wikipedia article for a great quote from her autobiography; turns out she's been retired from the media for 15 years and now farms lavender) and NORA ("romance novelist Roberts"). A couple easy fill-in-the-blanks (KRISS Kringle and CREME caramel) helped things along, too.
Updated, finally:
Harvey Estes' "Win Some, Lose Some" CrosSynergy puzzle has a kinda fun theme.
LAT 4:30
NYT 4:27
Newsday Saturday Stumper 17:29—but I kept dozing off because it's been a long day
CS 3:02
May 04, 2006
Order is restored to the universe
Surely there will be no carping about the Friday NYT, by Manny Nosowsky? It's themeless, so there are no theme irregularities to trouble anyone. I suppose some might complain that many of the clues require the solver to think sideways, but that's a problem with the solver, not the puzzle. Today's semi-obscure fruit is LOQUATS ("Japanese plums"); who knows what produce tomorrow will bring. I was mighty proud of myself for quickly figuring out that 15 Across, "four times what's left," was THREE SCORE (60 is 4 x 15). That entry was bracketed by two other 10s containing the letter Q (QUINTUPLET, "unexpected birth"; ROMANESQUE, "pre-Gothic style"). All the 10s in this puzzle were great, particularly A RARE BREED, SPORTS PAGE, TINKER TOYS, DIRTY JOKES, and AFTER A SORT. "Eco location" is a devious clue for ITALY. Anyone else plug in MEGA instead of SEED for "start of something big"? The trademark Manny medical entry is LIGATE (do CORPSMEN LIGATE as well as PATCH?). Another recent puzzle clued BEERY in relation to the old actor Wallace Beery; I prefer the hipper "like the bar scene" clue here. In sum, this puzzle's exactly what I'm looking for in a Friday NYT.
In the Sun, David Kahn's "Follow Directions" puzzle works you over in a circuitous fashion. There are four interlocking 15s, each clued with a word in the grid that is paired with a direction word in the grid. E.g., "NCAA hoops conference" clues BIG and EAST together, and BIG is itself the clue for TOM HANKS PICTURE. This beast (and it is a beast because so many of the clues are tough) is intricately constructed: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, and WEST all appear in the center of the appropriate sides of the grid, and the four 3-letter words that partner with them are placed symmetrically around the center square (shout-out to Paul Lynde!) and parallel to their partner direction entries. I did three or four other David Kahn puzzles this week (in the X-treme X-words book), so it's been a delightfully challenging week.
Updated:
Martin Ashwood-Smith dresses up the CrosSynergy puzzle ("Dress Code") with FATS WALLER, the SPIDER WOMAN, and SAGITTARIUS in addition to a set of clothes.
I generally dislike quip puzzles, but on occasion they do entertain me. Kudos to the Bruce Venzke/Stella Daily team for bringing these words of wisdom to my attention: "Hard work pays off in the future, but laziness pays off now." Anyone know who's credited with originating this quote?
Cathy Millhauser's Wall Street Journal puzzle, "McJobs," was fun and filled with tasty bits like ATTACK DOG and STRESS OUT. (Okay, so those particular entries don't sound fun. But the puzzle's good...)
In his "Everyday Palindromes" crossword, Merl Reagle serves up 15 delicious little palindromes. Hurrah for palindromes!
NYS 8:12
NYT 6:44
LAT 4:03
CS 2:40
WSJ 7:33
Reagle 7:06
May 03, 2006
Thursday
Hey, I really liked Rob Richardson's NYT puzzle with the BEELINE/STING/QUEEN/DRONE theme. Sure, you could make a case that the worker bee's absence is a shortcoming, but it's such a lovely crossword without it. There's wonderful fill, like OXYMORON, ASIAGO, IBIZA, LOOFA (Bill O'Reilly!), STYX, delicious POBOYS, and the stinky DURIAN, in a near-pangram (only W is missing). And some good clues, like "literally, 'the gentle way'" for JUDO, "they sometimes slip" for DISKS, "head butt, e.g." for OXYMORON, and "'ain't' ain't part of it" for QUEENS ENGLISH. I liked this puzzle enough to forgive ERIA, the "suffix with ranch."
Jeffrey Harris (a.k.a. Jangler) acquits himself well with the Sun Themeless Thursday. My favorite entries included AL ROKER, THE JERK, REAL MEN, ALL GONE, and KARAOKE; good clue/entry combos were "honorable behavior"/CRICKET and "throw some back"/DO SHOTS. Nothing to grumble about here... In fact, Jangler not only doesn't strike any wrong notes, he hits all the right ones—beautiful puzzle! (Extra pop-culture bonus points for MORTY Seinfeld.)
