12:04 (Horace's time - we each did the puzzle on our own today)
It's time to talk turkey. And gravy, squash, and dressing. A real smörgåsbord. Clues ran from tough nuts to crack (at least for this reviewer) like 10D: LaCrosse, for one (BUICKSEDAN) to easy as pie (71A: "That threw me for a __" (ALOOP)). Being a Wednesday puzzle there wasn't a lot to sink one's teeth into, but one or two clues had me ruminating. In addition to car models (not in my wheelhouse), I have never seen LOOIES as slang for lieutenant (57A: Officers above sarges). Nor have I ever heard of Lisa LOEB (46A: with the 1997 hit "I Do"). I also first entered udon for SOBA (58A: Noodles in Japanese cookery),
possibly because I have no idea what kind of noodle is what, but, the crosses kept me from having to eat crow and I was able to submit without error.
Some other nice food references to fill the plate: ORZO (59D: Rice-size pasta), 69A: Fillet (BONE), and 35D. Egg: Prefix (OVI), and one of Horace's favorites, QUIK (25D: Old Nestle brand).
A possible point of interest in light of yesterday's language discussion: there's not a single obviously French word in this food-themed puzzle, unless you count ETTE (62A: Suffix with Rock). We have ENERO (15D: Warm month in South America), and MEZZO (68A: Many an aria singer, informally) in addition to the above mentioned ORZO, mais pas de mots français. Sacre bleu!
And last, but not least, my favorite clue of the day: 54D: Body measurement (GIRTH). Perfect for Huygens and Thanksgiving Day.
~Frannie
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013, Don Gagliardo and Zhouqin Burnikel
0:21:00
This starts out strong with, EDICT (1A: Decree), a nice ten-cent word (especially for a Tuesday). There's nice 70s TV trivia with DANNO (14A: "Hawaii Five-O" nickname) (popular this week, the 5-0), SPOCK (45A: "Live long and prosper" speaker), and SCOOBYDOO (23D: Shaggy's dog) (or was that the 80s?), and the theme is interesting, if a tad odd.
I've never heard of an ESCALATORCLAUSE (39A: Provision in many a construction contract), but maybe the Times has been hearing from a lot of construction workers who say there's not enough in the puzzles for them, and ECOTONE (37D: Transitional zone between plant communities) is also new to me, (ditto for landscape architects).
I liked BEAUTIFUL (11D: Stunning), and TOOTOO (5D: Pretentious, informally) and ITSAGO (43A: "We're on!") were both nice, current, in-the-language (as some say) phrases. Good clueing all around, especially for CELS (31D: Ones drawn to film?) and WOOD (67A: Covered club, usually).
Somebody ought to do a study on French in American crossword puzzles. It's been a while since it was the foreign language to take in school, right? So why not more Spanish? Today we've got two French and one Italian. Four French if you count OSIER (28A: Willow twig) and ESPRIT (25A: Quick wit), and, what the heck, let's throw in EDICT too. On second thought, maybe that comes straight from Latin, but anyway… all that to just one Spanish, and that's only if you count OAXACA (53A: Modern home of the ancient Zapotec civilization), which I don't, really.
All in all, an enjoyable Tuesday.
- Horace
This starts out strong with, EDICT (1A: Decree), a nice ten-cent word (especially for a Tuesday). There's nice 70s TV trivia with DANNO (14A: "Hawaii Five-O" nickname) (popular this week, the 5-0), SPOCK (45A: "Live long and prosper" speaker), and SCOOBYDOO (23D: Shaggy's dog) (or was that the 80s?), and the theme is interesting, if a tad odd.
I've never heard of an ESCALATORCLAUSE (39A: Provision in many a construction contract), but maybe the Times has been hearing from a lot of construction workers who say there's not enough in the puzzles for them, and ECOTONE (37D: Transitional zone between plant communities) is also new to me, (ditto for landscape architects).
I liked BEAUTIFUL (11D: Stunning), and TOOTOO (5D: Pretentious, informally) and ITSAGO (43A: "We're on!") were both nice, current, in-the-language (as some say) phrases. Good clueing all around, especially for CELS (31D: Ones drawn to film?) and WOOD (67A: Covered club, usually).
Somebody ought to do a study on French in American crossword puzzles. It's been a while since it was the foreign language to take in school, right? So why not more Spanish? Today we've got two French and one Italian. Four French if you count OSIER (28A: Willow twig) and ESPRIT (25A: Quick wit), and, what the heck, let's throw in EDICT too. On second thought, maybe that comes straight from Latin, but anyway… all that to just one Spanish, and that's only if you count OAXACA (53A: Modern home of the ancient Zapotec civilization), which I don't, really.
