0:07:20
A little homonym practice today, with three phrases demonstrating proper usage of "there," "their," and "they're." I dislike most references to Ronald Reagan (17A: Famous debate words from Reagan to Carter (THEREYOUGOAGAIN)), so that got me off on the wrong foot as far as "feeling good about the puzzle" goes, and I never fully recovered. I didn't ABHOR (28D: Hate, hate hate) it, but it wasn't grrrrreat either. Also adding to my GLOOM (9A: Atmosphere of despondency) was the fact that I over -thought "38A: Sported, as a sports jacket" and entered the past participle "worn" instead of the simple past "WORE," and that took quite a while to find, as I never even looked at 19D: Some daisies (OXEYES). Oh well…
So…. it was fine.
- Horace
Monday, April 14, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014, Dan Schoenholz
1:04:17
IT'S TAXING
This seemed a little tougher than Sundays usually do, and we actually finished with an error - I had entered "assured" instead of ENSURED (42D: Double-checked, e.g.), and not knowing for sure 46A: Purim villain (HAMAN) (Hamas seemed plausible) or 39A: Reactor (PILE), the error went unnoticed until we were forced to hunt for it. But that's not even the area that gave us the most trouble (or, I guess it really was, but I didn't realize it at the time…). It was in the lower-middle left that we ended. I didn't know the quote off the top of my head (60D: "There is no greater evil than ____": "Antigone" (ANARCHY)), and had entered "dinners" where REPASTS (59D: Important parts of Thanksgiving and Easter) belonged, so it was slow going for a long while. Now that it's done, I can say that PANT (71A: Have a series of sudden inspirations) was brilliant. Another funny clue was 21A: It's organized in a family (CRIME). I tried "order" in there first, because, you know, "Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus…" But not today.
And speaking of today, it's almost tax day (ours are done, thank you), and the theme is a re-purposing of familiar phrases for tax-related purposes. They ranged from the humorous - MANYHAPPYRETURNS (38A: What C.P.A.'s wish for their clients?) to the mundane SCHEDULECHANGE (81A: I.R.S. update?), but really, the idea is a clever one, so I give Mr. Schoenholz full credit. Well, except for my least-favorite entry today - ILLY (110D: In a bad way). That's just awful, but it's one of only a few "blah" pieces of fill (ELHI, EBANKS, and CLU I'm looking at you!), so I'll let it slide.
I've never heard of a REDBONE (49D: Breed of hunting dog), but I'm guessing that at least one frequent reader has. And talking about things I didn't know brings me back to HAMAN - I looked him up. He tried to convince King Ahasuerus (probably Xerxes I) to kill all the Jews in Persia, but the Queen, Esther, herself a Jew, foiled the plot. The Jewish holiday Purim celebrates Esther's triumph, and the book of Ether is traditionally read during Purim services, which are held on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (itself a useful thing for crossword-solvers to know!).
Nice dual Hamlet references today with ARAT (5D: "How now! ____?": Hamlet) (did you ever see that "Hamlet on Facebook" thing? This would directly precede the line "Polonius is no longer online"), and ANNEAL (119A: Strengthen). It's a stretch, I know, but it makes me think of the ghost's line: "… cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled…"
OK, I'm getting a little far afield, perhaps it's a good time to cut this off. I liked it fine for a Sunday.
- Horace
IT'S TAXING
This seemed a little tougher than Sundays usually do, and we actually finished with an error - I had entered "assured" instead of ENSURED (42D: Double-checked, e.g.), and not knowing for sure 46A: Purim villain (HAMAN) (Hamas seemed plausible) or 39A: Reactor (PILE), the error went unnoticed until we were forced to hunt for it. But that's not even the area that gave us the most trouble (or, I guess it really was, but I didn't realize it at the time…). It was in the lower-middle left that we ended. I didn't know the quote off the top of my head (60D: "There is no greater evil than ____": "Antigone" (ANARCHY)), and had entered "dinners" where REPASTS (59D: Important parts of Thanksgiving and Easter) belonged, so it was slow going for a long while. Now that it's done, I can say that PANT (71A: Have a series of sudden inspirations) was brilliant. Another funny clue was 21A: It's organized in a family (CRIME). I tried "order" in there first, because, you know, "Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus…" But not today.