Updated:
Lynn Lempel's LA Times puzzle includes one of those entries that's more fun if you parse it wrong: SECOND GO AT A TEST could also be an escalation of anti-troll tactics by the middle Billy Goat Gruff: SECOND GOAT A-TEST.
The Chronicle of Higher Education puzzles for April and May are posted at Will Johnston's Puzzle Pointers page. The April ones are by Sarah Keller (literate), Richard Silvestri (pun-filled), Todd McClary (crunchy), and Joy Andrews (all about architects).
4/28 CHE 5:28
NYS 5:14
4/21 CHE 5:09
NYT 4:26
4/7 CHE 4:18
LAT 4:04
4/14 CHE 3:44
CS 3:17
May 02, 2006
Wednesday
You know, I'd probably be content with my solving time on Lisa Wiseman's NYT if not for the number of people faster than me on the applet. (Is this the third constructor debut in the last few days? If so, congrats to another newcomer!) Under 4 minutes for a Wednesday puzzle certainly seems respectable...unless you know for a fact that less than 3 minutes was doable. It's certainly a bright and shiny puzzle, with STROBE, GLOSSIER, SHEENS, and BRASSY. GABFEST and nutty John STOSSEL (did anyone see that "20/20" show where he reported on the availability of weight training in prisons, producing convicts who are "bigger...and scarier" than before? A pinnacle of cheesy TV journalism!) are good entries, as are the long RESURRECTS and INDENTURES. In the golf club/actor theme, though, I'm a smidgen put off by Jeremy Irons having the S already, but Elijah Wood and Minnie Driver needing to have an S tacked on to yield plural golf clubs—but while there are folks named Woods, I certainly don't know of any famous people named Drivers or Iron who could fill in here.
The theme in Patrick Blindauer's Sun puzzle ("Gee Whiz!") dawned on me rather slowly, but it's an elegant one—"X in Y" turning into "Xing Y," with totally different meanings for the phrases with and without the G. Did everyone else find this one to be a little tough, or am I just slacking off? Hey, with that many months before the next crossword tournament, I can afford to slack off plenty right now.
Updated:
Another fine Ink Well puzzle from Ben Tausig, this one called "Pitching Artists." DR DREIDEL "Hanukkah toy endorsed by a hip-hop producer?") is perfect. "Swiss and Dijon locale" is DELI, of course, "Mach 4 target" is BEARD, "Source of rocks?" is ICEMAKER, and "palindromic speed demon" is RACECAR. Clever, no?
Good LA Times puzzle from Tibor Derencsenyi today—coincidentally, it contains GABFESTS (see above).
Easy theme in Thomas Schier's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Set Sale."
NYS 5:51
Tausig 4:55
NYT 3:59
LAT 3:37
CS 3:18
Time out for an important cause
This Saturday, I won't be doing my usual crossword puzzles in the morning. Instead, I'll be participating in the Walk for the Whisper to raise money for ovarian cancer awareness and research.
This cause is a personal one for me, as my aunt has been fighting advanced ovarian cancer—and coping with the side effects of treatment—for over two years. Because there is no reliable way to detect ovarian cancer early (when it is more treatable), many cases have already reached an advanced stage before diagnosis. The Walk for the Whisper is raising money for the Illinois division of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, to fund research and promote awareness. So much research is still needed to find ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat ovarian cancer. For this particular type of cancer, raising awareness is as crucial as research funding—often the symptoms are vague and seem unrelated to the reproductive system.
If even a fraction of Crossword Fiend readers choose to make a small donation to sponsor me (at the linked page, fill in a donation amount and click "continue") in the Walk for the Whisper, I'll be well on my way to meeting my goal of raising $250 this week. I thank you, and the ovarian cancer community thanks you.
May 01, 2006
Tuesday
Ah, you know what? I waited too long to start writing a post tonight, and now I'm sleepy, so I'll make this quick. Is this an NYT debut for Peter A. Collins? I liked the embedded state names (like RAD[IOWA]VES), and the longer fill, such as MAKE A WISH and MARADONA.
The Sun puzzle by Joel Calahan (another debut?), "Creative Drive," features a tight theme, and seemed easier than most Tuesday Suns.
Updated:
Did I go temporarily dim, or is Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy puzzle actually much more challenging than the typical Tuesday puzzle?
CS 5:47
NYS 3:39
NYT 3:18
Newsday 2:48
LAT 2:42
Tausig tba