All in all, an enjoyable Tuesday.
- Horace
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013, Kevin G. Der
0:06:06
Decent Monday theme and Monday puzzle. Nice nod to EDNA (19A: ___ Krabappel of "The Simpsons") who (Marcia Wallace) died recently. And the clue for PSIS (10A: Greek letters resembling tridents) in that same area was a nice change from a plain old "Greek letters," or the like. SIDEBENEFIT (11D: Secondary advantage) was a nice 11-letter entry, and the symmetrical 8s weren't bad either. My favorite of those was probably EXPELLED (9D: Kicked out).
All the bumper sticker starters were perfectly acceptable. We've all seen all of those.
Lots of little nuisances in the grid, with MITE, GNAT and ANTS, but no real complaints.
- Horace
Decent Monday theme and Monday puzzle. Nice nod to EDNA (19A: ___ Krabappel of "The Simpsons") who (Marcia Wallace) died recently. And the clue for PSIS (10A: Greek letters resembling tridents) in that same area was a nice change from a plain old "Greek letters," or the like. SIDEBENEFIT (11D: Secondary advantage) was a nice 11-letter entry, and the symmetrical 8s weren't bad either. My favorite of those was probably EXPELLED (9D: Kicked out).
All the bumper sticker starters were perfectly acceptable. We've all seen all of those.
Lots of little nuisances in the grid, with MITE, GNAT and ANTS, but no real complaints.
- Horace
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 24, 2013, Gary Cee
0:55:53
HITS AND MS.ES
This was a fun theme - song titles with women's names clued by referencing famous people with those last names. For example, COMEONEILEEN clued with 37A: "Hurry up, Ms. Brennan!" I'm not really sure who Eileen Brennan is, but I am quite familiar with the song. On the other hand, I'm not familiar with the song SARASMILE (55A: "Cheer up, Ms. Teasdale!"), but I am quite fond of the poetry of Sara Teasdale.
Nice little nod to the season with 1A: Parade organizer (MACYS), but the other Thanksgiving-related clue, 26A: Turkey isn't one (REDMEAT), seemed kind of flat. Same with 51A: Market makeup: Abbr. (COS), and why is AYEAYE clued with 66A: "Sí!" at sea? Why use the Spanish there? And why is Spanish not used for OLE (70A: "Hurrah!")? Is "Olé" just thought of as common enough crosswordese that it has lost all association with nationality? Probably. And while we're talking about nationalities, is BRITCOM (100A: "Absolutely Fabulous" or "Father Ted") really a thing? Not that we mind it, but we've never heard it before. And speaking of Britain, that seems to be where the term SHORTTON (5D: 2,000 pounds) is used. Over here, where this puzzle is published, we just say "ton."
Some clues we liked:
34A: Eight, for starters? (OCTO)
49A: Like some queens (APIAN)
42D: Older form of a word (ETYMON) Never heard that before, but it's interesting.
Overall, the clueing seemed either lackluster (118A: More Solomonic (WISER)), a little off (9D: Cuffed (SMOTE)) or very obscure (10D: ____ de Nil (EAU)). Not our favorite Sunday.
- Horace
HITS AND MS.ES
This was a fun theme - song titles with women's names clued by referencing famous people with those last names. For example, COMEONEILEEN clued with 37A: "Hurry up, Ms. Brennan!" I'm not really sure who Eileen Brennan is, but I am quite familiar with the song. On the other hand, I'm not familiar with the song SARASMILE (55A: "Cheer up, Ms. Teasdale!"), but I am quite fond of the poetry of Sara Teasdale.
Nice little nod to the season with 1A: Parade organizer (MACYS), but the other Thanksgiving-related clue, 26A: Turkey isn't one (REDMEAT), seemed kind of flat. Same with 51A: Market makeup: Abbr. (COS), and why is AYEAYE clued with 66A: "Sí!" at sea? Why use the Spanish there? And why is Spanish not used for OLE (70A: "Hurrah!")? Is "Olé" just thought of as common enough crosswordese that it has lost all association with nationality? Probably. And while we're talking about nationalities, is BRITCOM (100A: "Absolutely Fabulous" or "Father Ted") really a thing? Not that we mind it, but we've never heard it before. And speaking of Britain, that seems to be where the term SHORTTON (5D: 2,000 pounds) is used. Over here, where this puzzle is published, we just say "ton."
