Jonesin' 4:05
NYS 3:54
CS 3:04
NYT 2:34
LAT 2:32
Last updated at 1:20 p.m. Monday
It felt like I was moving easily through Ed Early's New York Times crossword, and yet I found myself mired in the theme. Mired! Yes, I am easily amused. If you lop off the ends of the four theme entries, you're left with assorted words meaning "morass." The two Across theme entries are Bostonian—FENWAY PARK, the [Red Sox stadium], and SWAMPSCOTT, a [Seaside community NE of Boston] that would have been woefully obscure to me if I hadn't become friends with someone who lives there. Did SWAMPSCOTT give anyone fits? In the fill, there's also the [Massachusetts vacation spot, with "the"], CAPE. The Down theme entries are from '70s Hollywood—MARSHA MASON, the ["Goodbye Girl" actress], and BOGDANOVICH, [Peter who directed "The Last Picture Show"]. Actress GENA Rowlands is in the fill—and she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in the '70s. Not long ago, the word carillon was in another crossword, and I recall that a number of solvers weren't familiar with the word. Now it's in the clue [Carillon site], leading to BELL TOWER. I do like it when two puzzles in close proximity include the same word when it's a little troublesome the first time—it's good not to have a chance to forget the new word before you need to retrieve it.
The New York Sun puzzle by Mark Feldman is plus-sized—a 15x16 grid. The "Anatomy of Poker" theme isn't up my alley because the vocabulary of poker isn't something that's second nature to me. The theme entries end with poker terms and begin with body parts, but the complete phrases have non-poker meanings. A [Basketball no-no] is HAND-CHECK, and apparently my knowledge of basketball's lingo is as thorough as my poker ken, because I needed all the crossings for this one. [Keep one's ___ (be on the alert)] clues EYES OPEN, and I believe this one counts as an 8-letter partial phrase. A LEG RAISE is a [Yoga exercise], a SKIN FOLD might be a [Cosmetic surgery target, often] (ick), and that [1997 Jamie Foxx film], BOOTY CALL, predates his Oscar by several years. I'm reading a book about the origins of New Orleans, so CASTILE, the [Kingdom that comprised most of Spain], was fresh in my mind. ADOBOS, the [Marinated Philippine dishes], are flavored with garlic and vinegar. In a crossword, BAR NONE looks just like BARN ONE—what would that be? The president's barn? A rural credit card issuer? CHICKEN gets a lively clue—[Game for daredevils]. So does TUBE TOP—[Sleeveless garment]. You know, the tube top is back in style these days, and I don't understand it. We did that in 1982. We're done now.
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Derek Bowman's LA Times crossword has a vowel progression theme, and I correctly pegged it as such when I filled in BOLL WEEVIL, the [Cotton field pest] and checked the clue for the theme entry above it—BILL CLINTON, the [Sax-playing president]. The theme rounds out with a BALL BEARING ([Rolling anti-friction machine part]), BELL PEPPER ([Veggie that's commonly red, yellow or green], and BULL SESSION ([Informal discussion]). Overall, the fill and clues are quite easy, but there are a few things I've learned from doing umpty-thousand crosswords over the years that beginners might not know. For example, a [Spartan serf] is HELOT, [Einstein's birthplace] is ULM, and [Flying African threat] is TSETSE (it breeds most efficiently in the bottom row of crosswords). Favorite clue: [Words with a nice ring?] for a marriage PROPOSAL.
The theme in Randolph Ross's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Easy as ABC," is phrases that contain a hidden ABC. [Topless Swedish import] sounds racy, but it's a SAAB CONVERTIBLE. CAB CALLOWAY was a [Cotton Club headliner]. [Maryland seafood specialty] is CRAB CAKE. [Cover-ups for chemists] are LAB COATS. And [Many an oil exporter] is an ARAB COUNTRY—I checked, and about half of OPEC's members are also part of the Arab League, though most Arab countries aren't in OPEC. In the fill, PIA MATER, or [Brain membrane], seemed a little tough for a Monday.
