December 13, 2007

Friday, 12/14

NYS 7:55
CHE 4:35
NYT 4:21
Jonesin' tba
LAT 4:02
CS 3:32—here's a link that works

WSJ 7:03

New addictive online pastime! Today, my husband sent me a link to the Traveler IQ Challenge, where you race to peg the location of, say, the capital city of the Solomon Islands, or Edinburgh Castle, or Gaborone, Botswana. There are 12 levels, and I haven't successfully completed level 12 (yet). I have made it through level 11, though. If you're a geography geek, give it a try, and rejoice if you manage to come within 200 km of the right spot. (It's heartbreaking to be 6,000 km off, really.) If you play enough rounds, you'll start seeing some of the same places, so you can learn from your mistakes and do better next time. So far, I've only done the world-map game, but there are also smaller maps to choose from. I like my odds with Africa, I gotta say.

Manny Nosowsky's previous publication was a Tuesday puzzle with a theme that put me off kilter. A LOT ON ONE'S PLATE was combined with three food dishes that wouldn't be eaten together, one of which probably wants to be served in a bowl. In his themeless Friday New York Times crossword, that same 15-letter entry redeems itself by anchoring a triple-stack in the middle of an eminently solid grid. I don't know about you, but I found yesterday's knotty John Farmer puzzle to be a little harder than this one.

Things I hadn't known: ADOLPHE was the [Luxembourg grand duke in whose name an annual art prize is awarded]—that'd be the Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe, of course. [Ba preceder] is ALIF—I knew ALIF was the first letter of the Arabic alphabet from crosswords, but hadn't seen the ba and ta that follow it. A [Neighbor of Hoboken, N.J.] is UNION CITY; how sad was I when the town starting with U wasn't one of those silly-sounding names like Parsippany? I had hopes. I filled this one in from the crossings, but sure as heck didn't know that LAVA was a [Flow from a coulee]. What does the American Heritage Dictionary say? It says that geologists are nuts because coulee is used to mean four entirely different things, including a stream of lava.

The clues I liked best: [It may be kept in a boot] means a TYRE, "boot" being Britspeak for the trunk of a car and "tyre" being Britspeak for tire. (The most charming thing about my 2000 VW is that when the trunk's open, the dashboard reads "BOOTLID IS OPEN." (And when the windshield wiper fluid is low, it says "TOP UP WASH FLUID." Righty-o, then!) [Went through] means PIERCED, as with an AWL (just one example of a [Hand tool]). [Zealots have them]: AGENDAS. So do the people chairing a meeting. [Something to bid] is ADIEU and not, thankfully, something from bridge or canasta. (And no, I've got no idea if canasta involves bidding.) What does ["Fuhgeddaboudit!"] mean? "HELL, NO!" I think my mom had a copy of Wayne W. DYER's "Your Erroneous Zones" in the '70s, and I thought it was something risqué. Coolest entries: RORSCHACH / TEST split across two spots; ST JOHN'S; SANTA ANNA; and BIOMASS.

For a tougher challenge, I turned to the New York Sun puzzle by Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke. Sure, the title, "Test Cramming," suggested a rebus theme wedging multiple letters into a single box, but did I let that point me in the direction of a rebus puzzle? Not for too long, alas. I think the rebus action has a touch of asymmetry—the two longest Across and Down answers have standardized test abbreviations in them, and so does the crossing of 24-Across and 26-Down (UN[SAT]ED and [SAT]YRS). If there's another rebus entry opposite one of those two answers, I don't see it; perhaps there is one, and Across Lite accepted just the first letter? I don't know. Those long ones are FIL[M CAT]ALOGUE, SHOOTIN[G MAT]CH, WINTER[GRE]ENS, and CONTR[ACT]S OUT. That last one duped me, because OUTSOURCES also fits the space. Groovy theme!

Updated:

Wow, there are some tough clues in Annemarie Brethauer's 11/30 Chronicle of Higher Education crossword. The five theme entries in "WIld Guesses" are clued with the binomial name (i.e., genus and species) of animals, and the task is to come up with the common, non-Latinate name of the animal. The theme's a fun quiz if you're into this sort of quiz (I enjoyed it). Answers that were decidedly not gimmes for me: [Long face?] for CLIFF; [Cape Verde island] for SAL; [City on the Salt River] for MESA; the clever [Bear with one's child] for TEDDY (noun, not verb!); [Small fox with big ears] for FENNEC; and [Fustanella wearers] for MEN (Great outfits! Who doesn't love a man in a pleated miniskirt?). There's one ort of old-school crosswordese: PTAH, the [Memphis deity]. More cleverness with [Bankable notes?] for DO-RE-MI and [Female Romney] for EWE. And the MUPPET guys, [Statler or Waldorf, e.g.], are always welcome. The puzzle could've used a different title, though—wild also shows up in one animal name. Loved this crossword!

Alison Donald's LA Times crossword has a good set of theme entries that change an ING (and not a gerund ending -ing) into INK. A [Come-on on the range?] is a BUFFALO WINK, and that's a funny image. I could think of a much racier clue for BURGER KINK than [Former Chief Justice's muscle stiffness?]—I wonder if the constructor's original clue hinted at something kinkier. Kind of a party vibe here, with DORMS, GIN, RYES used in Manhattans, COSMO's online "Guy Gallery"—and CUFF could certainly go with the KINK.

