Monday, August 7, 2017, Kevin Christian

3:03

Those extra four seconds were definitely spent in the NW and SE corners, where a few answers did not come immediately to mind.

It's a simple theme, featuring a FILMDIRECTOR calling "Lights... Camera... Action!" I did amuse myself when entering the revealer answer. I already had _IL____, and had figured out the theme so I put the answer in, but my fingers typed the first two letters to enter in the wrong order, so I ended up with mILfDIRECTOR. It led to some interesting visual images, and the inkling of a theme idea, but I rejected that answer as being too much for The Grey Lady.

The whole puzzle was made ten times better by having FLOTSAM right next to JETSAM. I didn't even care about the glue that had to exist in order for that to happen (I'm looking at you, ONT RTE DOR). It was worth it. And, to be honest, I didn't even look at those bits of glue until just now, because they were entered entirely by the crosses.

Otherwise, I did not like AGERS and RETAG, which made the NW corner less than exciting. In the opposite corner, UTTER did not leap to mind. And I'm going to ask why we need both the word "arty" and the word ARTSY. Do they not mean the same thing?

1A: Inn, informally (BANDB). Another reason I missed a couple of seconds. I'll give it a C- because I'm annoyed at it. My prerogative to be highly subjective in my judgements.
Fave: MOTET (61A: Sacred choral work). I'm particularly fond of Brahms' various motets (there are 7 all told).
Least fave: NOEND (51D: On and on). The clue and answer don't match, in my opinion. They are related, but different part of speech.

I hope this review seems APT. APT!

- Colum

Sunday, August 6, 2017, Patrick Berry

ANCHORS AWAY!

Oh, my. What an amazing set of puzzles from Thursday through Sunday this week. I feel spoiled. How can the rest of the month live up to this first week? Will it all be downhill from here? I'll try not to be pessimistic!

Patrick Berry presents us with a set of silly puns based on types of ships. As always, the criteria for whether these types of themes work are as follows:

1. The original phrase is common and well accepted.
2. The pun is unexpected and fits well in the altered phrase.
3. The new phrase is clued in an amusing and clever fashion.

In this puzzle, the seven theme answers are split up as follows:

Disappointing

• 111A: Cargo vessel full of iPads? (APPLEFREIGHTER). The original phrase, "apple fritter," is fine. The pun misses on pronunciation, and the clue is only okay.
• 100A: Luxury vessel with a pair of decks, both of which need swabbing? (DIRTYDOUBLECRUISER). This one only fails on the pun, where "cruiser" for "crosser" is just not that great.

Pretty good

• 66A: Fishing vessel that can pull only half a net behind it? (SEMITRAWLER). Definitely amusing clue, and an unexpected pun. I ding it slightly because it's such a short original phrase, that the switch doesn't quite have the oomph I look for.

Outstanding

• 24A: Sailing vessels that Cap'n Crunch might commandeer? (GALLEONSOFMILK). This one is right on the border with the previous category, but I loved it when we figured it out.
• 31A: Heavily armored vessels getting married? (WARSHIPSATTHEALTAR). This is downright silly. I love the pun, I love the clue, and it made me laugh out loud when we got it. This was the first theme answer completed today.
• 54A: Kids' game in which small vessels attack each other? (ROCKEMSOCKEMROWBOATS). This is my favorite by far. It might be the perfect punny theme answer. It hits on all three criteria.
• 76A: Recreational vessel that's never left the harbor? (AINTSEENNOTHINGYACHT). Or maybe this one is my favorite. The clue is ludicrous, the answer describes it perfectly, and it's an outstanding pun. You could quibble that the original phrase should be "you ain't seen nothing yet," but who wants to quibble?

Top notch. Horace, Frannie, and I collaboratively solved today, so a lot of the fill went by without my personal participation. I liked 53A: Split, e.g. (SUNDAE) as a very nice vague clue. Otherwise, I noted no answers that I actively disliked, so I call this a winner.

Oh, 1A: "Cease!" on the seas (AVAST). I'll give it a B+ for the sneaky theme material.

As a last note, we solved this with pen and paper. I was the only one who had to correct letters I'd put in, which may speak to a certain gung-ho nature to solving that I've noted before. More amusingly, in composing this blog, I keep on trying to get the clue to an answer by touching the grid with my finger. Nothing seems to happen. The technology must be on the fritz.

- Colum

Saturday, August 5, 2017, David Phillips

14:27

This is exactly the kind of themeless I love. It's super smooth with a number of fun entries and misleading clues. I don't know that there are any answers which are so new or fresh, but the solve was fun and the flow was reasonably nice.