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The theme in this week's Jonesin' crossword by Matt Jones is "Bye, George: items from the late George Carlin's 'Things to Watch Out For.'" I'm not at all familiar with the routine from which these items are drawn—here's a written list. The theme entries culled from that list are BROKEN GLASS, AIRLINE FOOD, CATTLE STAMPEDES, ACID RAIN, ENTROPY, LOCUSTS, and GRIDLOCK. So, 67 theme squares is quite a lot, but it's not so impressive when the list of candidates has about 130 items and when the comedy bit doesn't happen to resonate at all with the solver. Me, I preferred last week's themeless Jonesin'.
July 13, 2008
Monday, 7/14
January 04, 2008
Saturday, 1/5
NYT 5:45
Newsday 5:28
LAT 5:03
CS 3:20
Paula Gamache rocks, and so do 70-word themeless crosswords. The Saturday New York Times puzzle doesn't bedazzle anyone because the grid was fearsomely difficult to fill—it bedazzles because it introduces a best-selling book about the vegan diet, SKINNY BITCH, to crosswordland. (It's a [Saucily titled best-selling diet book].) I didn't know about the book until this week's NYT article about the follow-up book. That entry is stacked atop IL TROVATORE and TEACHER'S PET, which I'd like to think is not so often the [Target of a school bully]. Moving clockwise around the grid, other highlights include CREWCUTS (great clue: [Private dos?]); HETEROS ([They're straight]); EL CAPITAN ([Yosemite Valley peak]; FLUORIDE ([Enamel strengthener]); [John of Lancaster] for LOO; NASTY HABITS (great clue: [They really ought to be kicked]); ACUTE ACCENT (great clue: [Sign of stress?]); SAVES THE DAY; Lake TITICACA of Trivial Pursuit fame ([Body found high in the Andes]—and not a cousin of Ötzi, found frozen in the Alps); [Like 1, but not I] for ARABIC (and also in the number family, [It's next to nothing?] for ONE); [No Yankee fan] for REB, going Civil War rather than Major League; another body of water, LAKE TAHOE, [Where Fredo Corleone gets shot]; OXYMORONS ([Passive-aggressive and the like]); and SILICA GEL (the [Common desiccant] found in those little packets in shoeboxes).
Things that gave me pause: [Peggy of "The Dukes of Hazzard"] is Peggy REA, who played "man-chasing Lulu Hogg." Who? What? The lesser Rea of acting, I shall call her. There's a [Ben Jonson poem] called TO CELIA. I don't recognize the title (me! an English major!), but the first line's familiar: "Drink to me only with thine eyes." There is ITALO disco European dance music? All righty. And YVETTE is a [1884 short story by Guy de Maupassant]? I'll take your word for it. The [N.F.L. salary limit] is called a HARD CAP? Okay. And the [___-de-four (hemisphere-shaped vault]) is CUL-de-four; I guessed COL at first. Now, when I say these gave me pause, I really mean they made me pause in solving because I didn't know them and needed the crossings. This pause is not a pause of doubt or distaste. This crossword was a lot of fun, and eminently fair.
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The Newsday Saturday Stumper by Stanley Newman (a.k.a. "Anna Stiga") is also a 70-worder, this one featuring eight 9s as the longest answers. Best fill: USE-BY DATE, ON HOLIDAY, DIATRIBE, "YES, INDEED" ([Amen alternative]), "NICE DOG," and BOLO TIE. Favorite clues: [Tiger Woods PGA Tour participant] for GAMER (it's a video game!); [Hole-in-the-wall fixture] for ATM; [Inexperienced one] for COLT (I move that Will Shortz rename the ACPT Rookie category the Colt division); [Bugs] for GERMS; [Watering holes] for LOUNGES; [Opposite of "free"] for ENSLAVE; [Get on] for both RIDE and ENTRAIN; [Sort of stole] for BOA; and [Fair pair] for a pair of TENS in poker.
