Sunday, July 7, 2019, Jack Reuter

HIDDEN TACTICS

I can only begin to have a glimmer of an understanding for how difficult this puzzle must have been to create. There's this CHESS BOARD in the middle of the grid, first off. Note how all the crossword black squares fall on black squares of the chess board. Then, there's a chess position created on the board, with crossword letters standing in for chess pieces - R for rook, B for bishop, P for pawn, K for king, and N for knight. The chess position is not only a legal and reasonable endgame, it is actually set up for CHECKMATEINONE, and that by moving KNIGHTTOBEIGHT (knight to B-8). This does in fact create a checkmate, as the black King on D7 in placed in check by the knight, and can't move away due to the rook on G8, the rook on E1, and the bishop on B4 blocking all its moves.

Holy chess pieces, Batman!

I bet Mr. Reuter is glad he came up with a chess position with no queens (Qs) in place...

As impressed as I am, I suspect that solvers with little or no chess experience might not find the puzzle exciting. The grid is essentially nine (9!) minipuzzles, due to the extreme hypersegmentation I'm sure was essential in creating the middle section. We get not just EZINE but ENOTE (and ESTOPS? - Okay, that's not actually an internet age coinage, but rather a medieval legal term). I lost track of the number of compound answers: things like CHOPUP, MAKESIT, LANDEDON. Although OOZESOUT is perfect for molasses.

Answers I ADORE include PROMINENT ("No, I'm not prominent..."), NOSFERATU, and GOSSAMER. I fell into the trap of 66A: Eve's counterpart (MORN) by entering "Adam." And who knew that SPOKANE hosted the 1974 World's Fair? Who knew that the World's Fair is still going on, and that the most recent was in 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan?

Finally, it's crazy seeing AUNTIEEM in the puzzle, just for that IEE letter combo.

So I enjoyed the puzzle, but I can see that it might be a mixed bag for some.

- Colum

Saturday, July 6, 2019, Erik Agard

59:13

I was happy to finish in under an hour because this puzzle was quite a challenge for me. The first run through the puzzle didn't result in many filled squares, and some of my first sorties turned out to be completely wrong (like loge instead of IMAX (Theater option) and wad instead of IDS (Walletful), for example) so when I got to the south east and there were a few I knew, I was psyched. But, my euphoria was short lived. The way this grid is shaped only one answer, FIREAXE, ties that corner to the rest of the puzzle, so it was back to work. The next corner to fall was the south west. Then the north east, then the north west and only then, the middle. Boy that middle was tough for me.  That stack 5 elevenses were a bit of a quagMIRE for this solver. I eventually found PABLOCASALS and DARLENELOVE at the very limit of my knowledge base, while INACLAIRE was nowhere to be found. For "One who might be diagnosed with a polysomnogram," I first tried insomniac but it was, in fact, the opposite NARCOLEPTIC, which, besides being the correct number of letters and accurate, has the advantage of not containing the letters "somn" from the clue. And the notion that "Footwear with a tree logo" called for a plural did not OCCUR to me for a very long time.

Grid-wise, it's interesting that IMDOWN is at 1 Down ("Count me in"), and that CORED (Unseeded?) is at the center of the puzzle.

I liked DONEANDDONE, and PARE and PERE make a nice pair.

PRIESTLY clues from today's puzzle include:
Construction piece that describes what happens when you compliment me? (IBEAM) - cute!
With 4-Down, someone who might repossess your car when you go bankrupt? PAT SAJAK - ha.
Close ... but not THAT close (PLATONIC) - apt!
Companies known for their net profit (DOTCOMS) - nice twist.
And, my #1 answer on the day is "#2 image among smartphone users?" POOPEMOJI. LOLOL.

And, while there may have been a few ANEMIC clues (Conquers (RISESOVER), Olympic runner? (SKI), and the confusing "___ South, div. of of the 55-Acrosses" AFC / TEXAN), I DECLARATORY this a fun Saturday puzzle!

~Frannie.

Friday, July 5, 2019, Freddie Cheng

17:42

LETTS face it, we puzzle DWEEBs don't care only about speed, but we do TALI our time. For me, this was a pretty fast Friday. As fast as it was, there were a couple of answers where a RETRY was required. I tossed in the completely incorrect 'peel' where I should have thrown in RIND (Addition to the compost pile). I also started with 'couchsurf,' in the southeast (Stay with a friends, say) instead of the correct SLEEPOVER, both of which led to a LOESS of time.

Interesting to learn that the first American film in which a toilet is heard being flushed (1960) was PSYCHO. That was a possible data point I had not previously considered wondering about. I wonder which film world-wide was the first to feature the flush.

My PIXIES for today's favorite clue/answer pairs are:
Sound evidence? (AUDIOTAPE)
Half of an interrogation team (BADCOP)
Fernando or Felipe, once (REY)
All huffy (INALATHER)
Gives away to a better home, in a modern coinage (FREECYCLES)
"Nobody ever told me," e.g. (LAMEEXCUSE)
And ATOP the heap: Rush home? FRAT - ha!

Other fun fill includes TINCT, SCRAPIRON, FATFINGER, and SPASM. Also, 'mop' RATEs a mention for its second appearance in two days. Yesterday, we had the "dust" variety, today, DRYMOP. BRAVO also appeared in both yesterday's and today's puzzles. I wonder what the highest number of duplicated words in consecutive puzzles is. XWordInfo probably knows. I'm still flying virtually 'Net free, so I can't check it myself.

