LAT 10:05
PI 9:19
BG 7:57
NYT 7:20
CS 4:29
The New York Times crossword by Cathy Millhauser, "How Insulting!", was fairly easy as Sunday NYT puzzles go. She adds a DIS (slangy shortening of "disrespect") to the original phrase in each theme entry, creating a new phrase with a DIS-prefixed word. "Go figure" becomes an exhortation to (ick) Jack the Ripper, GO DISFIGURE. [Some moralizing about getting off a balance beam?] is SERMON ON THE DISMOUNT. "Counterculture" goes down-market as DISCOUNTER CULTURE. Favorite non-thematic fill and clues: [Crosses the international dateline from east to west] for LOSES A DAY; [9 to 5, e.g.] for ODDS; IGGY Pop beside COLA clued as [Popular pop]; [Seals are part of it] for U.S. NAVY; and [Declines] for SAYS NO. I had SOLVED for [Puzzled (out)] for a while, but it turned out to be SUSSED. I think that suss is sorely underutilized, but have yet to find an explanation for the Dire Straits lyrics (in "Romeo and Juliet") of "sings a street-suss serenade." What does that mean?
Poor Henry Hook. He lives to irk (see his posts at the NYT "Today's Puzzle" forum for verification). He hopes that his crosswords will succeed in irking. But the worst he can do is occasionally include a word that seems iffy but isn't—e.g., RAYLESS, clued as [Lacking light] in his Across Lite Boston Globe crossword, "End With a Preposition," looks like a roll-your-own word, but in fact is defined two ways in a mainstream dictionary: lacking light, or lacking rays (as in a kind of flower petal). MOBBISH ([Disorderly]) looked clunky too, but isn't (unless you take issue with dictionaries' inclusion of words that have become part of the language). Now, Mr. Hook could craft another super-tough crossword (like that '80s one I had a chance to do a couple years ago), but that wouldn't irk me—I would relish it. Ooh! I know how he could irk me with his puzzles. He could create hackneyed themes with boring fill and airless clues, but I suspect it would irk him too much to lower his standards. Anyway...the theme here is names and phrases that end with prepositions that are embedded within. I think there are eight theme entries: BORIS KARLOFF, CENTS-OFF COUPON, OLGA KORBUT (but is not just a conjunction)), BROWN DERBY, FOUR-LEAF CLOVER, GREAT PYRAMID, GREG KINNEAR, and BLUE THUNDER. Nice assortment of theme entries—people, a movie, places, and things. Favorite clues: [Company man] for SONDHEIM; [Tristan's love] for ISEULT (the spelling variation not seen so often); ["Eat It" singer] for YANKOVIC; [Sailor's inspiration?] for SEA AIR; [Actor Postlethwaite] for PETE; [I will follow these] for FGH; and [Stench] for FUNK (imagine if "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk" were about flatulence). I didn't know the [Ferd'nand cartoonist] MIK; here's some info.
Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer puzzle (why do I always type "Philadlephia"?) breaks some new Sunday-morning breakfast test ground. The seven "Rewriting History" theme entries (spread out over nine word spaces) take a phrase from American history and change a single letter. For example, "Remember the Maine" turns into REMEMBER THE MAIZE. Where the breakfast test comes in is 99- and 111-Across, [Historic home remedies?]: THE THIRTEEN / ORIGINAL COLONICS. That reminds me of a story. (Wait! Don't run away! It's safe for the breakfast table!) Last time I was at the hair salon, a truck with a tank and large hoses parked across the street. One guy asked what that truck was for, so I said it was a portable colonic cleansing-mobile. The colorist played along with me, and the guy totally bought it. He was horrified. (It was probably a sewer truck of some sort.) Favorite other theme entry: ELVIS ISLAND. Our vocabulary word for today is ALEATORY, meaning [Involving luck]. Did you find this puzzle to be markedly tougher than Hook's and Millhauser's? I think I may have been having a sleepy moment while solving, but maybe it was really the puzzle.
Updated:
All righty, where is the CrosSynergy "Sunday Challenge"? I get a "file not found" error message, and it's one of the six themeless puzzles I look forward to doing each week. Perhaps it will show up later today. Newsflash: Here is a link for downloading the puzzle in Across Lite: CrosSynergy crossword.