The theme in Matt Jones's Jonesin' puzzle, "Two by Two: Dissecting a fearsome foursome," was a little tricky to tease out. I think it's the pluralized 2-letter words made from A, B, C, and D: WASHBOARD ABS, RECORDABLE CDS, CLASSIFIED ADS, and LONG-RANGE CBS. Most out-there, seldom-seen clues and entries: the kids' song "I'M A NUT" (I don't know this one), BFD (meaning "big effing deal"), and Canadian singer-songwriter FEIST (who has jettisoned her first name). Also quite good: LIONS' DEN, PLASTER CAST, BACKSPACING, and [It may have Braille markings, even on a drive-thru version] for ATM.

I couldn't download Patrick Jordan's CrosSynergy puzzle from Cruciverb.com or the usual link at Puzzle Pointers—deeper into Puzzle Pointers, there was a working link (see top of this post). I think the Chronicle's site is a tad kerflooey today. Anyway: The theme in "Nothing to Squawk About" is a riddle: WHAT DO YOU / CALL A PARROT'S / LOSS OF MEMORY? Answer: POLYNESIA. (Groan.)

Today's Wall Street Journal crossword, "Company Mergers," is credited to Colin Gale, one of editor Mike Shenk's alter egos. The theme involves anagrams, and it was plenty o' fun. Fairly easy, but not lacking cleverness. In fact, it would take me far too long to list all the clues that I liked, clues with pleasing "aha" moments. Just do this puzzle yourself, will you? It'll be a good time—smooth fill, zingy clues.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 10:00 PM

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

December 12, 2007

Thursday, 12/13

NYS 4:46
CS 4:37
NYT 4:29
LAT 3:30

Look! Down there! No, not there—scroll down to the following post for a crossword-book buying guide.

Ooh, Thursday happiness, when the crosswords get markedly more gnarly.

In John Farmer's New York Times puzzle, three 15-letter theme entries share the clue, [End of some addresses]: CITY, STATE, AND ZIP for a mailing address, E-MAIL DOMAIN NAME for an e-mail address, and GOD BLESS AMERICA for far too many spoken addresses. This crossword seems to have bogged down some solvers. Why is that? Let's see. I was mighty hesitant to fill in the last square, where [Riveted] met [Fire]. (AGAZE and ZEAL, though I was thisclose to going with AGAPE and PEAL.) Another point of hesitation was [Flings] crossing [The Dolphins retired his #12]. I'd heard of Brian Griese, so I went with GRIESE and JAGS even though I thought Griese was a more current name. Turns out Brian is the son of the Dolphins great Bob GRIESE.

Tough, fun, or otherwise noteworthy clues: [Commodious craft] uses the plural craft, for ARKS. Those who just learned the word plat in the Tuesday NYT might've guessed a [Plat book unit] is an ACRE. Another famous ERICA, Erica Hubbard, stars in the ABC Family channel series, Lincoln Heights. [Set down] is LAID, not LAND. A SHIP fits [It may go in a lock], as in the locks that transport a vessel from one body of water to another. [Rolled the dice] is DARED, in idiom. [Some widows] are black widow SPIDERS. When I EDIT, I do sometimes [Exchange words?]. I did not know that TEES were [Curling targets], but I did enjoy watching curling on prime-time TV in Canada once. [Jacopo ___, composer of the earliest surviving opera], is an alternative to PERI Gilpin or a Persian fairy. (But wait! Ahmadinejad says they haven't got any there. He is, of course, full of it.) Did you fail to notice the W in [Douglas or Smith of the W.N.B.A.]? They're named KATIE, but I spaced on the femaleness of the clue. A [Baker's dozen, maybe] are PIES. (Make mine pecan or strawberry, please.) [One singing "Those Were the Days"?] is an OLD PAL—that one demanded lots of crossing letters. The ["CSI" woman] SARA (played by Jorja Fox) has left the show. [Hoops bloopers] are AIR BALLS—great entry! Who's the ["Justine" novelist]? DE SADE. I think I'll skip the book. Jazz singer IVIE Anderson sang with Duke Ellington's band. (More singers in the grid: Neil SEDAKA, ETTA James, the NYLONS (though not clued as such), and a MINSTREL.)

The "Themeless Thursday" in the New York Sun is by Steven Kahn, and there's sort of a pictorial theme. The movie THE MARK / OF ZORRO spans the middle of the grid, and most of the black squares form a big letter Z, Zorro's slashing mark. I learned a new word, [Hamadryads]—that's another name for KING COBRAS. Neil SEDAKA makes an appearance here, too, along with ANI DiFranco, MOZART, and STEVIE Wonder—and while I don't know who shortstop Joe CRONIN is, I know REO Speedwagon singer Kevin Cronin. I've never, ever heard a raccoon called a TREE BEAR, and I was fighting with some of its crossings (HIP or HEP? HEP. [Women's clothing label]? BEBE). Cool to have STEVIE clued with "Ebony and Ivory," right underneath IN BLACK AND WHITE. I have no idea why [Result of failing to come set] is BALK—is this about baseball?

Updated:

Cool LA Times crossword from Lee Glickstein. The way I happened to go through this puzzle, the last theme entry was the last one I came across, and without it, I was missing the theme completely. The other five vertical theme entries have TREE TOPS: The top three or four letters double as a tree name. There's FIRE SALE, ELMER FUDD, A SHOT IN THE DARK, PLUMBER'S HELPER, and TEA KETTLE. Fun fill, too—a KNAVE and a WIMP, TOO TOO crossing ET TU, Scrabbly REX REED and ZOLA.