Ed Early's LA Times puzzle has three triple-stacks of 15-letter entries, many not so difficult to tease out. The tastiest: CHOCOLATE-COATED, of course. Favorite clues: [Future event that sounds as if it already happened] for PRIOR ENGAGEMENT; [Political party term signifying diversity] for BIG TENT; and the super-cheesy "Make IT SO" Star Trek: The Next Generation reference.
Nancy Salomon's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Jaws 3," features two phrases that include the name of a large reptile (ALLIGATOR PEARS, CROCODILE TEARS) and one phrase that is the name of a large reptile (CAIMAN LIZARDS. [Fit to serve] clues ONE-A, and Douglas Bass recently shared with me his disgruntlement about ONE-A and other draft classification references in crosswords, pointing out that the draft ended 35 years ago. The majority of ONEA clues in the Cruciverb database refer to the draft classification, but the answer's also been clued as [___-Day Vitamins], which probably resonates better for those solvers under the age of 45.
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.
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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.
July 24, 2007
Wednesday, 7/25
NYS 6:18
NYT 3:46
LAT 3:39
CS 3:35
(updated at 9 a.m. Wednesday)
Another cursed typo in the NYT applet! I would've been right up there with Howard B, but for an errant letter.
The New York Sun puzzle by Pete Mitchell, "Nonconformity," has a little kick to it. That kick comes in the form of an outside-the-grid twist: The only theme answer inside the grid, color OUTSIDE THE LINES, hints at the gimmick. In each corner section, the entries extend outside the grid in one direction, and the letters that don't fit inside the grid spell colors. Thus, above 1-Across, LOVEY Howell, you need your BROWN crayon to complete the Down answers of [B]LOC, [R]ONA, [O]VERSKIRT (a [Woman's accessory] that is, I believe, passé by centuries), [W]EAVE, and [N].Y. MET. In the northeast corner of the puzzle, the outer color is to the right and spells ORANGE; continuing clockwise, GREEN's under the southeast corner and PURPLE abuts the southwest. Cool trick, eh? The constructor knows how to color inside the lines, too, as AQUA fits into 6-Across normally. Favorite clues: [Sauce whose name is Italian for "pounded"] for PEST[O] (related to "piston," apparently—though pestle derives from Latin pistillum, meaning what? Anyone up on their Latin?); [Niminy-piminy person] for [P]RISS; [Nice thing?] for OBJET; [Park and bowl?] for STADIA; [Guinness Book cofounder McWhirter] for ROSS (raise your hand if you know his brother's name, too); and [Typical S.E. Hinton character] for TEE[N] (Ponyboy and Sodapop!). Wondering what zarzuelas are? That link explains the opera-ish form.
Ed Early's New York Times crossword is a quote puzzle. "A dreaded quote puzzle!" you exclaim. (Or else you're saying, "Ooh, I enjoy quote puzzles." Pfft.) This example was more like a standard crossword theme than most—instead of offering you a single "aha" moment when you eventually fill in the last line, it adds a few smaller "ahas" along the way. It's fairly standard to add a [Speaker of the quote] entry, and here it's CHICO. He's balanced across the grid by [Sibling of 54-Across], his brother HARPO. Then there's an extra symmetrical pair of entries, MARX and BROS., not explicitly tied to the quote theme by the clues but aptly describing CHICO and HARPO, et al. The puzzle is further enhanced by including 15 7- to 8-letter fill entries, with John MCENROE beside OEDIPUS, HOUDINI by ARMENIA, and a TRIVIAL/COHABIT corner. My typo was in another 7, where NET COST turned into NET COSE.
