Grr, for two reasons. First, I was hoping for a super-tough Saturday NYT, rather than one that I could do a couple seconds faster than the Friday puzzle. Second, while Joe DiPietro's puzzle wasn't as hard as I'd hoped, I still found it hard enough that I was a couple minutes slower than the fastest solver, and I'd rather be off by :05 than 2:05. So anyway...I like to think of this as the BOB COSTAS/EGGBEATER puzzle, because those parallel entries are so great together. (I've had a special fondness for Bob ever since that "Saturday Night Live" skit where the TV newsroom folks overpronounced everything that was Spanish, like Neee-caragua and en-chee-lah-da, as well as the Greek-American name Bob Costas.) Another parallel pair, ACTS NAIVE with its four consecutive consonants and SEA OTTERS with three vowels in a row, is also nice. And then there are CORDIAL and STINGER (which should have been clued as a cocktail). But let me ask you this: Did you ever clap when doing "one potato, TWO POTATO..."?
Updated:
I liked Karen M. Tracey's LAT puzzle, which crossed two Scrabblicious 13-letter entries (JUXTAPOSITION and SIX OCLOCK NEWS) and interwove other goodies like WHIZBANG and GAZPACHO, COMANECI and US SENATE. Really the only thing I didn't like was the Moby Dick character PELEG, who must be obscure because I have forgotten him (Q.E.D.).
Stan Newman's Saturday Stumper was hard, but I threw away the Post-it with my solving time on it so I can't say how hard. The grid's got five meaty chunks to it, and the SW and NE corners connect to the rest of the puzzle through only a single entry. The uniformly tough clues should slow you down in every section.
NYT 7:39
Stumper ?:??
LAT 4:27
CS 3:19
WaPo 10:29
LA Weekly 7:26
October 28, 2005
October 27, 2005
And now, a Saturdayish Friday
A wicked themed puzzle from Patrick Berry in the Friday NYS put up a strong fight, particularly the SW corner. All that helped me through that section was figuring out what and where the rebus square would be (thanks for the meticulous symmetry and order, Patrick!). Despite the rebus taking this out of the knotty-themeless sweepstakes, this was still a challenging mofo of a crossword, packed with twisty but straight-up factual clues (only two question-mark clues in the bunch). Personally, I prefer more question marks and more playfulness, even in tough puzzles. But if I had to choose between a funny-but-easy puzzle and a hard-but-unfunny one, I'd have to go with the challenging one.
In the NYT, Elizabeth Gorski follows the same basic model as Patrick Berry: a hard puzzle with not much to laugh at, but much to admire. The clues were good and hard, weren't they? I found precious few gimmes. During the first pass, really only ATT, LUCIE, DRESSY (given away by a crossing S and ED), SRA, OTTO, and ELAPSE jumped out at me. Everything else was pieced together bit by bit. This is the second time I've come across I.M. Pei's first name (the implausible IEOH)—maybe I'll actually remember it the third time around.
Kudos to Patrick and Peter and to Elizabeth and Will for the rigorous challenges. It's looking like the Saturday NYT this week will be a killer, eh?
NYS 10:39
NYT 7:41
LAT 5:16
CS 3:23
WSJ 11:48 (Was this puzzle hard, or was I just sleepy?)
Reagle 6:56
October 26, 2005
A Fridayish Thursday
Bonnie Gentry is showing a deft touch with themes this week, in Tuesday's Sun and again in the Thursday NYT. The NYT theme rebus revealed itself quickly with the three spaces allotted to actor Burton (LEVAR) crossing the Red Cross city (GENEVA) in the NW corner. Getting the central theme entry, LITTLE EVA, then spurred me to look for more EVA rebuses rather than condensed random first names. Aside from the Thursday-style rebus, I thought the puzzle really had a Friday vibe to it, with things like DUANE EDDY and "where the shilling is money" for UGANDA. The slew of Friday-level solving times on the applet bear this out. Huzzah!