And our fourth puzzle today is Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy creation, "Hop In!" It's quite possible that this is the best single-day foursome of daily crosswords this year—there's much to admire about all of them. Klahn's theme entries absorb a HOP: Cornwallis turns into CORNWALL HOPIS, perseverance into HOPPER SEVERANCE, and toothpaste into TOOTH PAST HOPE ([Problem that really needs rooting out?]. Favorite clues: [One way to get into deep water] for SCUBA; [Helper who had a hunch] for IGOR; [Big Red?] for LENIN; [Look like a lecher] for OGLE; [He's a hell of a guy] for DEVIL; [Inner doughnut?] for HOLE; and [Fruit of the loon?] for EGG.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 10:27 PM

Labels: , , ,

Holiday shopping guide for crossword nuts

One of Rex's readers wrote to ask him for some crossword gift recommendations, so Rex and Orange have teamed up to give you some ideas of what to buy for the crossword lovers in your life—or what to put on your own wish list. There are many hundreds of other crossword books out there, but this list can get you started and steer you towards the books and series with the Crossword Blogger Seal of Approval. Alas, we have no recommendations for crossword dictionaries, because we don't happen to use 'em.

NONFICTION

  • Amy Reynaldo's How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Hands-on coaching to improve solving skills, along with 60+ NYT crossword puzzles (Orange put this category at the bottom, but Rex said to move it to the top for proper self-aggrandizement)
  • Matt Gaffney's Gridlock: An engaging book about crossword constructors, the art of construction, the business aspects, and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Both Orange and Rex's favorite portrait of the crossword world.

FOR KIDS


SUNDAY-SIZED PUZZLES

Simon & Schuster Crossword Puzzle Book #257: The S&S books contain puzzles in a variety of sizes, including mid-sized 17x17s and 19x19s—good training for the crossword tournament if you want to check your speed on those puzzle sizes

THEMED DAILY-SIZED CROSSWORDS


THEMELESS AND/OR HARD PUZZLES


ALT.CROSSWORDS


FOR POP-CULTURE VULTURES


FOR SPORTS FANS


FOR LITERARY LIONS

Matt Gaffney's Literary Crosswords
Stanley Newman's Literary Crosswords

FOR TRIVIA BUFFS

Francis Heaney's Trivial Pursuit Crosswords
Stan Newman's Ultimate Trivia Crosswords

OTHER TYPES OF PUZZLES

  • 101 Cryptic Crosswords: From the New Yorker: A good introduction to cryptic crosswords for new cryptic solvers
  • Frank Longo's Wordoku: Sudoku logic puzzles with a word twist—each grid will have a 9-letter word in one row or column, so anagramming the given letters can assist in solving
  • Matt Gaffney's Kaidoku: Crosswords with no clues, requiring a knack for logic and letter patterns/frequency
  • Henry Hook's Terribly Twisted Crosswords: Variety grids with tough clues and excellent fill
  • Henry Hook's Twisted Crosswords: The predecessor of the above book; this one might be a little tougher

STOCKING STUFFERS

  • Sterling's Sip & Solve Series and Sit & Solve Series of mini-books: Crosswords, sudoku, word searches, hangman, logic puzzles, math puzzles, trivia quizzes, and more. Barnes & Noble stores have racks of these to browse through. The books are shaped like toilet seats, coffee cups, and modes of transportation.
  • Patrick Merrell and Helene Hovanec's Coffee Time: A chunky little book with puzzles and trivia about the caffeinated lifeblood

AND A VIRTUAL GIFT

  • A gift subscription to the New York Times Premium Puzzles service: If you or someone you love are fond of the Times crossword, Premium Puzzles lets you get your hands on the crossword the night before it's published in the paper, and also gives you access to a decade of archived puzzles

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 4:00 PM

December 11, 2007

Wednesday, 12/12

NYS 4:48
NYT 3:26
CS 3:20
LAT 3:18

Tonight's trivia night, so if I get to the Times crossword tonight, it won't be until rather late. And maybe, just maybe, I will cut myself some slack and just go to bed when I get home.

In the meantime, y'all can talk about the Times puzzle after it's released, along with the New York Sun crossword by Sean O.F. Smith. (Why can't I avoid thinking of O.D.B. when I see those O.F. initials?) The puzzle's called "No Way!" and indeed, assorted "ways" (or abbreviations for types of streets) have been scuttled here and the resulting new phrases clued accordingly. A diving board loses its road (RD) and becomes DIVING BOA (see also discussion of anacondas and water moccasins in comments on previous post). Direct deposit drops a court (CT) to make DIRE DEPOSIT, a [Calamitous arterial accretion]. (Extra bonus points for the word accretion, which I like.) A Detroit Piston basketball player sheds a street (ST) to become a [Motown particle?], or DETROIT PION. A drill sergeant loses the drive (DR) to become an ILL SERGEANT. And last, above average detours around the avenue (AVE) to make ABOVE RAGE. Good crossword!

Updated Tuesday night:

Huzzah! We won at trivia! (We wouldn't have if not for wagering all 40 points possible on the final question, but hey, not every team could place these world religions in order from highest to lowest percentage of the globe's population: Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu. And we nailed it.)

The New York Times crossword by Daniel Kantor has a theme. Hmm, what was it?  Lemme take a look. Ah, yes. Four things that are A GOOD DEAL: a BAJILLION (not to be confused with bajingo); getting [21 in two cards], or BLACKJACK; getting TWO FOR ONE at happy hour; and an executive's GOLDEN PARACHUTE (factoid from the Enron documentary: One of the execs who cashed in big became something like the second-largest landowner in the state of Colorado). Fave fill: HOBNOB, HOJO, "IT'S SO YOU," PHOTO ID (tonight before trivia, the bar's bouncer followed me to the table to ask to see my ID—hah!), SNOOZE, GOOEY like caramel, CANDIDE (which crosses IDEE at the end, making me wonder if it was originally CANDIDA and IDEA, and Will nixed the yeasty entry), and LEE J COBB in his entirety. Oh, and ANSON Williams, who played Potsie on Happy Days.