The syndicated LA Times crossword by "Nora Pearlstone" (Rich Norris) has a timely tax theme—"Tax Audit: The Musical" uses song titles to advance the storyline, with the titles serving as lines of dialogue in an auditor/taxpayer conversation. There were plenty of clues and answers that were just as vexing as figuring out Schedule D. What are the trouble spots that I think will tax many solvers? Well, there's [N.Y.-based teachers gp.], UFT. [1664 John Evelyn forestry text], SYLVA, beside [Daughter of Loki], HEL. [Noted Beethoven interpreter], ARRAU, crossing Latin [Forum stars?], ASTRA. [Brief guesses?] are ETAS; nothing in the clue hints at an airline connection. Similarly, [WWI innovation] is a TRIPLANE, again with no nudge towards aviation. [Hood with a piece] is a GUNSEL, a slang term for hoodlum I don't think I've seen before. There's [Operetta composer Franz von ___], SUPPE; who? (He crosses TRIPLANE, too.) [Venezia casino winner] is SETTE, Italian for "seven." That brings us to the lower right corner, with several more knotty spots. [Like Gershwin's piano concerto] clues IN F. The F is the beginning of FETCH, clued as [Wait on, in a way]. That C begins CCU, [EKG site], supplanting the more common ICU. Beside that is HEP, or [Cool], and they both cross [Tie, in a way], or LACE. That L lives in [Every bit of it], THE LOT. TAKE DOWN ([Remove from a bulletin board]) was easier, and reaches down into the corner section, where [Two-outs-in-a-single-AB stats] crosses ["___ d'Ane": "Donkey Skin" (1970 film)]. Yow! DPS must be double plays, though my eyes tend to glaze over at baseball stat clues, and French for "skin" is PEAU. PEAU's crossings also cross OTTO IV, [Roman emperor, 1209-15]. Favorite clues: [TiVo, e.g.] for RECORD (this is TiVo used as a verb); [Part of a focus group?] for LENS; and [Canines often metaphorically sacrificed] for EYETEETH.
Updated again:
Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy crossword is easier than I was expecting. Seemed about as hard as the typical themeless CrosSynergy, rather than positively Klahnian. Mind you, there are still plenty of Klahnian touches in the clues. For example, I was fond of these ones:
April 12, 2008
Sunday, 4/13
August 11, 2007
Sunday, 8/12
LAT 9:21
PI 8:39
NYT 8:33
WaPo 8:28
BG 7:31
CS 3:13
(updated at 10:50 a.m. Sunday)
You know, after I reviewed the galleys of How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle last spring, I figured the publisher would add the table of contents in the next stage. They didn't. I typed one up for myself today—will have to figure out if there's a way to upload a printable version here. In the meantime, if you'd like it in MS Word, feel free to e-mail me (orangexw is my gmail address).
The Sunday New York Times crossword this weekend is by Cathy Millhauser. The "Lightheaded" theme is signaled by TO THE MOON at 52-Down. The other theme entries all begin with words that can fill in the blank in "___ MOON": NEW AGE MOVEMENTS, HARVEST HOME, QUARTERSTAFF, BLUE LAGOON, PAPER TIGER, CRESCENT ROLL, WAXING SALON, FULL METAL JACKET, and (at 38-Down) HALF A LOAF. Hey, look who's down there in the right corner of the grid—EMILE, the ["South Pacific" role] played by Ezio Pinza. (Do remember these names, because you'll be seeing them again if you continue doing crosswords.)
There were a smattering of obscure words lurking in this puzzle (not counting words like ARIL and OONA that are familiar to longtime solvers). The ROWEL, a [Wheel on a spur], and the weapon, the QUARTERSTAFF, both date back to medieval England. Also in England, we have ENFIELD, the [Northernmost borough of London], where the Piccadilly Underground line terminates at Cockfosters and yes, I giggled when the train announcer said the train was going there. I didn't recognize the [Elongated marine fish] known as an EELPOUT—"Oh, don't pout, sweetie. You're not really an eel." The [Capital of France's Aube Department], TROYES, is where Louis the Stammerer received the imperial crown in the year 878. Crossing the Spanish border, there's also LEON, a [Province NW of Madrid].
There's plenty of skiing going on in this puzzle's moonlight: While living on MST (Mountain Standard Time), you and your SKIS might take the ROPE TOW to the top and SLALOM your way down. There's a double hit of Latin, with LATIN clued as [Exempli gratia, e.g.], and the Latin NOMEN ("name") clued as [The "Claudius" in Tiberius Claudius Nero]. Clues I liked: [Break-even enterprise] for WASH; [Root canal, in dentist-speak] for ENDO (always like it when dental and medical terminology pop up here); ["Ta-ta"] for TOODLE-OO; [Attorney William after whom a stadium is named] for SHEA (did not know that!); the groan-inducing [Burn at the end?] for CREMATE; and [Centaur's head?] for SOFT C.
