Newsday 6:28
NYT 5:54
LAT 5:12
CS 3:24
Yay! Patrick Berry's New York Times puzzle has a shout-out to one of the most illustrious graduates of my alma mater, Carleton College—the mellifluously named Thorstein VEBLEN, the [Economist who wrote "The Theory of the Leisure Class"]. This crossword has a fairly low word count (64 answers) and hence not much in the way of Scrabbly fill. But still, there are plenty of words and phrases that don't get much action in crosswords. The DOLLAR TREE chain of dollar stores, for example. And PARTY FOUL, which is a [Gaffe at a social gathering, in modern lingo]—lingo so modern, it had not yet penetrated my ken! That one did not HIT HOME ([Seemed particularly relevant]) for me, but my son is an ONLY CHILD (like Eloise). We've got two Latin plurals here, MINUTIAE ([Details]) and ENCOMIA ([Laudations])—both words I like. I also like GENTEEL ([Refined]).
Favorite clues: [Small suit] for SPEEDO (here's a water polo Speedo suit with a "vibrant fun print"); ["The Outsiders" author] for HINTON (I read and loved all four of her '60s-'70s youth novels); [Result of a day at the beach?] for a PEEL of sunburned skin; ["Infidel" author Ayaan Hirsi ___] ALI (her book is a feminist critique of Islam); [Linguist Okrand who created the Klingon language] for MARC (my, that's an oddball Trekkie way to clue that name!); [It's "heavier freight for the shipper than it is for the consignee": Augustus Thomas] for HATRED; [Poem whose first, third, and seventh lines are identical] for RONDELET or roundelay; [It's cleared for a debriefing] for THROAT; [Pan American Games participant] for AMATEUR (I rather thought it'd be something like CHILEAN); [Typically green tube] for GARDEN HOSE; [Often-unanswered missive] for FAN LETTER; [Tough's partner] for MOLL (usually a Saturday clue's "partner" means a word that appears in tandem, not an actual human partner); and [Country of two million surrounded by a single other country] for LESOTHO, which is embedded within South Africa.
Updated:
I liked the showbiz trivia in Doug Peterson's Newsday Saturday Stumper. What is the [Film role portrayed by Skippy]? Why, it's our favorite crosswordese cinematic pooch, ASTA! I thought [Premiere of 1989] was going to be a contemporary opera or something, but no: SEINFELD! Mickey ROONEY apparently has been a [Film actor in nine decades]. Favorite clues/answers: [They're in some jams] for CURRANTS; the verb [Shells] for SHOOTS AT; [Tiger's turf] for ASIA (tigers being native to Asia); [Scotch water] for a LOCH; DOMINEER coming right before Simon LEGREE; [Spode or Wedgwood] for JOSIAH (not FINE CHINA); [Plugging away] for HARD AT IT; and [One without a handicap] for SCRATCH GOLFER.
Joy Andrews' themeless LA Times offering includes a minitheme: a political OCTOBER SURPRISE that occurs AT THE LAST MINUTE. It's been a while since I've seen a minitheme, and it's always a welcome addition. Favorite fill: PETER BOYLE and PERRY MASON, the latter clued as [Street boss] because Della Street worked for him. Favorite clue: [Shaded area?] for EYELID. Most obscure: It's a tie between SEME, [Sown, on the Seine], and COYPU, [Rodent yielding the fur nutria].
Thomas Schier's CrosSynergy theme is puns using the names of classical goddesses. Why the title is "God Spell," I don't know—would be nice to have the title reflect the female power of those goddesses. [Grain goddess's fluctuations?] are OPS AND DOWNS, which doesn't quite parse—the plural ups is swapped for a singular name, and you wouldn't call fluctuations "Joseph and downs." [Adulation of the queen of gods?] is HERA WORSHIP—that works beautifully. [Goddess of parking, in Brooklyn?] is DEMETER-MAID, as the Brooklynites are supposed to pronounce the as de. [Athena's protectors?] are the PALLAS GUARD.