Updated Wednesday morning:

I couldn't find the theme in James Sajdak's LA Times crossword—three phrases began with roughly synonymous words, but the fourth did not. I'd filled in the explanatory 54-Down via the crossings and hadn't seen the clue—TOUCH can follow the first words, SOFT, GENTLE, SMOOTH, and MAGIC. Favorite fill: JUNKY, ZZ TOP, BOOZY followed by SOBER, and "TOLD YA."

Randolph Ross's CrosSynergy puzzle's called "A's, E's, and I's for You." He doesn't only have I's for you, in IT'S IN HIS KISS, but also A's (ATLANTA HAWKS) and E's (REFERENCE LETTER)—phrases that contain just one vowel. Scattered throughout the grid are numerous words with only O's (STOP SHORT, NONCOMS, BORN TO, etc.), but all U gets is pond SCUM. Poor U.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 7:38 PM

Labels: , , ,

December 10, 2007

Tuesday, 12/11

Onion 4:45
Tausig 4:25
NYS 3:44
CS 3:43
LAT 3:36
NYT 3:17

Lee Glickstein's New York Sun crossword, "Stress Test," exploits the goofy English-language phenomenon of heteronyms—words that are spelled exactly the same but have different pronunciations. Each theme entry alters the meaning of a phrase by changing a word's pronunciation. [Eminent president during WWI?] is AUGUST WILSON, playing on the adjective auGUST and Woodrow Wilson appropriating playwright AUgust Wilson's name. The other theme entries are CONTENT ANALYSIS (the noun CONtent becoming the adjective conTENT) and ENTRANCE HALL (the noun ENtrance becoming the verb enTRANCE). Extra bonus points for the [Spellbind TV host Arsenio?] clue—Arsenio Hall doesn't seem to be working much in showbiz these days, but you gotta love a name that's only one letter off from arsenic. (Arsenio and Old Lace, anyone? Or Arsenio poisoning?) Great fill to go with a fun theme—SCHIZO, NANOOK, KNISH, HO-HUM and...ANACONDAS. (Raise your hand if you saw the Anaconda movie with Jon Voight. By which I do not mean "if you and Jon Voight went to the movie together.")

Speaking of names I love: Gail Grabowski. Alliteration plus a straight-up Polish name (I'm a quarter Polish) that starts with an English word. Gail Grabowski constructed a New York Times crossword with a whiny-adolescent theme: The kid whinges because Mom or Dad said no, and says "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR!" "EVERYONE IS GOING!" "I CAN'T DO ANYTHING." (Sorry, kid, you're 14 and I'm not sending you to the Fifty Cent concert.) Speaking of music, I had zero recollection of the [1973 #1 hit "___ an American Band"]. The answer is WE'RE, and here is an old, old video of Grand Funk Railroad performing that song, water-skiing, and polishing motorcycles, all with giant hair.

Updated:

The banking theme of Dan Naddor's LA Times crossword tried to hide from me until the very end, and the final theme entry being a brand of athletic shoe didn't help matters. The current-events flavor of TROOP WITHDRAWAL also had me sort of hoping for a topical theme. By the time I did figure out the theme, though, I saw that it was laid out elegantly. The first thing that goes in your bank account is the (ORE) DEPOSIT. There may be (TROOP) WITHDRAWAL of some funds. Then the bank will add some (GENERAL) INTEREST and subtract some (CONTINGENCY) FEES. By the end of the month, the statement will show your NEW BALANCE. There are 65 theme squares, and a couple Down entries (ELBOW GREASE, OPINION POLL) bind together all three 15-letter entries. Nice!

Thomas Schier's CrosSynergy puzzle, "All in Flavor," throws together some puns from the spice rack. While FENNEL CAKE is a plausible (and yucky) twist on funnel cake and THYME OF ONE'S LIFE works for me, the other two seem clunkier. Nobody would ever say "DILL WE MEET AGAIN" in farewell, and changing carry a tune into CURRY A TUNE makes no sense at all—you can't very well add curry (yum!) to a song.

Updated again:

Ben Tausig's Chicago Reader/Ink Well crossword, "Soup to Nuts," runs the gamut from A to Z with a quartet of A.Z.-initial theme entries. Hey! Those used to be my initials. They are awesome initials, to be sure. We've got a Simpsons ancillary character, ARTIE ZIFF; ABSOLUTE ZERO; an AFRICAN ZEBRA; and a college team, the AKRON ZIPS. Favorite clues and entries: [Claudius, notably] for POISONER (one letter off from PRISONER—but Hamlet's uncle/stepfather did not do time for his poisoning crime); [Made an allowance?] for BUDGETED; [Wonder Woman topper] for TIARA; [Certain natives of TIbet] for PANDAS; [Staff notes?] for EGBDF; and GARBLED, WHATZIT, LET 'ER RIP, and seminal mathematician LEIBNIZ.