Some clues we liked:
34A: Eight, for starters? (OCTO)
49A: Like some queens (APIAN)
42D: Older form of a word (ETYMON) Never heard that before, but it's interesting.
Overall, the clueing seemed either lackluster (118A: More Solomonic (WISER)), a little off (9D: Cuffed (SMOTE)) or very obscure (10D: ____ de Nil (EAU)). Not our favorite Sunday.
- Horace
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013, Frederick J. Healy
0:24:22
We came home last night, tired and tipsy, and finished all but a handful of squares in fifteen minutes or so, then fell asleep. By the time I woke up this morning, Frannie had finished it off. This must be the first time all year that our times went backwards from Thursday to Saturday. Very odd.
This wasn't terrible, but I didn't like several pieces of it. The crossing of SPICA (24A: Star in Virgo) and LITA (21D: Grammy-nominated Ford) ("nominated?") seemed especially unfair. Frannie says she tried "I" simply because the rules of the English language made it seem plausible. "E" was equally plausible, I think, but either way, it was a crapshoot. Another quibble was BOOTEES (18A: Couple seen at a baby shower). Who has ever spelled "booties" that way? And RESHOES (57A: Does some farrier's work on) was weak, but not horrible. TABUS (30D: They're off-limits: Var.), on the other hand…
On the bright side, I enjoyed that "Irani" fit into 28A: Modern Persian (FARSI), and that either could have been correct. I liked SALTON (31A: California's ___ Sea (rift lake)), because I haven't thought of that in a while, but why did they feel that adding "rift lake" was a good idea? or necessary? or helpful? Just because it's not really a sea? Does that matter? I also quite liked the three esses in a row in 13D: Tepid consent (GUESSSO). That looks great.
Tons of "scrabble letters" in the grid today. Maybe Mr. Healy was going for the highest scrabble point value ever in a puzzle. Is that a thing, I wonder? I'll check over on Wordplay after I write this. They'll mention it if it is. It might explain the unevenness and relative easiness.
ULALUME (2D: Title name written "on the door of this leg ended tomb" in poetry) twice in one month? And as Huygens pointed out recently, a knowledge of French comes in handy when solving these. Today's SAIS (44A: "Que ____-je?" ("What do I know?": Fr.)) was one of the tougher ones (although still pure French I stuff) that we've seen lately. And right after that, AUSSI (48A: Too, to Thérèse). He could have gone one step further and clued SOI (6D: "____ see") with French, too, but perhaps two was enough.
Bottom line: too easy for Saturday.
- Horace
We came home last night, tired and tipsy, and finished all but a handful of squares in fifteen minutes or so, then fell asleep. By the time I woke up this morning, Frannie had finished it off. This must be the first time all year that our times went backwards from Thursday to Saturday. Very odd.
This wasn't terrible, but I didn't like several pieces of it. The crossing of SPICA (24A: Star in Virgo) and LITA (21D: Grammy-nominated Ford) ("nominated?") seemed especially unfair. Frannie says she tried "I" simply because the rules of the English language made it seem plausible. "E" was equally plausible, I think, but either way, it was a crapshoot. Another quibble was BOOTEES (18A: Couple seen at a baby shower). Who has ever spelled "booties" that way? And RESHOES (57A: Does some farrier's work on) was weak, but not horrible. TABUS (30D: They're off-limits: Var.), on the other hand…
On the bright side, I enjoyed that "Irani" fit into 28A: Modern Persian (FARSI), and that either could have been correct. I liked SALTON (31A: California's ___ Sea (rift lake)), because I haven't thought of that in a while, but why did they feel that adding "rift lake" was a good idea? or necessary? or helpful? Just because it's not really a sea? Does that matter? I also quite liked the three esses in a row in 13D: Tepid consent (GUESSSO). That looks great.
Tons of "scrabble letters" in the grid today. Maybe Mr. Healy was going for the highest scrabble point value ever in a puzzle. Is that a thing, I wonder? I'll check over on Wordplay after I write this. They'll mention it if it is. It might explain the unevenness and relative easiness.
ULALUME (2D: Title name written "on the door of this leg ended tomb" in poetry) twice in one month? And as Huygens pointed out recently, a knowledge of French comes in handy when solving these. Today's SAIS (44A: "Que ____-je?" ("What do I know?": Fr.)) was one of the tougher ones (although still pure French I stuff) that we've seen lately. And right after that, AUSSI (48A: Too, to Thérèse). He could have gone one step further and clued SOI (6D: "____ see") with French, too, but perhaps two was enough.