Ray Hamel's Themeless Thursday NYS features a lively little clue that could be the constructor's own, but it just seems to have that Peter Gordon vibe to it: "Lesbians are surrounded by this," for AEGEAN SEA. Elsewhere in the puzzle—with a dry, factual clue—we have ERLENMEYER FLASK, and oddly enough, I found that to be a great entry. The TAPIR always amuses me, ever since my husband and I saw one at the zoo with a rather alarming display of anatomy. (If you have ever seen what I saw, you know what I'm talking about.) And working in the SALT MINES, always a good phrase. (What exactly is so dreadful about working in the salt mines? Is it better or worse than coal or diamond mining? Where are these salt mines, anyway?) My least favorite part of this puzzle was AL HEDISON—who? IMDb tells us he switched to his middle name after his first few movies and has been credited as David Hedison since 1959. Feh.
Updated:
Randall Hartman (Am I the only one who doesn't really know the difference between Randolph Ross and Randall Hartman? Another Kahn/Klahn, Mel/Merl/Merle, Patricks-of-all-kinds thing.) tossed a LATER DUDE into the fill of his CrosSynergy puzzle. I like it...
NYT 5:07
NYS 4:40
LAT 4:13
CS 3:24
October 25, 2005
Whinesday
David Sullivan (better known around these parts as Evad) created the Wednesday NYS puzzle (woefully titled, "Separation H"). Lots of J's, K's, and X's to Scrabbleize the fill, which includes STYX clued as the band and AJAX clued as the household product (a classicist is spinning in a grave somewhere). And CIRCE, who apparently is also called Aeaea even though I've never seen that name in a crossword. Tying in with the retro non-chic of STYX, we've got RAJ clued as the "What's Happening" character—gotta love clues that advantage people who are 35 to 45 years old! (Do we thank you for that one, Dave, or do we thank Peter Gordon?) Thanks for throwing in my favorite wine, RIESLING. Alas, I really wish I could have 44D'd this morning (i.e., SLEPT IN).
Which leads us to the NYT puzzle by Adam G. Perl. I don't mind seeing Barry Haldiman's name ahead of mine in the applet standings, but I'd rather not take 50% longer than Barry to finish a puzzle. (Ouch.) The brain is not functioning at peak this evening, not after staying up too late last night and then chaperoning a kindergarten field trip today. I can't tell you how long I stared at the puzzle after finishing it, confused into thinking that the middle president was LBJ for LIGHTBULBJOKE rather than LIGHTBULBJOKE. Instead of seeing FDR and HST, I pondered which presidents' initials were COD and MSM. (See? Off-peak brain. Who's with me?) And look! There's AJAX cleanser again. Its product-placement people have gotten to both the Times and the Sun, apparently.
Updated:
Paula Gamache's LA Times and Randolph Ross's CrosSynergy puzzles are decent early-week puzzles, but they didn't make me laugh. Ben Tausig's "Gonzo Films" puzzle did. "Office party photocopy"? ASS, of course. "Curse of Notre Dame?" MERDE, of course. I liked ARMS RACE clued as "military competition" and the au courant coverage of Britney Spears' career. "Coalition of the Willing member," three letters...hmm, what could it be? There are so many possibilities... I also learned a new word, SCAG as slang for heroin.
NYS 4:58
NYT 4:20
Tausig 4:15
CS 3:38
LAT 3:21
October 24, 2005
Tuesday
First I was pleased to click done 1 second faster (2:59!) than I did for Monday's puzzle. Then I was a tad disappointed when the computer blew 4 seconds in the process of submitting my time. Then I considered being crushed when I saw how many people were a good bit faster than me. Then I decided not to care one way or another, since it's not as if it took me, say, 5 minutes. Or an hour. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Anyway, I liked the first and last theme entries (LAST SAMURAI and LUST FOR LIFE) better than the overall theme in the NYT puzzle by Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette. I liked KRILL—critters toward the bottom of the food chain get so little glory, ORANGE (of course), and COED clued as "like many college dorms, now." Let us never see COED used as a noun again!