Tyler Hinman's Onion A.V. Club crossword has a meaty chunk of white space in the middle of the grid, which is framed by the theme entries. The MIDDLEMEN found in the other three answers appear here in bold: LAMB ROAST, HATCH A PLOT, and OXYGEN TANK. Favorite clues/answers: [Key in Seattle, for one] for ARENA (there's a Key Arena, I gather?); DWEEBISH; Hermione GRANGER; [Bono's wife, once] for CHER (Sonny Bono); [Like some yak herders] for TIBETAN; DRAGNETS.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 10:08 PM

Labels: , , , , ,

December 09, 2007

Monday, 12/10

NYS 3:31
CS 2:59
NYT 2:44
LAT 2:32

Lynn Lempel remains one of my favorite Monday constructors. The theme in her latest New York Times crossword isn't so fancy, but there were six theme entries and I believe they exhausted the possibilities for their category—words that start with S or an S consonant cluster followed by ING. There's SINGSONG with just the S, along with SPRING ROLL, SWING VOTE, STRING BEAN, STINGRAY, and SLINGSHOT. In English, there is no such thing as sming, say, or spling or sking or scring, so Lynn's covered all the bases. I do take issue with the clue for DOWRY. To me, [Bride's bounty] sounds like a windfall for the bride, rather than something more like a bounty hunter's price for securing the bride. Fill and clues I liked: ["Jeopardy!" whiz Jennings] for KEN (his blog, which has a trivia slant, is quite engaging); TWEEN ([11- or 12-year-old]); a hair PERM; ["Oh, I see"] for GOT IT; and GREGG clued as [One of the Allman Brothers] rather than a steno's shorthand method.

Vic Fleming's New York Sun puzzle is called "Monday Best," and it is indeed all dressed up for work in a THREE-PIECE SUIT. The other theme entries, all clued straightforwardly, are CLOSE TO THE VEST, ANTS IN ONE'S PANTS, and FULL METAL JACKET. I like how the silliness of the second one butts up against the dead-seriousness of the Kubrick war movie. Also, (two 15s + two 14s) ÷ (a 15×16 grid) = rather a lot of theme density for a Monday puzzle. Highlights: Don CHEADLE, who is always welcome in crosswords and in film; the repeated [Place of bliss] clue for both NIRVANA and EDEN; the repeated [Russian river] clue for NEVA and URAL; the [Wife of Zeus] and [Mother of Zeus] combo, the anagrammatic HERA and RHEA; and the verb BCC, or [Include in an e-mail without other recipients knowing].

Updated:

Martin Ashwood-Smith's CrosSynergy creation, "Coming Apart," includes three phrases ending with words that mean "busting up." One of the longer non-theme entries mystified me. [Paddy wagon] clued BLACK MARIA, which I swear is not a term I've ever heard. (Black Jesus, yes. Maria? No.) Here's the Wikipedia story of the history of these vehicles and their names.

Gail Grabowski's LA Times crossword also goes the three-synonyms route, with PACKED (A SUITCASE), FILLED (THE BILL), and JAMMED (THE COPIER). In the fill, OLD FLAME appears opposite EMBRACES. Not any more!

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 7:22 PM

Labels: , , ,

December 08, 2007

Sunday, 12/9

BG 9:10
LAT 8:28
NYT 8:24
PI 7:53
WaPo 7:00
CS 3:59

Patrick Blindauer's constructed another word search within a crossword. The puzzle is nearly a themeless one outside of the gimmick, except that the eight longest answers do all contain a forwards or backwards ELF. SELF-REFLECTIVE, aptly enough, contains an ELF and a reflected FLE. The other hidden elves are strewn throughout the grid, mostly clustered near the long entries. In case you're wondering where the hidden words are, I think I found all 20 (click image to enlarge it):



The toughest spots in this puzzle were probably the same ones for most of us. How about 8-Across and 8-Down, [River or city of Maine] and [Mushroom stems]? I wagered that the first letter in both had to be an S, though neither word (SACO and STIPES) was familiar. 101-Across was also an unknown for me—[Quasar co-discoverer Sandage] is ALLAN, and that crosses one place name and one person's name, so you'd better hope you the crossings were familiar. Favorite clues: [Not fair at all] for RAINY; [Last time?], though the grammar doesn't quite parse for me, for SHELF-LIFE; [Words from a promising individual?] for I SHALL; ["Bald" baby] for EAGLET; [Bond's man?] for IAN FLEMING; and [Evening person?] somewhat making up for the "odd job" of LEVELER. Weirdest clue: [Spitchcock] for EEL. That's not a type of eel or a regional term for an eel, no—it's "an eel split and broiled". (I'll pass, thanks.) Also of note: A rare inclusion of CANCER in the crossword, clued here as [Constellation between Lynx and Hydra]. (The Cancer constellation doesn't look one whit like a crab.)

Updated:

The theme in Dave Sullivan's Washington Post crossword, "Y Me?", brings out plenty of smiles. Dave and I had talked about this theme when he was hashing out the theme entries, so while I didn't recognize any theme entries, I knew how the theme would work based on the title. So don't knock yourself if you don't find this crossword to be markedly easier than the other Sunday puzzles today. Phrases that start with ___Y words are reclued as if the ___Y word is an adjectival form of the word in the blanks. The [Political cartoonist's religious garb?] is NASTY HABIT, and I dug that because Thomas Nast's surname gets plenty of play in crosswords, but usually not in a playful way. [Phileas's low point?] refers to the fictional Phileas Fogg and his FOGGY BOTTOM. A [Rowboat full of Adonises?] is a HUNKY DORY. And a [Guy covered with foie gras?] is a LIVERY MAN, like my great-great-grandfather, only with more liver. Plenty of lively fill here, too: JUGULAR, TUNA SUB, EUREKA, NINJA, ROMULAN, and WRAITH.

Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer puzzle, "A Stoogean Dream," tells a story through the theme entries—a Three Stooges reverie with idiomatic phrases that sound like slapstick violence but usually aren't used that way—like SMACKING YOUR LIPS. I do always enjoy Merl's story themes.