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Annemarie Brethauer's LA Times crossword gets down in the dumps. It's really the pits. Why? Because the theme entries all end with things that are dug out, like pits. And in each case, the word's used in a sense other than that of a hole in the ground. There's NE'ER-DO-WELL, LAST DITCH, the GREAT DEPRESSION, the movie ENEMY MINE, and PIGEONHOLE. Extra bonus points for putting STARSHIP in the grid but not mentioning the World's Most Terrible Song, "We Built This City." I just Googled the song title and one of the first hits was this USA Today article agreeing with my assessment that this song (video here) is the absolute worst ever. Number 3 is Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (video here), but a few months ago I heard their "Dance Hall Days" on the radio, and it was painfully, gratingly awful. I think "Dance Hall Days" (video here) is every bit as abysmal as those other songs—maybe even worse.
March 20, 2007
Wednesday, 3/21
CS 4:25
NYS 4:04
NYT 3:33
LAT 2:49
(updated 9 a.m. Wed.)
NY Sun warning: The file I and others downloaded has the answers filled in already. Blur your vision until you've managed to have Across Lite erase the answers. Also, this puzzle has one of those super-long clues that are hard to read in Across Lite. 41-Across reads, "I want you to think of one of your parents...Concentrate now...Create an image in your head...The parent you are thinking of is ___." I know it's a little spoilery to include that up here, but without that clue, it's a different puzzle, and I wish I'd read it before I finished the puzzle. Don't click the link to read more if you don't want the Sun puzzle further spoiled.
So, Jesse Goldberg's Sun creation is called, "A Parent Time," and the twist is that the puzzle will read your mind (as suggested by the quartet of theme answers like TELEPATHY)—for 41-Across, did you think of MOM or DAD? Whichever one you picked, the Down entries that cross it will work, CLINTON/BOBDOLE style. [Glide over a surface] can be either SKIM or SKID, [Trample] is STOMP or STAMP, and [Companion] is MATE or DATE. (Of course, the gimmick doesn't work at all if you chose MUM or POP or PAW.) Smaller highlights are TOYS R US crossing SMUSH, and the [2004 Fox makeover reality show], THE SWAN. Good entry, but terrible show. I daresay it presented a far more harmful view of women than Baywatch ever did. Glad the show isn't on its fourth season by now.
2006 brought us Ethan Friedman's BLACK/WHITE puzzle in the NYT and Patrick Berry's pick-a-grade report card in the Chronicle of Higher Education (it was his, wasn't it?), and now Goldberg's Sun puzzle is the third to use the same gimmick Jeremiah Farrell used in his 1996 NYT. I wonder how many more constructors will find clever ways to apply that trick?
The Wednesday NYT offering is a quote puzzle by Ed Early, with a line by OSCAR / WILDE. I wasn't sure if one of the fill entries, BAD MEN, was truly "in the language," so I Googled "bad men" and got 768,000 hits, including a number of movies, books, and articles that include the phrase in their titles, so I conclude it's fine, if less instantly understood than "bad guys." I'd never heard of the old actor Andy DEVINE, but was intrigued to read that (a) he had a raspy voice and (b) it resulted from a childhood accident with a curtain rod.
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Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Fold 'Em," may have an unexciting theme (the words at the end of each theme entry form compound words if FOLD is added to them), but the cluing, fill, and construction are first-class. The central theme entry hooks up with the top and bottom ones via eight longish vertical entries. Those verticals include POOH CORNER, MINIVANS, and POCAHONTAS. Favorite clues: [Hole-in-the-wall gang?] for MICE, [What "will be" will be] for ARE, [Spring summer, initially] for CPA, [Boom or box] for SPAR, [Green stuff] for MOOLA, [Beach type] for NUDE, and [Who's there, in a bit] for FIRST (as in "Who's on first"). Bonus points for citing the Johnny Depp/Martin Landau movie, ED WOOD. I know the MG, but didn't know there was an MGB model of the sportscar. And darn it, that was 1-Across! Got off to a slow start on this one.
Jack McInturff's LA Times crossword has four 15-letter theme entries, plus a 3-letter word that ties them together. Not crazy about the fill (OON, ALTE, both I'M SO and IF SO), but don't mind seeing my name in the grid.