And speaking of today, it's almost tax day (ours are done, thank you), and the theme is a re-purposing of familiar phrases for tax-related purposes. They ranged from the humorous - MANYHAPPYRETURNS (38A: What C.P.A.'s wish for their clients?) to the mundane SCHEDULECHANGE (81A: I.R.S. update?), but really, the idea is a clever one, so I give Mr. Schoenholz full credit. Well, except for my least-favorite entry today - ILLY (110D: In a bad way). That's just awful, but it's one of only a few "blah" pieces of fill (ELHI, EBANKS, and CLU I'm looking at you!), so I'll let it slide.
I've never heard of a REDBONE (49D: Breed of hunting dog), but I'm guessing that at least one frequent reader has. And talking about things I didn't know brings me back to HAMAN - I looked him up. He tried to convince King Ahasuerus (probably Xerxes I) to kill all the Jews in Persia, but the Queen, Esther, herself a Jew, foiled the plot. The Jewish holiday Purim celebrates Esther's triumph, and the book of Ether is traditionally read during Purim services, which are held on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (itself a useful thing for crossword-solvers to know!).
Nice dual Hamlet references today with ARAT (5D: "How now! ____?": Hamlet) (did you ever see that "Hamlet on Facebook" thing? This would directly precede the line "Polonius is no longer online"), and ANNEAL (119A: Strengthen). It's a stretch, I know, but it makes me think of the ghost's line: "… cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled…"
OK, I'm getting a little far afield, perhaps it's a good time to cut this off. I liked it fine for a Sunday.
- Horace
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014, Mel Rosen
1:07:17
Boy, two great puzzles in a row! This one was nice and tough, too, and it took a combined effort to finally slay the beast.
I like the tricky clues for usual fare, like 31A: Composers of some rhapsodies (ODISTS) (ok, it's usually just "ODE," but I'm still counting it) and 34A: Cousin of an agave (ALOE). 7D: Old dynasts (TSARS) and 12A: Rebel in a beret (CHE) don't really count because they were still pretty easy. CHE was so easy, in fact, that I kept thinking that it must really be something else, because it is Saturday, after all. But no.
Loved the clues for DOCENTS (42A: They often provide illumination in galleries) ("windows" also fit) and DANGS (31D: Alternative to shoots?) (I had "hangs" in there briefly, which kind of grossed Frannie out). And I was thinking of 17A: Diet, e.g. in the right way for a long time, but still didn't come up with CONSULATES until we had a ton of crosses. I guess I was thinking more "governments" or something.
Frannie finally came up with MRROARKE (10D: "Fantasy Island" host). I don't know how she remembers this stuff. And coincidentally, the "Space Seed" episode of Star Trek was on one of those retro channels last night. We watched a bit of it.
Nice timing, too, on the COLBERTBUMP (1A: Popularity boost due to a certain TV endorsement). I wonder if this puzzle was rushed into the lineup by Will Shortz, hoping for his own Colbert bump.
Lastly, PYEDOGS (11D: Stray mongrels)? What's up with that? The Free Dictionary says it's from a Hindi word, pahi, which means "outsider." Huh. Well, that's part of the great thing about the Saturday puzzles - you often learn a thing or two. Like who knew two famous explorers both had the first name VASCO (29D: Balboa's first name) (wasn't it also DaGama's? Yes. Yes it was.).
A nice, challenging puzzle with very little (ACC, SELA, URU, ASCI) to complain about. Lovely.
- Horace
Boy, two great puzzles in a row! This one was nice and tough, too, and it took a combined effort to finally slay the beast.
I like the tricky clues for usual fare, like 31A: Composers of some rhapsodies (ODISTS) (ok, it's usually just "ODE," but I'm still counting it) and 34A: Cousin of an agave (ALOE). 7D: Old dynasts (TSARS) and 12A: Rebel in a beret (CHE) don't really count because they were still pretty easy. CHE was so easy, in fact, that I kept thinking that it must really be something else, because it is Saturday, after all. But no.
Loved the clues for DOCENTS (42A: They often provide illumination in galleries) ("windows" also fit) and DANGS (31D: Alternative to shoots?) (I had "hangs" in there briefly, which kind of grossed Frannie out). And I was thinking of 17A: Diet, e.g. in the right way for a long time, but still didn't come up with CONSULATES until we had a ton of crosses. I guess I was thinking more "governments" or something.