My first entry was AVE, but that led nowhere, so I moved to the SW, where figuring out 45A: Unembellished type (SANSSERIF) opened up the area reasonably quickly. SEEKER (along with "bludger" and "sweeper") have entered into the lingo as reasonable words because of Harry Potter. Much better than your run-of-the-mill -ER word. I also enjoyed 66A: Rumble in the night (SNORE). I chuckled.

I had a little difficulty at 53A: Draft picks? (OXEN), where I put in alEs. The actual answer is so much more satisfying, both because it's less commonly seen in the puzzle, and because it's a plural without -S. It also allowed 43D: Collection of favorites, of a sort (MIXTAPE), which was so satisfying to figure out.

62A: Expert on the drums? (EARDOCTOR) did not fool me for a second. I must have had my Saturday clue reading HATS on. This stack was really excellent, with 65A: Get through lines quickly (SPEEDREAD), and the truly excellent PETSOUNDS. Number one was always going to be Sgt. Pepper's, but I think you could make a strong argument for those two albums to be reversed. Thoughts?

Note the mace

29A: "You don't have to tell me twice!" (YEAHIKNOW) was a stumbling point, as I had put "I heard you," which fit so well. I guess the clue did have to tell me twice.

I came back up to the NE which fell once I had RASH and SAKE in place. The stack here is not quite as lovely as the SW one. 1A: Double-digit figure? (PEACESIGN) gets an A from me, for the excellent clue, the great answer, and the importance of the sentiment. 15A: Spider producer (ALFAROMEO) was probably a gimme for some solvers, but not this one. LEFTALONE is somewhat blah.

Who knew a Loonie had ELEVEN sides? That makes it a hendecagon.

Finally, the NE is the least satisfying corner. I'm not sure I agree with NTHPOWER as a "high degree of proof." Otherwise you've got URE, which is probably my least favorite answer in the puzzle, and the Britishism PANTO.

But overall very nice puzzle.

- Colum

Friday, August 4, 2017, Damon Gulczynski

9:59

Funny how today's puzzle and yesterday's puzzle have very similar grids, although today's uses traditional diagonal symmetry rather than yesterday's up-down symmetry. I have to write today's blog post quickly because Horace and Frannie are on their way to visit Albany for the evening, and I want it in place before they arrive! Not to mention later on the alcohol might interfere with my ability to be coherent. Arguably, I'm never all that coherent to begin with.

Anyway, a very nice themeless today. The long across answers really made the puzzle accessible, unusually.

News break! I have failed to finish this entry prior to the entry of Horace and Frannie. All is chaos here.

As I was saying, AMERICANPHAROAH broke the upper part, and TSARALEXANDERII broke the lower part. It's my typical approach to avoid the long answers, trying to get crosses before even looking at the clues. But I got very little traction that way. After all, who knows what the heck BIGA is referring to? Apparently, the Aqueduct Racetrack. Still, that, combined with SHIM and SAGE, whose clues were not at all helpful, made me work from the middle out.

Although SAYHEYKID was easy. As was THANKLESS, which is so clearly an exact synonym for "Like ingrates," I actually was second guessing myself.

I love the CHAPLIN quote, which seems very obvious. I did not know PRATT, which I thought could have been more contemporary in its cluing by referencing Chris, but oh well.

Very fun to have XOXO in the bottom section, to allow EXOPLANETS and SEXPISTOLS.

There are some fairly gluish areas (see REOS, ITLL, ISSO in the SE), and I haven't been following tennis for a while, so LINA (That's Li Na) was unheard of. But overall I'm in favor.

1A: Some undergrad degs. (BSS). D. I disagree with this clue and answer morally. It's a plural abbreviation.
Fave: FIN (38A: Bass part). It's a throwaway answer, but I liked the misdirection of the clue.
Least fave: ODON (6D: Go crazy with, in a way). Don't like either the clue or the answer.

- Colum

Thursday, August 3, 2017, Timothy Polin

9:00 (FWOE)

I get these typos because my eyes have moved on to other areas of the puzzle. I know it's OMERTA, not OMERTe, but there you go.

This is an amazing theme. I mean, just wow. Three phrases which contain in them a kind of belt, but which also have a terminal string of letters that make up their own word, and they each are 14 letters long. Then, to put the revealer into play, the answers loop around the back of the grid to finish on the other side, while also being split along the belt types? A true BELTLOOP? That's crazy stuff.

STOCKSCOL[L/AP]SE is the least standard of the three, but still it's completely acceptable. Meanwhile WOOLLYM[AM/MO]THS and PIMIEN[TOO/L]IVES are perfect as is. Hats off to Mr. Polin.

You all know what my complaint about this puzzle is: it's the hypersegmented corners. All four are nearly completely cut off from the rest of the puzzle. Still, the fill is so much fun, I don't really care. Look at those stacks: CRUCIBLE over CLEANAIR. YESSIREE. And ITSASECRET and HEDONISTIC? Great stuff.

