Monday, April 15, 2013

Monday, April 15, 2013, Gayle Dean

0:15:04

Not a bad Monday puzzle. I'm not terribly familiar with Yiddish loanwords, so the theme answers did not come immediately. Still, they are not completely foreign to me, so it wasn't a major stumbling block.

The fill was, I thought, very clean throughout. The only thing that seemed a little unnatural was EULOGIA (44D: Laudatory tributes upon someone's passing), and even that wasn't bad, because Eulogy is already kind of an odd word. LADE (19A: Put on Cargo) is pretty crosswordsy, but I'll let that pass, too. I've never heard of SENNA (67A: Medicinal plant), but instead of feeling like the constructor just jammed something in, I feel that I've learned a little something.

66A: Class struggle? (TEST) was a nice clue, and I'm sure that our frequent commenter Huygens will enjoy seeing CARL (32A: Astronomer Sagan) right in the middle of the grid. I also enjoyed the clue/answer pair 33D: End of a bridal path (ALTAR), and 54D: Nut with a cap (ACORN) is kind of cute.

If you were to ask me, I'd say it played more like a mid-week puzzle than a Monday (I'm looking at you, CODICIL!), but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with that. Especially after last Monday!

- Horace

4 comments:

  1. 7:47
    This was no problem, and unlike last Monday it at least took me a bit longer than the Telegram's (6:50). I did, indeed, like seeing the reference to the late, great Dr. Carl Sagan. I know many of the Yiddish theme words since I listen to Mr. Stern daily and he is Jewish. I'd never heard of SENNA either. In general, I find that these NYT puzzles take care to offer interesting clues for stock puzzle answers.

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  2. Thanks Horace and Frances for the nice commentary! Gayle Dean

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  3. No, Gayle, thank you for the puzzle! And for our first comment from a puzzle constructor! We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

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  4. 7:22. I must be slipping; I just barely beat Christopher! However, I do think that the times are generally faster with the digital version. There's no incentive to wait since changing answers is so easy. Since I fill them in pen and don't like to do writeovers, I try to corroborate every answer three or four deep. I did enjoy this puzzle. It was slightly harder for me than an average Monday--which is always good. Gayle, if you see this comment--and I can't believe you would--what percentage of the clues are yours (compared to ones that Shortz changed? I've heard he alters about 50%, which I've always thought sounded very high. My favorite clue is the one for Idaho. It's easy, but when I think of states with panhandles, Idaho doesn't usually come to mind. Rex criticized this puzzle for having an "older" feel. To me, that's an attribute.

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