Frannie finally came up with MRROARKE (10D: "Fantasy Island" host). I don't know how she remembers this stuff. And coincidentally, the "Space Seed" episode of Star Trek was on one of those retro channels last night. We watched a bit of it.
Nice timing, too, on the COLBERTBUMP (1A: Popularity boost due to a certain TV endorsement). I wonder if this puzzle was rushed into the lineup by Will Shortz, hoping for his own Colbert bump.
Lastly, PYEDOGS (11D: Stray mongrels)? What's up with that? The Free Dictionary says it's from a Hindi word, pahi, which means "outsider." Huh. Well, that's part of the great thing about the Saturday puzzles - you often learn a thing or two. Like who knew two famous explorers both had the first name VASCO (29D: Balboa's first name) (wasn't it also DaGama's? Yes. Yes it was.).
A nice, challenging puzzle with very little (ACC, SELA, URU, ASCI) to complain about. Lovely.
- Horace
Friday, April 11, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014, Peter Wentz
0:42:00
Boy, this one scared me for a while. I started it late last night and got very little, handed it over to Frannie and fell asleep. It doesn't really sound like I was that scared, but I think I probably had bad dreams. I don't remember. In the morning I saw that she had finished maybe half of it, but there was still a ways to go and I really didn't have a handle on it. Luckily, it all worked out, ( I know - "and then a miracle happened," but I can't really explain it, it just got finished), still, this one felt different to me. I'm not sure why.
I liked it a lot, though, now that we're done with it. Answers like POPELEOX (50A: Head of the Catholic Church when Luther's "95 Theses" was posted) (nice clue!) and THEASP (58A: Daddy Warbuck's henchman) (?) look ridiculous. Maybe it's that there were so many multi-word answers. IDECLARE (54A: "Gracious me!"), TEDTALKS (58A: Lecture series with well over a billion views) (one of the few gimmies), NOLOSE, TOOTOO, TAPDANCERS, SHEDTEARS, SQUAREDEAL, EATAWAY, VELVETROPE, BIGGAMES, BLUEJEANS…. and that's not all of them! I like all of those, don't get me wrong, it's just that maybe I wasn't thinking about multi-word answers. But who cares about me, really?
Did you notice that "dungarees" fits in where BLUEJEANS (9D: Alternative to cords) went? I did. Frannie took it out quickly, though, as it really fouled things up. I was confused for longer than I should have been by 20A: Foe of the Vikings (PACKERS). I thought to myself, does 'everyone' fit? KINESCOPE (32D: Part of a TV archive) was a nice word, although I don't fully understand why that would be part of a TV archive… and KAFKAESQUE (32A: Maddeningly surreal)? Lovely.
In all, it was a great challenge, and a lively, interesting grid. Keep 'em coming Wentz!
- Horace
Boy, this one scared me for a while. I started it late last night and got very little, handed it over to Frannie and fell asleep. It doesn't really sound like I was that scared, but I think I probably had bad dreams. I don't remember. In the morning I saw that she had finished maybe half of it, but there was still a ways to go and I really didn't have a handle on it. Luckily, it all worked out, ( I know - "and then a miracle happened," but I can't really explain it, it just got finished), still, this one felt different to me. I'm not sure why.
I liked it a lot, though, now that we're done with it. Answers like POPELEOX (50A: Head of the Catholic Church when Luther's "95 Theses" was posted) (nice clue!) and THEASP (58A: Daddy Warbuck's henchman) (?) look ridiculous. Maybe it's that there were so many multi-word answers. IDECLARE (54A: "Gracious me!"), TEDTALKS (58A: Lecture series with well over a billion views) (one of the few gimmies), NOLOSE, TOOTOO, TAPDANCERS, SHEDTEARS, SQUAREDEAL, EATAWAY, VELVETROPE, BIGGAMES, BLUEJEANS…. and that's not all of them! I like all of those, don't get me wrong, it's just that maybe I wasn't thinking about multi-word answers. But who cares about me, really?
Did you notice that "dungarees" fits in where BLUEJEANS (9D: Alternative to cords) went? I did. Frannie took it out quickly, though, as it really fouled things up. I was confused for longer than I should have been by 20A: Foe of the Vikings (PACKERS). I thought to myself, does 'everyone' fit? KINESCOPE (32D: Part of a TV archive) was a nice word, although I don't fully understand why that would be part of a TV archive… and KAFKAESQUE (32A: Maddeningly surreal)? Lovely.