The Across Lite Boston Globe puzzle usually gets Litzed (converted into Across Lite) by Nancy Shack from the online version in...I think it's Philadelphia Weekly. The Globe puzzle appears there weeks after it runs in the Boston paper. This week's issue doesn't have a crossword to Litz, so Nancy Shack whets the appetite of Henry Hook fans by Litzing a puzzle from an old book of Globe crosswords. Henry's "Phonetic Fun" is a 1998 puzzle. The middle entry, TEA FOR TWO, explains the phonetic change in all the other theme entries. The clues and fill seemed harder than the Globe puzzles of 2007—[Cheerful, old-style] is PEART, crossing the [Wine-bottle stand] CELLARET at the R. Tell us, Henry: Have crossword solvers grown dimmer in 10 years?

Arlan and Linda Bushman's syndicated LA Times puzzle, "Meeting of the Ways," has one of those themes that makes it modestly easier to figure out the nine theme entries but doesn't increase the solver's sense of reward. Each theme phrase has ST ST ("meeting of the streets") in the middle, but figuring out such phrases as FAST START or PROTEST STRIKE doesn't offer any laughs. A few clues struck me as off—[Frustrating voice mail sequence] merits a catchy name (all I can think of is "voice-mail hell"), but I don't think PHONE TAG is it. Phone tag is the volleying of missed calls and messages left, never actually speaking to the other person, isn't it?

Rich Norris's themeless CrosSynergy "Sunday Challenge" is fairly easy, as far as themelesses go. It's sprinkled with Ks (six of them), as in KAFKA and KICKS ([Fun]). Zingiest entries: DOT-TO-DOT puzzles, CSI MIAMI, MT SHASTA, the AUTOBAHN, and the central 15s, MATCHING OUTFITS and DROOPING EYELIDS. I like the juxtaposition of two answers ending in -YS, since my second-grade son just learned that -y plurals turn into -ies. We have the movie SPYS and Samuel PEPYS.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 8:59 PM

Labels: , , , , , ,

December 07, 2007

Saturday, 12/8

NYT 7:23
LAT 6:13
Newsday 4:38
CS 3:19

Hey! I got a call today from the Merv Griffin's Crosswords people. My episode is scheduled to air on Wednesday, February 6, as the first of two episodes in the two-shows-a-day markets (like Chicago) and as the sole episode in the one-show-a-day cities. Then, as I understand it, it will also be aired again, as the second of two shows in the two-show cities, on March 4. This doesn't make much sense to me. So if you're in a two-show city and you start seeing repeat episodes, let me know so I won't continue thinking that my ability to comprehend spoken language is deeply impaired.

The Saturday New York Times puzzle (and yes, that is one of my favorite phrases) is by Barry Silk. I liked many of the clues in this one. And a few of the answers bring me joy. The [Melodramatic cry] "MY HERO!" always spurs fond memories of the old "You must pay the rent" shtick. Right before that answer is LIEF, descended from Middle and Old English for [Willingly]. And I love LETTERBOX FORMAT both on DVDs and in a crossword grid.

Favorite clues: [Cheaters, for teachers] for ANAGRAM; [It appears first in China] for FAMILY NAME; [Taj Mahal attractions] for Atlantic City casino SLOTS; [Web developer?] for a cobwebby ATTIC; [Lexicographic enlighteners] for USAGE NOTES (here's an example of a usage note for impact); [It's no longer working] for RETIREMENT; [Remove knots from, maybe] for MASSAGE; [Pacific force, for short] for LAPD; [Simon Legree] for a stern TASKMASTER; and the adjective [Mean] for BASE.

Today's sports action: PELE is the [Achiever of many goals] in soccer, and EDSON is his real first name. O'MALLEY pere et fils are or were Dodgers owners. The [Second African-American in the Baseball Hall of Fame] is Roy CAMPANELLA. And [Durable athletes] in the triathlon are called IRONMEN...even if they're women. Today's musical notes: "EBONY EYES" was a [1961 top 10 hit for the Everly Brothers]. PET SOUNDS, a 1966 hit album, is by the Beach Boys. Did either of these recordings benefit from payola (as in the [Pay stub]/OLA combo)?

Today's wickedest crossing: [Sharp workers?] meets [Linemen next to centers: Abbr.]. I never know the football-position abbreviations, so faced with CUT*ERS, I thought CUTTERS. Now, if I'd checked this outline of all the football positions, I'd have been even more addled, because LGS, presumably left guards, aren't listed at all, just offensive guards. A lot of the football-position abbreviations seem to start with R or L, so that L fits into CUTLERS just fine. A cutler, in case you're wondering, is "one who makes, repairs, or sells knives or other cutting instruments." I knew BRUIT meant a certain heart sound and, more generally, noise—I didn't know it was also a verb meaning "to spread news of; repeat." The clue, [Spread news of], is as straightforward as can be provided that you're familiar with the definition.

Updated:

Bruce Venzke and Stella Daily's LA Times puzzle is one of their best joint ventures to date. It provided numerous places to mire myself in the wrong answer before finding the way out. My main stumbling block (nine stumbling blocks, really) was having SNOWBALL'S CHANCE instead of AN OUTSIDE CHANCE for [What long shots have]. That W did me no favors with [Like some subs]—all I could think of was substitute teachers, and not NUCLEAR submarines. I also jumped off the initial S in [Do more than mediate] for SETTLE, but it needed to be STEP IN. Favorite fill: NO-MESS, ["Easy to clean" ad catchphrase]; GUSSY UP, [Prettify]; OLD AS METHUSELAH, [Ancient]; and MY LIPS ARE SEALED, ["Your secret is safe with me"]. I couldn't come up with POL without the crossings—clever clue, [House dealer?]. The grid features top and bottom triple stacks of 15-letter answers, along with two more 15s in the middle. While there's a mild hint of crosswordese reliance for short crossings in the triple-stack zones (ECU, NENE, ERDA, Latin SED), there are zero obscure or tortured abbreviations. DAN'L, the [Fictional Calaveras County nickname], is a zippy abbreviation and not a tortured one, and the USN (U.S. Navy) is not hard to get.