I had a good time doing the Tuesday NYS by Bonnie Gentry and Vic Fleming, "Daze Work." A clever theme elegantly executed, with the zippity-doo of HOOPSTER ALONZO Mourning and the doo-dah of SUGE (OF RAP MUSIC) Knight sandwiched around ROCK SINGER PETER Noone in the midday slot. I was pleased by the Paul Krugman shout-out in FUZZY MATH, ALOHA clued as "HI hi," the "Complex character?" OEDIPUS, and the touch of etymology in the clue for OBOE (from the French hautbois). And how about that theme?
Better late than never:
Curtis Yee's LA Times puzzle has some crackle and snap to it, particularly in some of the longer non-theme entries. I know a lot of you don't ordinarily do the LAT puzzles, but this one's kinda fun. I won't spoil the goodies (which include a classic Sam Raimi movie) in case you want to solve this one.
Rich Norris's "Possessed" CrosSynergy amused me with its TOAD'S TOOLS and JOCK'S TRAPS. The term PUT-UP JOB was new to me, but apparently it's been around for almost 200 years. Who knew?
NYS 3:52
LAT 3:49
CS 3:47
NYT 3:03
October 23, 2005
Monday
Nice Monday NYT by Lynn Lempel. I'm always happy to see a shout-out to IHOP, where I enjoyed the International Passport breakfast with buttermilk pancakes today (abbreviated on the receipt as PASSPORT BUTT), especially when its anagram, HOPI, sits across the grid. The KAZOO, GIZA, HAIKU batches of Zs and Ks lended a smidgen of oomph as well.
Updated:
Only on Mondays do we find the CrosSynergy puzzle taking longer than the NYT, but at least the NYT promises to ramp up in difficulty as the week goes on. Often all that makes it worthwhile to crack open the puzzles on a Monday morning is having a whole week's worth of Sun puzzles to do. (Of course, then Tuesday and Wednesday suffer in comparison.)
Speaking of the Sun, I liked the non-theme fill in the Monday puzzle by Fred Jackson III (newcomer?). The theme didn't excite me (I've never heard of DAMES AT SEA, and I'm not a big Broadway fan anyway), but the rest of the puzzle had much to commend it—KLEENEX, SAME SEX, IBIZA, CLASSIC clued as "textbook," and the word TRICE, which I really should use more. "Back in a trice!" "Hang on a trice, will you?" "Just rewind the TiVo a trice, please." Who's with me?
I don't usually talk about the rest of the week's Suns on Monday, but if you're one of those people who skips them or only does the late-week ones, reconsider this week. Tuesday's puzzle by Bonnie Gentry and Vic Fleming was elegant and funny; Wednesday's by Dave Sullivan had some tricky clues and a late-'70s vibe; the Themeless Thursday by Raymond Hamel was too easy, but has some bright spots; and Friday's Patrick Berry puzzle kicked my butt. More on these puzzles as their days arrive.
CS 3:34
NYS 3:29
LAT 3:12
NYT 3:00
October 22, 2005
Sunday's cruciverbal forecast: warm and sunny
Great Sunday NYT by David Kahn ("Field of Dreams"), with a timeless theme because, after all, when will the Cubbies ever return to the World Series? (I have a feeling it'll be awhile.) I liked how Kahn unspooled the little story line by line, and how easy it was to figure out the rest of 92A once the word CUBS was in there and the concept of ungrantable wishes had been raised. Plenty of goodies in the rest of the grid, such as the crossing EUGENE/ONEILLS pair, KITTENISH, the crossing "John"/"John of England" LAV/ELTON pair, APOLOGY clued as "fight stopper," the crossing FOGY/STOGY pair, SOBERS atop ALANON just to the left of a cocktail ONION, POESY clued as "it's measured by the meter," DOGNAP clued as "Grab some chow?" and ACNE clued as "Tough problem to face?" Elegantly done, Messrs. Kahn and Shortz. The puzzle seemed to be flowing smoothly, so I can't say why I finished 2 to 3 minutes behind Barry Haldiman and Byron Walden (nemeses!).