In all, it was a great challenge, and a lively, interesting grid. Keep 'em coming Wentz!
- Horace
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2014, David Steinberg
0:22:31
Boy, it took me a while to make sense of the theme today. I'm not sure why, really, because it seems so obvious now. Different flags. Not always physical flags, as in the cases of "Black Flag" (band or insecticide?) and "Red Flag." All the rest are flags I can picture. Not bad at all. All symmetrical, and a nice revealer.
I thought this was a very nice grid, but Frannie comments that there was a lot of straight-up trivia - the kind of thing that you either know or you don't. Like 28A: *Creator of Sheriff Deadeye and Cauliflower McPugg (REDSKELTON), 31A: Sabin's study (POLIO), 48A: First song on "More of the Monkeys" (SHE) (who knows this?), and four stacked on top of each other in the NE - 17A: Alma mater for Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston (HOWARD), 7A: Where Whole Foods is headquartered (AUSTIN), 15A: Fast-food chain founded by Italian immigrants (SBARRO), and 18A: *1971 song with the lyric "Helter skelter in a summer swelter" (AMERICANPIE). Sure, that last one is a gimme for anyone within ten years of my age, and the others are guessable with a cross or two, but it just seems like a lot.
That being true, there was a lot I loved in here. EMETIC (58A: Emergency room agent), AGGRIEVE (18A: Distress), TIRADE (60A: Vehement venting), and IRRITANT (17D: Pebble in one's shoe, e.g.) are all nice words. WHENCE... ASPECT... it's filed with 'em.
My favorite clues were the schoolyard-related pair of 10D: Hide seekers (TRAPPERS) and 2D: Made it? (TAGGED). I just love that last one.
Not much to bark at. I like the crossing of SHE and HER, and many clues were entertaining.
A very nice Thursday.
- Horace
Boy, it took me a while to make sense of the theme today. I'm not sure why, really, because it seems so obvious now. Different flags. Not always physical flags, as in the cases of "Black Flag" (band or insecticide?) and "Red Flag." All the rest are flags I can picture. Not bad at all. All symmetrical, and a nice revealer.
I thought this was a very nice grid, but Frannie comments that there was a lot of straight-up trivia - the kind of thing that you either know or you don't. Like 28A: *Creator of Sheriff Deadeye and Cauliflower McPugg (REDSKELTON), 31A: Sabin's study (POLIO), 48A: First song on "More of the Monkeys" (SHE) (who knows this?), and four stacked on top of each other in the NE - 17A: Alma mater for Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston (HOWARD), 7A: Where Whole Foods is headquartered (AUSTIN), 15A: Fast-food chain founded by Italian immigrants (SBARRO), and 18A: *1971 song with the lyric "Helter skelter in a summer swelter" (AMERICANPIE). Sure, that last one is a gimme for anyone within ten years of my age, and the others are guessable with a cross or two, but it just seems like a lot.
That being true, there was a lot I loved in here. EMETIC (58A: Emergency room agent), AGGRIEVE (18A: Distress), TIRADE (60A: Vehement venting), and IRRITANT (17D: Pebble in one's shoe, e.g.) are all nice words. WHENCE... ASPECT... it's filed with 'em.
My favorite clues were the schoolyard-related pair of 10D: Hide seekers (TRAPPERS) and 2D: Made it? (TAGGED). I just love that last one.
Not much to bark at. I like the crossing of SHE and HER, and many clues were entertaining.
A very nice Thursday.
- Horace
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014, John E. Bennett
0:08:31
Frannie has an aversion to circles, and today I agree with her. I guess it's cool that the symmetrical groups of four circles all contain words that can precede "box," but the revealer, WHATSINTHEBOXES (37A: Question asked by a customs officer or a kid on Christmas … with a hint to this puzzle's circled squares) just seems a little off. Also, what's a "salt box?" Is that a common phrase?
Some of the longer stuff is quite good - WATERSNAKE (21A: Cottonmouth, e.g.), STRADDLED (27A: Was on both sides of), and FIRSTLIGHT (57A: Dawn) were nice. And I liked TUSSLE (51D: Shoving match) and SMILED (2D: Heeded the photographer, say) too. But PEDROS (53D: Three-time Cy Young winner Martinez, and others), OTIC (42D: Ear-related), ISNO and ISON… not so great.
