0:16:20
We're late getting to the puzzle today, but it was worth the wait! Enjoyed the FIVEGOLDENRINGS (41A: One set of gifts in "The 12 Days of Christmas" - as suggested by the circled squares?), but Frannie said she wasn't familiar with the term "Golden Slumbers," outside of the Beatles song. When I thought about it, neither was I, so I Googled it just now, and found that nothing comes up on the first page other than the Beatles song, but - I learned from Wikipedia (go ahead, trust Wikipedia) that McCartney took the lyric from a 1603 lullaby by Thomas Dekker. The sheet music was, apparently, on Sir Paul's father's piano, and he liked the lyrics. He couldn't read music, so he made up his own to go with it. He used only the first stanza of the original (with minor changes), but you have to believe that the second stanza influenced the song "Carry That Weight," which "Golden Slumbers" seamlessly becomes. I reprint the entire poem here, without permission:
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you,
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
So, apparently, a song from one of the greatest albums from perhaps the greatest band of all time is worthy of standing on its own in a crossword puzzle theme. But where was I? Right, the grid. Getting those golden rings to work must have taken some doing, because we see a lot of familiar fill (STET, EELS, POSER), and some unusual fill (OSSETIA, CHIS, DONEE), but I think on balance, this puzzle comes out ahead. The theme, as stated, is enjoyable, and there's some good fill in here, too.
We very much enjoyed the "Senseless" pair of NUMB and DUMB (18- & 36-Across), and SHASTA (56A: Second-highest peak in the Cascades) and LACROSSE (59A: Sport not played officially in the Olympics since 1908) were both quality fill and quality trivia. And let's talk about AFORESAID (10D: Raised above?). Is that clue to be taken cryptically, as in "Like the word 'raised,' seen above in this clue," or more literally, as you might see in an essay, as in "Like this topic I just mentioned, also written about previously?" I thought the first, at first, and Frannie the second, but either could work, it seems. What did you think?
OK, that's probably enough for now. I want to go play with my new gifts, one of which, happily, was another year's subscription to the NYT Crosswords on the iPad! YAY!
- Horace
11:30. Merry Xmas! I tried to answer on Hope's new iPod Air (with wireless keyboard), but for some reason the comment didn't go through. Much Apple was enjoyed this morning. But I digress... Excellent theme today, with good follow-through. I accepted otherwise poor fill for the nice theme, but I wonder if that is a good compromise. Anyway, golden slumbers worked for me on the basis of the Beatles song along, even though I had known (and forgotten) the existence of the earlier poem. Didn't like POSER. Liked WEIRS, LAVAS, and the added thematic material of HOHO and ANGEL (which otherwise would have been banal). Thumbs up today!
ReplyDeleteI loved this one. I didn't time it, but I was much slower than you guys. I'm pretty sure "Raised above?" means "the thing I mentioned previously." In other words, "that point I raised up higher on this paper." I too had that clue starred. Great stuff. Surprised you didn't mention the very high quality clue "Hubristic flier of myth." I don't think the fill is bad at all, especially for a Wednesday. Too many good words in here to quibble about SYS, SRO, ELL, SSRS, and the like. And what's going on, Horace didn't call out a Cicero quote?!
ReplyDelete24 mins.
ReplyDeleteI starred 29D Aa and pahoehoe (LAVAS) because I've seen it plenty of times before and should know it by now, but alas, I needed some crosses to get it. I also starred 31D Distant radiation source (PULSAR) because I am an astronomy buff. Nothing else really jumped out at me. I filled this puzzle in pretty evenly without many problems and figured out the theme early on. A good Wednesday.
Yes, the Cicero quote was interesting. "FEAR is not a lasting teacher of duty," indeed. I wonder if he was saying that as they were threatening to cut off his head and hands? Of course, the phrase is not proven wrong by the fact that they did so anyway, but it is, maybe, rendered moot.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I guess I agree that "Raised above" must have the essay-related meaning.
"Hubristic flier of myth" was a gimme, but still, yes, a nice clue.
The lava clue, too, was a gimme, as I like to know what all the odd two-letter words in scrabble mean, in case of a challenge. Not that I've ever played Scrabble with the challenge rule in place, but I still think it's a good policy.
Having your hands cut off isn't so bad probably if your head has already been cut off.
ReplyDeletelol, sort of, ... But knowing what little I do about the Romans, I doubt they provided him such a comfort.
ReplyDelete