The Second Sunday puzzle, another Going Too Far creation from Eric Berlin, was also a fun challenge. Thanks for serving up these treats, Eric! I don't care whether you publish them in the NYT or the Sun so long as you keep publishing them.
Updated:
Berlin 16:00
NYT 10:30
LAT 7:18
CS 3:20
10/9 Puns & Anagrams 9:35
October 21, 2005
Sighturday
To quote the immortal Homer, "D'oh!" I liked Patrick Berry's Saturday NYT, except for one word and its pesky "American English only" spelling in place of the more oft-seen diaeresis. I could've done without the brain freeze that made me eschew the E instead of the A, which rendered the crossing "short, of a sort" incomprehensible, and made me doubt the R in WARE, further muddling things. I pieced it together, but it took me an extra 3 minutes.
Aside from that little trauma, what did this puzzle offer? A shout-out to the movie Lost in America, which is forever in my heart for Albert Brooks' (real name: Albert Einstein) tirade about nest eggs, nests, and eggs. I'm rather surprised to see "two-fisted" as a clue for VIRILE; somebody explain this to me, please—because women can be two-fisted drinkers too. And did you know VIRILE and VIRAGO have the same root? Never heard of the bespectacled owl character or the '30s actress GLENDA (yup, looks like a Saturday all right). As for CIGARILLO, were you aware that these are now available in flavors like peach and grape? Must be a subtle attempt to reach the younguns. I liked DEEPSIXED (tried to fit JETTISONED in first), LES ASPIN, EDITED OUT, and PUMPS IRON. Odd to have two trade names stacked together at 1A and 15A, isn't it?
Updated:
Henry Hook's LA Weekly puzzle made me a little dizzy with its vertiginous theme. Happy birthday (whenever it was), Henry.
I liked the theme in Con Pederson's WaPo puzzle, especially ASCENT OF A WOMAN and AGATES OF HEAVEN. Overall, it seemed easier than the Hook puzzle, except for the SE corner that bogged me down.
I had just been wondering whether Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke had attempted a themeless puzzle, and then their LA Times puzzle popped up today with three triple-stacked 15s. Not a very tough Saturday themeless, but then we look to the NYT for that.
This week's Saturday "Stumper" stumped me for a whopping 25 seconds longer than the always-easy CrosSynergy puzzle. I've been wending my way through Stan's Cranium Crackers, which contains 100 puzzles that I presume are old Stumpers. The quality and challenge level varies widely. Some puzzles took a mere 4 minutes. Some are perfect (particularly the ones by Brendan Emmett Quigley). Some took me 20+ minutes and a peek at the answers to penetrate the Maleskan gloom of words like TEMS ("textile chemicals"), UHNAK ("cop novelist"), and PAON ("peacock blue")—and I do not care for Maleskan gloom. Give me Shortzian elan any day. Anyway, there are some gems in there, and the book's only $6.95, so if intermittent plunges into the Maleskan deeps don't daunt you, check it out.
If I won the lottery, here's what I'd do with the money: I'd become a decadent patron of the puzzling arts. Puzzles by my favorite constructors generally show up only a couple times a month, at most. With my spare millions, I could afford to woo the constructors to make extra-challenging puzzles for an extremely limited audience (me). While they are surely motivated partly by the fame of national newspaper syndication, who would turn down, say, $500 or $750 to make a single 15x15? Alas, I never buy lottery tickets, so this plan is unlikely to come to fruition.
NYT 10:26 (ah, I still remember the 7:11 I saw when I was almost done)
LAT 5:21
Stumper 3:51
CS 3:26
LA Weekly 9:28
WaPo 9:27
October 20, 2005
Friday again!
I'm not that familiar with Louis Hildenbrand's style yet, but I must say I like it. In his Friday NYT puzzle, he served up a good number of multi-word entries, nothing obscure or unfair, a NE corner with a lot of entries we don't see often, and assorted trickyish clues ("uses a tap" for SPIES, "Pole, for one" for EUROPEAN, "one who handles stress" for POET). I liked the linkage between the quince and quinze clues, and between TROIS and TRE. And I thank my high-school German teacher for telling us that MENSA was Latin for "table."