Bottom line: too easy for Saturday.
- Horace
Friday, November 22, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013, Patrick Berry
0:35:10
We have a good feeling when we see Patrick Berry's name. I believe Frannie once called one of his puzzles "Berry clever," and today he didn't disappoint. It went down a little fast for a Friday, maybe, but at least we had a smile on our face while doing it.
Right off the bat, I tried "Quick" for 1A: Milk additive (BOSCO), but I couldn't make the Q work. Oddly enough, there was an "un-U'd Q"(Look, Colum! Now I've written it, too!) just a little ways away in that same quadrant! And it was in the NW that we started (albeit erroneously) and finished today. I don't know why, but the name AXTON (14A: Hoyt who wrote "Joy to the World") actually fell out of my head after we got a few crosses. URI (21A: Altdorf's canton), however, was entered only because OXNARD (2D: City that hosts the California Strawberry Festival) sounded plausible and a little bit familiar.
Other than that, though, there were no real trouble spots. I liked seeing JACKLORD (6A: TV actor who lived, appropriately, in Hawaii) in there, and I loved seeing OVALTINE (11D: Milk additive). Mmmm.... malty.... I think maybe Mr. Berry had "Quick" in mind when he put NESTLES (20A: Gets ensconced) into the grid, thinking about the milk trifecta, but then the clue got changed. OK, maybe not.
ABOUTFACE (17A: Reverse order?) was nice, 33A: On-deck circle? (LIFEPRESERVER) - also good, and what about 55A: Light-reflecting shade (WHITE)? Very nice. But the best might have been 58A: Unwelcome benchmark? (WETPAINT). Brilliant. I'll gladly trade a few ULNAE, URI, and STADIA for entries like those. I hated SLUMDOG (35D: Title sort of person in 2008's Best Picture), but DENEUVE (23D: Star of Buñel's "Belle de Jour") makes up for it.
Would it be too much to ask for puzzles like this on Wednesday? How about just three days of themes, Mon, Tues, and Thurs, (ok, and Sunday), and three days of themeless? It would open things up a bit, maybe, and Wednesday could shake its stigma of "red-headed stepchild."
- Horace
p.s. We read in the Wordplay blog that yesterday marked Will Shortz's twentieth anniversary as editor of the NYT Crossword. We each learned his name before we knew each other's. We both had subscriptions to "Games" magazine when we met, and for many years we each kept our own personal subscription, just so we didn't have to share the crosswords. Sometimes we would race each other, but mostly we each just wanted to enjoy them for ourselves. Eventually, we consolidated into one and learned to share, but sometimes, especially with a fun puzzle like this, one is left waiting, hoping, that the other will hit a substantial roadblock and be forced to hand it over.
Thanks, Will, from both of us, for so many years of quality puzzles.
We have a good feeling when we see Patrick Berry's name. I believe Frannie once called one of his puzzles "Berry clever," and today he didn't disappoint. It went down a little fast for a Friday, maybe, but at least we had a smile on our face while doing it.
Right off the bat, I tried "Quick" for 1A: Milk additive (BOSCO), but I couldn't make the Q work. Oddly enough, there was an "un-U'd Q"(Look, Colum! Now I've written it, too!) just a little ways away in that same quadrant! And it was in the NW that we started (albeit erroneously) and finished today. I don't know why, but the name AXTON (14A: Hoyt who wrote "Joy to the World") actually fell out of my head after we got a few crosses. URI (21A: Altdorf's canton), however, was entered only because OXNARD (2D: City that hosts the California Strawberry Festival) sounded plausible and a little bit familiar.
Other than that, though, there were no real trouble spots. I liked seeing JACKLORD (6A: TV actor who lived, appropriately, in Hawaii) in there, and I loved seeing OVALTINE (11D: Milk additive). Mmmm.... malty.... I think maybe Mr. Berry had "Quick" in mind when he put NESTLES (20A: Gets ensconced) into the grid, thinking about the milk trifecta, but then the clue got changed. OK, maybe not.
ABOUTFACE (17A: Reverse order?) was nice, 33A: On-deck circle? (LIFEPRESERVER) - also good, and what about 55A: Light-reflecting shade (WHITE)? Very nice. But the best might have been 58A: Unwelcome benchmark? (WETPAINT). Brilliant. I'll gladly trade a few ULNAE, URI, and STADIA for entries like those. I hated SLUMDOG (35D: Title sort of person in 2008's Best Picture), but DENEUVE (23D: Star of Buñel's "Belle de Jour") makes up for it.