There's also a ton of misleading cluing going on here. 60D: Works in a salon (ART). 43D: One living in the sticks, e.g. (NESTER - although I don't buy the answer, the clue is fun). How about 27D: One working for the lord (LIEGE) - note that lower case l in "lord". Dead giveaway, isn't it?

I could go on: I love the clue on OBAMA. 10D: Like records that are easily broken? (VINYL). Outstanding stuff.

1A: Tough-to-remove stain (STIGMA) - A+. Great clue, great word.

Fave: SKIM (1D: Less than 1%, say). I had no idea where this was going until I got KABOOM in place.

Least fave: TEDS (Spreads, as straw). Yeah. Huh?

- Colum

Wednesday, August 2, 2017, Bruce Haight

8:29

Boy, when I said yesterday that Wednesdays are a hodgepodge of oddball puzzles, I never thought I'd get one like this!

We have eight examples of auto-antonyms, or contranyms. That is, words which mean both one thing and its opposite. Had Mr. Haight clued these words with just one of their definitions, the puzzle would have been essentially a standard themeless, and that's the way it played. Actually, for me, about a themeless on the level of difficulty of a Friday.

How did these words come to mean their own opposites? SANCTION means confirmation or enactment of a law, which is where it gets its positive meaning (Sanctify comes from the same root). But the sense of a penalty is also an enactment of something, so I suppose that's where that comes from. Ah, English. What a strange language. Are there examples of contranyms in other languages? Dutch, say? (Horace? Frannie?)

Most of my difficulty was in the NW. I had OREO and DUO, but the rest of the answers just wouldn't come. If I had picked up KOI, that most standard of crossword fish answers, the corner would have been much easier. PELEG needed all of the crosses.

I'm not convinced that "Nosebleed seats" are usually the REARMOST. I'd be more inclined just to call them the uppermost seats. At Foxboro stadium, the highest tier has seats that are more forward than the back rows of the section below.

I enjoyed SUREDO near by MAAM. Sounded Western to me. He's a GONER, MAAM. SUREDO. See? You can write your own John Wayne script.

There's very little to really complain about (OEN). Otherwise it's a reasonably fine puzzle, although how the NW and SE corners are completely cut off bugged me.

1A: HOLDUP. It's a theme answer, but one of the ones I liked better, so I give it a solid B.
Fave: WECOOL (17A: "No hard feelings, man, right?"). I liked how the "man" is thrown in there in the clue to make the colloquial nature of the answer clear.
Least fave: HEHS (30A: Sneaky little snickers) - just because of all the possible answers that could fit in there, plus the plural.

- Colum

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, Jay Kaskel

5:13 (FWOE)

Good Lord, it's August. Where did the time go? Oh, that's right. I've spent it along with much of America worrying about what's going to come out of Washington next. Too soon? I'm afraid it's too late.

Wait a second here, this is the New York Times Crossword puzzle blog, not some doom and gloom political blog. Away with fear, away with anger! Let's rejoice in this wonderful little thing we all share each day!

Colum here, back once again in the dog days of summer. I'm starting up another month of blogging. I've very much enjoyed the last two months, reading Frannie's and then Horace's musings.

And we start off on a Tuesday, that peculiar day of puzzles. It's neither a Monday, with its straightforward thematic approach, nor a Wednesday, with its oddball hodgepodge of puzzles. Who can say what characterizes a Tuesday?

ILLBEDARNED! It's a puzzle with cute puns about phrases of astonishment. My favorite was definitely 59A: "Shocking!," to a Thanksgiving guest? (GOODGRAVY). That's fun stuff. Although now that I look at the clues, what the heck is that comma doing inside that quotation mark? Surely it should be "Shocking!", to a Thanksgiving guest? That's the way I'd have written it. Perhaps somebody could put in their two cents about this?

Each corner of the puzzle has a nice little stack of longer answers, which makes up for the lack otherwise of long down answers. I liked HUNKERED the best, but who can resist ITALIANO?

On the other hand, there's a large amount of XER, ADT, EER, etc. Not to mention ORES. Can't stand those pluralized hunks of rock.

My error was a typo, yet again. I knew it was OBEYED / BEEB, but my finger found N instead, and my eyes were off elsewhere. This wouldn't happen on a standard keyboard, but on the iPad it's all too easy for the fingers to miss. Nonetheless, I got the message of failure, and that counts for a FWOE.

1A: Zin alternative (CAB): C+. It's wine, but it's a sort of abbreviation.
Fave: SAG (46A: What some shoulders and pants do). That's a great clue for an otherwise less than stellar bit of crossword glue.
Least fave: ATIE (54A: End in ____). That's an unappealing partial there.

- Colum