I'm still waiting for Amazon to send me the new Frank Longo book. In the meantime, there's Frank's puzzle in the Friday Sun. OH PUHLEEZE slowed me down a little, but it was helped along by the crossing entry PUDDY (my favorite ancillary "Seinfeld" character). "Singer who acts" threw me briefly as a clue for LORI. SKYY vodka and HOUSE OF YES (an odd but entertaining movie) were other entries I liked. I don't have any data to support this, but it sort of looks like this could be Frank's lowest-Scrabble-scoring puzzle ever, with entries like LINE TESTS and IN DISTRESS and ENSENADA.
Speaking of LORI, Entertainment Weekly wrote about a folk singer named Lori McKenna who was featured on Oprah as a "stay-at-home mom" despite her having recorded something like four albums. Supporting the argument that McKenna was hardly a nobody, the article mentioned that she'd been used twice in NYT crosswords—indeed, in puzzles by Patrick Berry and Will Johnston. I wonder if the clues were theirs or Will Shortz's.
Updated:
I wonder if Patrick Jordan's CS theme, "SATURDAY NIGHT ___," was used by another constructor 20 or 25 years ago when LIVE and FEVER had both emerged. It seems so obvious, and yet it doesn't show up in the Cruciverb database of more recent puzzles. (Despite the puzzle being called "Weekend Beginnings," I was sort of hoping "Uptown Saturday Night" would make the cut, too, for a total retro vibe.)
Manny Nosowsky serves up a sparkling capitalist theme (and one that requires no business vocabulary) in the WSJ. Is it just me or does NOSE XRAY look more like NO SEX RAY? (Extra bonus points for including my nickname in college toward the top of the grid. Who can guess it?)
I was dreading Merl Reagle's "If Lasorda Ran for President" (I'm not much of a baseball fan, White Sox or no). But it required no familiarity with Tommy Lasorda—just a working knowledge of the many baseball phrases that pepper our colloquial language.
NYS 7:23
LAT 5:41
NYT 5:35
CS 3:25
Reagle 8:47
WSJ 8:44
October 19, 2005
If I had to come up with more 12- to 13-letter theme entries containing IFI (and following the same pronunciation) for Manny Nosowsky's Thursday NYT, I don't think I'd be able to. I especially liked SOFT MUSIC clued as "romantic notes" (took me a while to realize it wasn't about love letters), EQUALIZER, and the geography vibe of Quai D'ORSAY, TAMILS, Finger LAKES, MIAMIAN, and OSTEND. But where's the trademark medical terminology? (I miss it.) The entry FACE WEST was maybe a little iffy. And then there were the two related crude slang terms lurking near each other in the puzzle (clued innocuously, of course)—not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just a wee bit surprising.
I figured out the TIPTOP rebus in Jay Leatherman's NYS puzzle fairly quickly, with the Z in 2D's ZANE pointing toward ZZTOP in 1A. The rebus made for some cute pairings: ZZTOP and TIPSY, plus TIP O'NEILL and CARROT TOP (who may well never have been mentioned in the same breath before; you know, I once rode in a hotel elevator with Carrot Top, but I never met Tip O'Neill). This puzzle had a lot of oddball rarities, like ZARF and EFFENDI, along with oddball longer entries like RAILWAY CAR, PLANT A TREE, and GINGER NUT.
Updated:
Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Six World Leaders," had a nice flow to it. Over in the LA Times, I liked Alan Olschwang's theme idea (entries ending in muscles, e.g. LATS, ABS) better than the execution, maybe because the first theme entry, TAXI SQUADS, was a football term that was unfamiliar to me. And then there was F SCOTT clued as "contemporary of Stephen Vincent" rather with Zelda or Fitzgerald or Jay Gatsby; wha?
If you don't share my distaste for crapplets (my preferred term for the various non-NYT solving applets), try Crossword Fiend regular Dave Mackey's quip puzzle in today's USA Today.
NYS 5:32
LAT 4:46
NYT 4:15
CS 3:22
