23:11, FWOE
It's not Sunday, but I found today's NYT crossword puzzle to be a little like "Men in their 40's," TRICKY COMPLICATEDAND disappointing. That last bit is an addition of my own, caused by the FWOE. Most of the puzzle went very smoothly, but I got into stuck in a right FOGBOW in the northwest corner. There was so much I didn't know, including the quote itself - which I was not expecting to start with two adjectives in a row, that's for sure! I also didn't know REMORA, KVELLED, or YETIS, although the last is quite amusing. But it was 4D: "N.Y.S.E. listing: Abbr." that hit me where it HURT. I couldn't figure out what the clue was going for. I guessed COmP (instead of CORP) and ended up with IMAmET at 18A. The latter didn't seem totally impossible, although upon reflection, I was probably confusing it with the word for lodgings for Mosque leaders. :)
So, yes, to get back to theme, which isn't so much a theme as the second half of a quote attributed to a character named Carrie Bradshaw in the show "Sex and the City." I mention this in case, you, like me, dear reader, somehow missed that boat. Here's the quote in full: "Men in their 40s are like the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle TRICKY COMPLICATEDAND YOURENEVER REALLYSURE YOUGOTHERIGHTANSWER." I can't say I really 'get' the quote, but maybe the ANSWER part makes more sense in the context of the show.
I very much enjoyed the rest of the puzzle. Several snappy C/AP's jumped out at me even as I solved including "Smart, in a way" (HURT), "Sicken with sweetness (CLOY), "A barb might cause it to deflate" (EGO), "Senate rebuke" (ETTU), "Careful effort" (PAINS), "Go (for)" (RETAIL), and my favorite, "Lyon king" (ROI) - ha! And who doesn't love the word FLOUT?
In short tricky, complicated and fun!
~Frannie.
DNF (in 50:42)
ReplyDeleteI watched all of SATC with Sue, but didn't remember that particular quote. I mean, half the show was Carrie narrating something or other, and the other half was her buying shoes. Unfortunately, the NW was a real slog for me since I tried Theyre where TRICKY belongs, and was quite confident since that made a quote that both sounded correct and fit. That made the crosses difficult, but I don't know that I'd have gotten REMORA or KVELLED regardless, especially as IMARET was a cross. No good. And really, the rest of the puzzle was not fun enough for me to make up for the 25 minutes (at least) that I spent, fruitlessly, in the NW. I guess LENORE is timely for some, as there will be a reading, as I understand, this Saturday.
9:12
ReplyDeleteVery TRICKY Wednesday puzzle. I'm not a huge fan of quotation puzzles, as I may have said before. You are left in a sea of confusion for much of the solve, and then things become overly obvious. I, like Huygens, tried Theyre at 1A also, but I did remember REMORA, so switched it out. I like IMARET crossing IMAMAC.
14:56
ReplyDeleteYeah, that NW was tough. I dropped in REMORA without crosses, but KVELLED, on the other hand, was little more than a multi-cross-fuelled guess.