Patrick Blindauer's Washington Post puzzle, "Patron Saints," pretends that various words and phrases that start with ST are saints. So the [Patron of drinking buds] is ST ALE MATE, and [Patron of young rhymers] is ST RAPPING LAD. The unwashed get ST ICKY FINGERS, and the conger catchers turn to ST EEL TRAP. Each theme entry is fun to figure out, and Patrick B2 has also wedged plenty of lively fill into his grid. There's a BIG MAC, some ROTH IRAS, KITSCHY, sweet RIESLING, ALRIGHT, PRIE-DIEU, SUSIE Q and the X-MEN, and a few other words containing a Q, Z, or X. Favorite clues: the great [Toonsmith?] for ANIMATOR; [Column part] for VERTEBRA; [Turkey toucher] for IRAQ; [Mandy's "Princess Bride" role] for INIGO (here's a video clip of Mr. Patinkin as Inigo Montoya, saying his famous line); [Don't sit] for ACT with [Stand] for GET UP; and [A concha tops it] for APSE (the concha is the half-dome seen here). Thanks for an entertaining crossword, Patrick (and editor Fred Piscop)!
Henry Hook's online Boston Globe crossword, "Take the Train," adds EL to certain phrases to generate the theme entries. Vows of silence become [One I and two Es?], or VOWELS OF SILENCE. Woman's Day magazine yields WOMAN'S DELAY, [Result of long restroom lines, traditionally?]. And the [Wearer of half an eagle?] is a SEMICOLONEL. Favorite clues: [My brothel's keeper?] for MADAM; the never-saw-it-before word [Famulus] for SECRETARY; [Pre-Copernican center] for EARTH; [Spot check?] for LEASH; [Cambrian] for WELSH; and [1955 newsmaking passenger] for Rosa PARKS.
Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer crossword is called "Baseballese." You know what? I've learned plenty of baseball from crosswords over the years, but most of what I've learned are shorter words. Merl's got 11 baseball terms, 10 to 15 letters apiece, and I've only heard of two of them. SHAKES OFF A SIGN is one I picked up from Bull Durham, and SUICIDE SQUEEZE, well, maybe I read that in crossword clues, or maybe I actually gleaned some actual baseball knowledge somewhere. The other nine phrases are a mystery to me. Well, baseball junkies are sure to love this puzzle.
Updated:
Today's Universal puzzle by Ed Early is called "A Question of Love." Reader Kristi tipped me off to it—the theme entries read MY HEART IS YOURS, I'M CRAZY ABOUT YOU, WILL YOU MARRY ME, and SAY YES. Anyone know the story behind this proposal?
Robert Wolfe's syndicated LA Times crossword, "Doubles Match," is tougher than the day's other Sunday-sized puzzles because the eight theme entries have no apparent link when you study their clues, and having eight short answers clued [Word with 15-Down] or [Word with 23-Across], say, doesn't give away any other hints. Eventually, with the help of a zillion crossing answers, the theme emerges: phrases that follow the "___ AND ___" model, teamed with a short word that can go with both halves. Thus, 92-Down, BALL, is paired with 23-Across, HARD AND FAST (hardball, fastball). The other combos are FIRE AND RAIN with STORM; WATCH AND WAIT with LIST; BED AND BOARD with ROOM; NIGHT AND DAY with LIGHT; LAW AND ORDER with BOOK (book order? order book?); WAR AND PEACE with TIME; and BLACK AND BLUE with BIRD. I don't get a couple of the "doubles matches," but I like the intricacy of the theme. Eight longish theme entries linked to eight shorter theme entries, all obeying traditional symmetry rules, surrounded by fill that doesn't feel particularly forced. Favorite clues and entries, in no particular order: [HI his] for ALOHAS; the racehorse BARBARO; [King's realm] for CNN, home of Larry King's show, and [King of the stage] for LEAR; BAWDIER and HEINIE; [Season opener?] for PRE; and the inclusion of the [Goat god] PAN and those [Part-goat creatures], SATYRS, in the same corner.
Thomas Schier's themeless CrosSynergy crossword played like a Wednesday puzzle only without a theme—that is to say, pretty easy. One solitary Scrabbly letter, an X, amid fairly ordinary words. (Play this little game: Look for forms of REASSESS in the bottom row or rightmost column of crosswords. You won't see the word often in other parts of the grid, but all those Ss come in handy for the endings of the crossing words. Here, it's at the far right, but I know I've seen it parked in the bottom of plenty of other grids.) Playful clues: [Holdup man?] for ATLAS and [Curly poker?] for MOE of the Three Stooges.