October 19, 2007
Saturday, 10/20
April 30, 2007
Tuesday, 5/1
Onion 4:58
Tausig 4:47
NYS 4:08
NYT 3:48
LAT 3:00
CS 2:41
first update: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday; secondL 8:25 p.m.)
Mayday! Mayday! The May 1 Times crossword is labeled as a Tuesday puzzle but feels more like a Wednesday. Co Crocker and Nancy Salomon have wrought a crossword that's all about BENDING THE RULES. Now, it follows the rules of size, word count, and grid symmetry, but the theme entries aren't clued. They appear in the circled squares and each one is a kind of rule that is bent in the grid, wherein it travels both across and down. We've got GROUND rules, HOME rule, the GOLDEN Rule, HOUSE rules, a GENERAL rule, and a quaint SLIDE rule. The best zone of the puzzle is where two rules take up parts of GROUCHO MARX, and the iffiest is GOLDFIELD. Sure, it's a completely valid word and gettable even if you haven't used the word, but it's dry and somehow evokes the name Gilbert Gottfried in my untidy brain. Favorite bits: [Like some relations] for SEXUAL; the [Order in the court], ALL RISE; GHOULISH; [What Alabama cheerleaders say to "gimme" four times] salvaging the entry, AN A; The GONG Show reference; WUSS clued with the gender-neutral (per the dictionary) [Milquetoast]; and BURB.
Joy Andrews' Sun puzzle, "Artoo," adds an -AR to the end of five lively phrases: DIET PILL, DR J, POP-TART, CAROL ALT, and RAG DOLL. My favorite parts of this puzzle: NO CONTEST; BEN GURION; CAJUN crossing JUNTA; and [They have shins on only one side] for DREIDELS. The very best entry in my book is ATALANTA, not because of the myth but because of the beloved feminist retelling from Free to Be...You and Me (link is to a YouTube clip of that). And yes, I own the DVD.
Updated:
Harvey Estes' CrosSynergy theme, "They Have Eyes But Do Not See," is fairly basic but feels fresh. Lots of longer fill entries, including the cat's NINE LIVES crossing PLAY MONEY and assorted phrasal verbs (DROPS IN ON, HAMMER AT, DOTE UPON, SPOKE FOR), enhance the solving experience. Plus, I'm always a sucker for a Love Boat clue.
I learned from Doug Peterson's LA Times puzzle that bees don't eat only nectar—they also eat POLLEN and feed it to baby bees. Do you know how nectar is converted into honey? That link says the worker bees hold nectar on their tongues until the water evaporates, leaving behind honey that they store in the hive. May I just say: Eww. The rhyming theme entries are accompanied by a fair number of those seldom-seen-outside-of-crosswords-or-specialized-discourse words, such as OTHO, ABLARE, LETT, and OMSK. They're offset by ZEPHYR, the mythical SIREN and AMAZON, and assorted Scrabbliness.
Second update:
Will be quick with these last two (honest!) because it's almost time for a new round of blogging.
I just did Ben Tausig's Ink Well/Chicago Reader puzzle, "Back Country," and have no idea what the theme is. Let's take a look: Ah, there they are. Backwards countries (which is not to say the societies are backwards) are embedded within five entries. RUN A RISK and HEAT LAMP hide Iran and Malta, Peru lurks amid PRESSURE POINT, and WAYBILLS and NINEBALL have Libya and Benin. Are there any others I missed? Yay, geography theme! I wish I'd figured it out while I was solving, but I kinda paid no mind to the puzzle's title.
Ah, Deb Amlen's Onion A.V. Club puzzle posits a familiarity with American Idol. Hey, I was glued to the screen for a couple seasons of it, and have halfway followed the current season. Fun theme! Technically, I think 3-Down should be I LIKE YOU, BUT.... Very much enjoyed this puzzle. Choice morsels: [It's a black thing] for ASSET opposite [It may be white] for NOISE; ["Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice ___ AGIN" (#1 hit of 1970)] for ELF; the so-Oniony ["___ man"] for AREA; [Book reviewer, briefly] for CPA; [Cornelius and Zira, e.g.] for APES; and [___ people] for POD.