Dan Stark's Newsday Saturday Stumper wasn't too prone to stumping. Favorite clues here: [Mug, maybe] (noun, not verb) for SOUVENIR; [Blank spaces, perhaps] for ERASURES, particularly apt for the pencil-wielding crossword solver; and [One who plays on ice] for CURLER. Do you know what you call someone who has been granted a patent for an invention? She's a PATENTEE, not a patenter. I'm not sure why this should be. Just because they're given a patent by the governmental patent agency? I'm thinking the creation of something patentable warrants the active patenter rather than the passive patentee. The clue for PATENTEE has an intentional mislead: [Land, over 500 times] refers not to the verb or noun land but to the person, Edwin Land. Missed opportunity: The clue for DRAWERS could have played around with dresser drawers or definition 3, underpants.

Randall Hartman's CrosSynergy puzzle, "The Inner Net," embeds a NET within each theme entry. I like the Scrabbly double-hit of geography with non-theme TEXARKANA and GAZA STRIP. I don't care for the clue for NEW AGE: [Type of music played by keyboardist John]. Elsewhere in the puzzle (at a point I reached later), [Keyboardist John] is a clue for TESH. But it doesn't feel kosher to throw "keyboardist John" into that other clue—it really ought to be a cross-referenced clue pointing the solver to TESH. Either that, or use another New Ager for the NEW AGE clue. Enya! Enya would love to be promoted from quasi-crosswordese fill to a clue for her genre.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 9:58 PM

Labels: , , , ,

December 06, 2007

Friday, 12/7

NYS 7:01
Jonesin' 4:15
NYT 4:14
LAT 4:12
CS 3:39
CHE 3:33

WSJ 7:53

There's a remarkable 64-word themeless puzzle from Patrick Berry in the New York Times. Too often, a low-word-count has so many tradeoffs in the fill that I'm wondering why the constructor didn't make it easier on himself or herself and just make a more interesting puzzle with a higher word count. But here, it plays like a 72-worder. To wit: The only answers with an -er suffix are SAMPLER (an established noun meaning a box of chocolates) and CATERERS (the plural out-Googles the singular, and people do say "I called the caterers" commonly enough). Now, is a PRALINE really an [Item in a SAMPLER]? Perhaps down yonder, where people eat RED BEANS AND RICE ([Traditional Monday meal in Creole cuisine]). My favorite answers are DAN ROWAN ([TV host who told viewers "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls!"]) and DULLARDS. When I was a kid, I liked Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, particularly Ruth Buzzi, Lily Tomlin, and Arte Johnson's "Verrry interesting." And DULLARDS, [Intellectuals' opposites]—well, that's just a funny word. (Edited to add: This puzzle also has no 3-letter words in the grid. Now, that is tough to pull off.)

Favorite clues: [1992 New Hampshire primary winner] was TSONGAS; I voted for him in my state's primary, but he'd been knocked out of the running by then. [Jimi Hendrix's style] was an AFRO—his hair, not his musical style. There are two movie references—ELLE is [Reese's "Legally Blonde" role] and MALDEN is [Brando's "On the Waterfront" co-star]. There's a CHARLES DE GAULLE quote in his clue: [He said "How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 kinds of cheese?"]. AL DENTE means [Offering just the right amount of resistance] to the pasta eater's teeth, but throwing the word resistance in there spurs misguided thoughts of physics and electricity. [They hold at least two cups each] has naught to do with bras—the answer is TEA SETS. The [Montana county seat named for a nonnative creature] is ANACONDA. [Had a one-sided conversation with] is TALKED AT, while [Cocktail party exchanges] are IDLE CHAT. Why don't I remember the [1976 Hall & Oates hit], SHE'S GONE? (Here's the video, complete with '76 video technology, a Quaaludes affect for both guys, black socks with sandals on Hall, and a sleeveless tuxedo shirt with platform shoes for Oates.) I did not know the etymological tidbit that BASSET is a [Dog breed whose name literally means "rather low"]. Speaking of dogs, if you read through the Down answers to the right of the BASSET, you learn that ASTA ABUSES FELINE. Nick and Nora should really put a leash on that dog, I tell ya. Can anyone entomologically inclined tell me if the HORNETS clue is wrong? [Underground nesters] would, according to this site, refer to yellow jackets but not to hornets, who nest in trees or shrubs.

Karen Tracey's New York Sun "Weekend Warrior" is mighty Scrabbly, with two Zs, a Q and X, five Ks, a J, and four Vs. Favorite fill and clues: TETRAZZINI is the last name of [Opera singer Luisa whose name can be found on some menus]. BARKEEPS and PUB-CRAWLED ([Painted the town red] in more contemporary vernacular) tie in with TEQUILA, which also goes with another sub-theme—Karen serves up a Mexican feast with Tijuana-related clues for BAJA and ENSENADA, accompanied by [It's named after a Jalisco town] for TEQUILA. [Jam "music"?] means HONKS, or sounds in traffic. [Like-minded group] pulls double duty for both CAMP and BLOC. [Scirocco producer] for VOLKSWAGEN is trying to trick you into thinking of the wind called a scirocco. [___ for Pyros (Woodstock '94 band)] is the most palatable clue for PORNO; rock and pop music also get guitarist SLASH ([Guitarist whose real name is Saul Hudson]), the 1970 Supremes hit STONED LOVE, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Phil SPECTOR, who may or may not be a murderer but definitely has had some bad hair days. Plenty of one-word clues, like [Lambkin] for TYKE, [Odd] for QUEER, and [Rusk] for ZWIEBACK. [Goes downhill fast] is a great clue for AVALANCHES. Karen's non-Mexican geography references include LAKE NASSER and the [Second-largest Greek island], EUBOEA. D-DAY gets the pop culture treatment with the clue, [Frat brother of Bluto in "Animal House"]—D-Day was the one with an impressive mustache and, if I recall correctly, an affinity for explosives. I didn't know the names of violinist ADELA Peña or composer LEROY Anderson.