May 05, 2007
Sunday, 5/6
Clinton 11:35
NYT 11:20
LAT 8:38
WaPo 8:15
BG 7:58
CS 3:38
(updated at 8:25 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday)
First things first: Those two completely-out-of-left-field, that-can't-be-right answers in Charles Deber's Sunday NYT crossword, "Making Amends"—yes, there is an ELITCH Gardens amusement park in Denver, and yes, the [French Bluebeard] was named Henri LANDRU. (Bluebeard sounds like a charming pirate name, but no.) Yay. Serial killers get their due now! Looking forward to seeing GACY and DAHMER in the grid next month.
Those two entries were utterly unfamiliar to me, as I suspect they are to those of you aren't from Colorado and aren't true-crime buffs. Putting aside that pair of answers, I admired the theme, in which each phrase gets an A tacked onto one word to drastically change the meaning. The result is great entries like CHECKERED PASTA and BOTTOMLESS PITA, plus six others. A RIVERA RUNS THROUGH IT would be more fun if Geraldo were, say, crashing through a wall rather than rehearsing his show. I don't know that I'd trust MENSA-WEAR DEPARTMENTS to have chic styles. Trouble spots for me included [Iowa and Missouri] for SIOUANS; the [Eponymous physicist] crossing the ["Drink to me only with thine eyes" poet], and guessing BOYLE for the first (wasn't he a chemist?) instead of JOULE kept JONSON from emerging, which further impeded 69-Down's O RARE; I guessed PUSSERS for [Mugs] at the bottom instead of KISSERS, which got in the way of Heyerdahl's RAI and [Aaron Burr's birthplace], NEWARK. Up at 18-Across is FAN WAVE, and I swear I have never seen these things waggling in car windows, much less heard that they're called "fan waves." Y'all go ahead and cite your favorite parts of this puzzle—I've gotta run now.
Updated:
Via the Times' crossword service comes a bonus celebrity puzzle (available here, but I don't know if you have to be a subscriber to access it): Cathy Millhauser constructed the "Twistin' the Oldies" puzzle and former President Bill Clinton wrote the clues. Will Shortz's note above the puzzle warns that the clues are a little more playful than those in standard crosswords—in my favorite cryptic-inflected examples, [It's just short of a clue] is the clue for ACLU, and [Running shoes almost for the birds?] clues AVIA. VEL could be clued as an abbreviation for "velocity," but isn't it more fun to go with [How Kissinger would say he feels?]? The theme was a little tough for me because a few of the song titles were just outside my ken, making the plays on those titles more elusive. The fast-and-loose clues also take a little longer to suss out just because they're not what I'm accustomed to.
I don't recall seeing a themed puzzle by young Will Nediger before, but here he is with "Floating Capitals" in the Washington Post. A world capital is lurking within each of the seven theme entries (Hooray! Geography theme! Hmm? Yes, I suppose I am a bit of a nerd, Why do you ask?), straddling two words. My favorite is THE TEFLON DON holding LONDON. Will peppers the grid with some Scrabbly fill, such as SPHINX, Derek JACOBI, and the RIOT SQUAD. Good puzzle!
Sunday-morning update:
Martin Ashwood-Smith's themeless CrosSynergy puzzle was among the easier ones I've seen. I liked that BRIDESMAID crossed MADE ALTERATIONS, because I'll be a bridesmaid at a wedding at Peckforton Castle next weekend, and those dress alterations weren't cheap. In the crossword, plenty of lively and interesting fill, but with easy clues.
Speaking of England, Byron Walden ranked his favorite newspapers for British cryptics, so I'll be checking out the Times of London and maybe the Independent and Guardian. Am looking forward to struggling mightily—hard cryptics with British rules and references, without ready access to Google? Ouch.
Henry Hook's "Get on Board" crossword for the Boston Globe uses MONOPOLY TOKENs as clues for the theme entries. I don't remember there being a battleship—is that one new since the 1970s? Absolute favorite clue: [They're in the mail] for KNIGHTS.
I also liked Rich Norris's syndicated LA Times puzzle (credited to Nora Pearlstone, an anagram of "not a real person"), "Our Puzzle." The theme entries include an extra WE, changing the meaning of the base phrase. My favorites were LOWEST IN THOUGHT and SWEET IN ONE'S WAYS, but they all worked.
Okay! I'm done with blogging for two weeks! I hope going cold turkey doesn't give me the cruciverbal DTs. Enjoy the middle of May, everyone! And enjoy the esteemed guest bloggers' fresh perspectives, too.