That SW corner was a real mess for a while. It's lucky we just saw Sammy FAIN (57D: "April Love" composer Sammy) last Friday, otherwise I would have been in real trouble down there. Still, I'm hoping that Mr. Shortz isn't trying to wedge that in as a regular name. It definitely seems more Friday than Wednesday. The same goes for MASAI (62A: Seminomadic Kenyan). Yikes!
Not a bad Wednesday, but not up to the standard of the last two days, I didn't think.
Frannie has an aversion to circles, and today I agree with her. I guess it's cool that the symmetrical groups of four circles all contain words that can precede "box," but the revealer, WHATSINTHEBOXES (37A: Question asked by a customs officer or a kid on Christmas … with a hint to this puzzle's circled squares) just seems a little off. Also, what's a "salt box?" Is that a common phrase?
Some of the longer stuff is quite good - WATERSNAKE (21A: Cottonmouth, e.g.), STRADDLED (27A: Was on both sides of), and FIRSTLIGHT (57A: Dawn) were nice. And I liked TUSSLE (51D: Shoving match) and SMILED (2D: Heeded the photographer, say) too. But PEDROS (53D: Three-time Cy Young winner Martinez, and others), OTIC (42D: Ear-related), ISNO and ISON… not so great.
That SW corner was a real mess for a while. It's lucky we just saw Sammy FAIN (57D: "April Love" composer Sammy) last Friday, otherwise I would have been in real trouble down there. Still, I'm hoping that Mr. Shortz isn't trying to wedge that in as a regular name. It definitely seems more Friday than Wednesday. The same goes for MASAI (62A: Seminomadic Kenyan). Yikes!
Not a bad Wednesday, but not up to the standard of the last two days, I didn't think.
- Horace
Tuesday, April 8, 2014, Ian Livengood
0:08:04
It's a decent enough, cute little theme, isn't it? But it's starts on a slightly edgy note with KEEPITDOWN (17A: "That's enough!," to a hot dog-eating contestant?). Didn't a recent winner get disqualified for disgorging within seconds of the buzzer? No? Well… I'm not looking it up for you. You can do that on your own. (And keep in mind that I don't think videos are allowed in the comments.) And I briefly could thing only of collagen when reading CUTITOUT (51A: "That's enough!," to a collagist?), but surely Mr. Livengood means collage, in which various things are cut out and re-assembled. Much better.
I like the silly APESUIT (2D: Jungle film attire) and WHATNOT (25D: Miscellaneous things), and CREWTEAM (3D: Unit involved in a shell game?) had me fooled for quite a while. And speaking of that, there's a strong sports theme running throughout this puzzle: MATE, YARDS, SETS, EXACTA, and ORR.
There was plenty of good fill, really, and I like the unusual and fun clues for MIX (40A: Action verb that's also a Roman numeral) and CHA (25A: "____ -ching!" (cash register sound)). Overall, it's a very good Tuesday puzzle. The week is off to a great start!
- Horace
It's a decent enough, cute little theme, isn't it? But it's starts on a slightly edgy note with KEEPITDOWN (17A: "That's enough!," to a hot dog-eating contestant?). Didn't a recent winner get disqualified for disgorging within seconds of the buzzer? No? Well… I'm not looking it up for you. You can do that on your own. (And keep in mind that I don't think videos are allowed in the comments.) And I briefly could thing only of collagen when reading CUTITOUT (51A: "That's enough!," to a collagist?), but surely Mr. Livengood means collage, in which various things are cut out and re-assembled. Much better.
I like the silly APESUIT (2D: Jungle film attire) and WHATNOT (25D: Miscellaneous things), and CREWTEAM (3D: Unit involved in a shell game?) had me fooled for quite a while. And speaking of that, there's a strong sports theme running throughout this puzzle: MATE, YARDS, SETS, EXACTA, and ORR.
There was plenty of good fill, really, and I like the unusual and fun clues for MIX (40A: Action verb that's also a Roman numeral) and CHA (25A: "____ -ching!" (cash register sound)). Overall, it's a very good Tuesday puzzle. The week is off to a great start!
- Horace
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