Matt Jones's Jonesin' crossword, "Don't T's Me, Bro," turns each double into a single T and reclues the phrases accordingly. [Degraded one's breeding partners?] is MADE MATERS WORSE, for example, and [Holy people who procrastinate?] are LATER DAY SAINTS. Answers and clues you won't see any time soon in the daily newspaper crosswords: ROID rage, FARK for [Website noted for Photoshop contests], BARF, [Sidewalk sippers] for WINOS, [Standard time to lose one's virginity] for PROM, ["South Park" kid in a poofball hat] for STAN, and my personal favorite, [Incredulous Internet interjection] for WTF.

Updated:

I've only got time for quick takes on the day's other crosswords.

Michael Ashley's 11/23 Chronicle of Higher Education puzzle, "The Greats"—The theme entries are noted men who were called "the Great ___." Only one of them came readily to mind, but overall the cluing was fairly easy. One lovely word in the fill: SOUGH, "to make a soft, low sighing or rustling sound, like the wind." The word's roots go back to Old English. Can you envision being in England a millennium or so ago and needing to coin a word with this meaning?

Mel Rosen's CrosSynergy crossword, "Breaking With Tradition: An Anagram Puzzle"—This puzzle would've been a lot more challenging without that subtitle in the title bar. "With tradition" is scrambled into the four patently-ridiculous-yet-clueable theme phrases. It did take me a while to parse ADROITHINTWIT. I kept seeing a THIN TWIT rather than a HINT WIT ([Writer of clever crossword clues?]).

Donna Levin's LA Times puzzle—The theme entries all have puns relating to Italy, and these puns, they did not pain me. I've been down on pun themes lately, but this one worked for me. Favorite entry: [Low-budget Italian travel guide?] is TURIN ON A DIME—yes, that's be pretty low-budget, all right. FIVE EASY PIZZAS plays on Five Easy Pieces. Alien life form transmogrifies into the ALIEN LIFE FORUM where the interplanetary beings assemble. And the indictment contains ROMAN CHARGES, playing on cell-phone roaming charges.

Patrick Blindauer and Tony Orbach's Wall Street Journal puzzle, "Wrap Stars"—The theme is basically a movie star trivia quiz, with the clues identifying a movie that the answer starred in. In addition, there's a wordplay bonus: each clue hints at what shorter word is hidden within the star's name, linking first and last names. For example, UMA THURMAN has MATH and GRETA GARBO has TAG. The best is saved for last: CANDICE BERGEN has the longest hidden word, and I'm betting she was the seed entry for this puzzle.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 10:48 PM

Labels: , , , , , , ,

December 05, 2007

Thursday, 12/6

NYS 6:00
NYT 5:43
LAT 4:27
CS 3:26

I know I'm sleepy, but the theme in Joe Krozel's New York Times crossword doesn't quite make sense to me. ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN in the middle means that ON and OFF are repeated in the other theme entries, but with different structures? ON COMET, ON CUPID is balanced out by OFF-OFF-BROADWAY, but the ON_ON_ vs. OFFOFF_ format is throwing me off. Is there another layer I'm missing? The clues for two of the bottom sections of the grid just weren't making sense to my addled brain. [Ballpark figures] are FANS, [Modern writing] is (hello!) BLOG, [Chisels] is ROOKS, [Corner] is NOOK, [Company leaders: Abbr.] are SGTS (not CEOS or MGMT or MGRS). Yes, DNAS can be plural as [Genetic strands]. [MCI and others] means Roman-numeral years, or ANNI, and not phone companies. Quite a few long fill entries here, too, and their clues also didn't yield answers too quickly. Am feeling mentally very leaden tonight!

Case in point: After writing that paragraph, I tackled Tony Orbach's New York Sun puzzle, "Scoreboard Game," and it too is not quite making sense to me. Oh, wait. Okay. I see it now: Three-letter scoreboard abbreviations for baseball (?) teams. PHI for Philadelphia is added to lip-reads, making Prince PHILIP READS for a part. NYM, or the Mets, is added to pH balance, making NYMPH BALANCE. ATL for Atlanta finds its way into the bee's knees for THE BEATLES' KNEES. FLA for Florida joins a king cobra for FLAKING COBRA. And WSH for Washington interrupts a coed dorm to make COWSHED DORM. Relatively Scrabbly fill is a plus. Favorite clue: [Dr. in the hizzle?] for DRE.

I hear there's a good Karen Tracey "Weekend Warrior" on tap for tomorrow's Sun, but I dasn't try that one in this logy state!

Updated:

Alan Olschwang's LA Times puzzle's theme is outlined in the first and last Across answers, MUSIC and SCALE. The theme entries are, in order, DOT RECORDS, MIA FARROW, SOLAR LAMP, and TILTED DOWN. These phrases are mostly lifeless (in my opinion), but I like their initial musical bits and the consistent structure the octet imposes on the crossword.

Patrick Blindauer's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Company Mergers," spotlights five phrases in which INC is hidden, with the IN ending the first word and C starting the second. Pretty straightforward business here.

Read More...

Posted by Orange at 10:18 PM

Labels: , , ,

Subscribe to: Comment Feed (RSS)