Would it be too much to ask for puzzles like this on Wednesday? How about just three days of themes, Mon, Tues, and Thurs, (ok, and Sunday), and three days of themeless? It would open things up a bit, maybe, and Wednesday could shake its stigma of "red-headed stepchild."
- Horace
p.s. We read in the Wordplay blog that yesterday marked Will Shortz's twentieth anniversary as editor of the NYT Crossword. We each learned his name before we knew each other's. We both had subscriptions to "Games" magazine when we met, and for many years we each kept our own personal subscription, just so we didn't have to share the crosswords. Sometimes we would race each other, but mostly we each just wanted to enjoy them for ourselves. Eventually, we consolidated into one and learned to share, but sometimes, especially with a fun puzzle like this, one is left waiting, hoping, that the other will hit a substantial roadblock and be forced to hand it over.
Thanks, Will, from both of us, for so many years of quality puzzles.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013, Jules P. Markey
0:43:35
Excuse me, but did Mr. Markey just make a joke that says OBAMA is a 53D: President whose initials "stink?" Funny (-ish), but so wrong.
You can put me down as a non-fan of puzzles where four clues are given as "[ ]," and while I certainly didn't love this one, I didn't hate it either. There were a couple that I thought were borderline - ARC (4A: Go ballistic?) and NEE (24A: Formerly). I guess when you work with ballistics, you chart trajectories, which are arcs… that's what they're getting at, right? I like cryptics and all, but that seems a little beyond the pale. And "née" does, I guess, indicate a former name, and you wouldn't get any complaints if you said, "Mrs. Darcy, formerly Miss Bennet," but I don't love it. And then there's all that UAR, BAIN, ABA, LOD…
On the bright side, however, ORANG (10D: Malay for "human") was interesting (I feel I've heard that before, but I never would have remembered it), and giving SIRI's birthday was cute (66A: Her "birthday" is Oct. 4, 2011). The Siri in my iPad has never been activated, so does that mean that when I do (if I do) activate her, that my Siri's birthday will be a date now in the future? No, probably not. I'm not even sure why I thought of that… or why I bothered to type it out.
Many things in this one had me stumped for a while, like COPYEDIT (52A: Ready for publication), and ESP (72A: Head-to-head contact, for short?) (nice!). It's that tricky verb/adjective thing for the first one, and for the second, well, I would have had it sooner if I hadn't errantly entered "Samoa" for 56D: Aegean island" (SAMOS). I know, I know… it's no where near the Agean, but I think I just saw "island" and went for it.
I liked how hard it was (at least for me), but I didn't particularly love much else about it.
- Horace
Excuse me, but did Mr. Markey just make a joke that says OBAMA is a 53D: President whose initials "stink?" Funny (-ish), but so wrong.
You can put me down as a non-fan of puzzles where four clues are given as "[ ]," and while I certainly didn't love this one, I didn't hate it either. There were a couple that I thought were borderline - ARC (4A: Go ballistic?) and NEE (24A: Formerly). I guess when you work with ballistics, you chart trajectories, which are arcs… that's what they're getting at, right? I like cryptics and all, but that seems a little beyond the pale. And "née" does, I guess, indicate a former name, and you wouldn't get any complaints if you said, "Mrs. Darcy, formerly Miss Bennet," but I don't love it. And then there's all that UAR, BAIN, ABA, LOD…
On the bright side, however, ORANG (10D: Malay for "human") was interesting (I feel I've heard that before, but I never would have remembered it), and giving SIRI's birthday was cute (66A: Her "birthday" is Oct. 4, 2011). The Siri in my iPad has never been activated, so does that mean that when I do (if I do) activate her, that my Siri's birthday will be a date now in the future? No, probably not. I'm not even sure why I thought of that… or why I bothered to type it out.
Many things in this one had me stumped for a while, like COPYEDIT (52A: Ready for publication), and ESP (72A: Head-to-head contact, for short?) (nice!). It's that tricky verb/adjective thing for the first one, and for the second, well, I would have had it sooner if I hadn't errantly entered "Samoa" for 56D: Aegean island" (SAMOS). I know, I know… it's no where near the Agean, but I think I just saw "island" and went for it.
I liked how hard it was (at least for me), but I didn't particularly love much else about it.
- Horace
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