For some reason, I don't mind APERY today as the answer for "Mimic's skill." I am not familiar with "Peer Gynt" and couldn't fill in the blank "___ Death." And, although I was pretty sure about crossword darling ERTE, I was concerned about ASES because parse it as I might, I still can't grok it. And, INRE ungrokables, I'm still not sure why "Struck out" is DELED. Maybe it's a sports thing? That being said, I thought this was a fun puzzle overall. If my immodest hopes at crowing about a sub-15 Friday were dashed by a few AEROS here and there, it's OK. Everybody knows pride is a SYN.

~Frannie.

Thursday, July 4, 2019, Jim Hilger

Untimed

We're at the beach this holiday weekend and thus I had a paper copy of the puzzle for today's solve. I had a notion to mentally keep track of the time it took me to complete the puzzle, but with interruptions and commotion caused by the 4th of July parade, the arrival of guests, and lunch, before I knew it, the time had FLOWN. If pressed, I would guess it took me about 30 minutes total.

I liked today's trick. I figured it out at 23A: Recollection of something that just happened, concisely? (SHORTERMEMORY). The concisity consists in omitting the doubled/overlapping letters at the end and start of the words in the theme answers. SHORT[T]ER[M]MEMORY. SHORTERMEMORY is nice because it kind of seems like a thing on its own. OTOH, BESTIMEVER is also amusing as a thing, IMHO. ROTFLMAO.

Solving on paper allowed me to star my favorite clues and answers today. They are:
58A: Fifth Avenue concern (SAKS) - I love this meaning of the word concern. I always like to say I work for a library concern.
I also liked the clue "Squaresville" and its answer UNHIP. Similarly, I liked "No longer either hot or cool?" PASSE. "Watt or knot" (UNIT) and "Somers or Winters" were also enjoyable (ACTRESS). Also, didn't EREBUS figure into a great rebus puzzle sometime back? I don't have enough Internetz up here to do the necessary research, and am vague on the details. The answer might even have been MTE[REBUS], or similar??

I don't take a HOROSCOPE, but I do like a DUSTMOP for cleaning, and I did try a MOGUL once - literally. After the first one, I had to sit on my skis the rest of the way down. OCHO!

I don't particularly love partials like SETA (___ good example) and EYETO (With an ___ the future), but hey, it's a free country. Happy 4th, everyone!

~Frannie.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019, Evan Mahnken

9:49+?

Can we get a hand for today's theme? Well, almost. Each theme answer contains the name of a finger, so we have MIDDLEMAN, ALITTLEBIT, and my favorite PRICEINDEX, for example. And each theme answer runs through at least one other theme answer at the finger part, making the revealer (FINGERSCROSSED) especially apt. Apt! The fourth, LETFREEDOMRING does double duty as a nice nod to tomorrow's holiday. I said double. Heh. On the opposing side, it looks like there was a NOVOTE on the thumb.

I liked some of the longer answers like UVEXPOSURE - heading for some of that myself this weekend! - INACORNER, and most of all, LIQUIDATED. I like the word LID, although less so when associated with fish eye. DUD is a good word, as is RUDE and TOILE. And if you told me you enjoyed a MOE reference, I would reply ASDOI.

I hit a Natick at 47A/D. I'm WEI rusty on my early Chinese dynasties, believe it or not, and I had no idea what Certiorari were - which, as an aside, is a tough word to WRIT. Anyhoo, maybe this is TMI and not quite cricket, puzzle-solve-time-wise, but I ran the alphabet in my head while in the shower and realized that only a W would work for both answers. So, my time isn't entirely accurate because I figured it out while off the clock. But, on the upside, I learned a new word and a wei bit of Chinese history. Oh, yeah, and AROD and J. Lo are dating?!? Who knew? But, if it's in the NYTX, I guess ITSSO.

~Frannie.

Tuesday, July 2, 2019, Peter Gordon

8:46

Initially, I had some trouble with the theme answers - actors with the same initials as characters they play in movies. Although I've seen all but one of the movies mentioned in the clues (never saw "Spotlight"), I don't know any of the movies well enough to know the characters names, without which it was difficult for me to guess the corresponding thespian. But, no matter! Thanks to the supporting cast of non-theme answers, I had the information I needed to complete the grid. Reel interesting that these initial coincidences occur between role and performer and that they all fit into one puzzle, and most of them all in one go.

I'm giving two thumbs up for the following parts:
Sloth, for example (SIN) -
Citrus garnish in a mixed drink" (TWIST)
Strong string (TWINE) - Twine is a great word.
Do the wrong thing (ERR)
Lummox (APE)
Is sociable at a party (MINGLES)
And the Oscar goes to...
It's stuffed with dough (ATM) - ha!

Nice to have the pairs SOSO and TUTU and SHE and HIM right next to each other in the south east.

BOSSA NOVA

IWOnder if there was something wrong with the clue at 30D? Or maybe there is something I don't get - it wouldn't be the first time. In my app, the clue reads: What " - with just that one quotation mark after the word What and nothing else. The answer turned out to be LESSTHAN, which was exactly how I felt about the clue. :)

My one rotten tomato award goes to NBAERS. It's LAM.

~Frannie.

Monday, July 1, 2019, Damon Gulczynski

5:55, FWOE

I haven't had many sub-6 solves in my time, and I think this might be my first when I am responsible for the review. I should be happy, but I am FWOEbegone. For what it's worth, I think mine was a respectable mistake. As the answer to "'Absolutely, positively not!'" I entered NOSIREEBuB, which I was sure was correct, but it turns out BOB is your uncle rather than BuB. But because I had no doubt about my answer and because I was filling in the squares as fast as I could, I failed to check the across clue, even though I know better. You can lead a horse to water ...

And speaking of drink, each of today's three theme answers contains the name of an adult beverage that appears twice, rendering the revealer MAKEMINEADOUBLE deliciously apt. Apt! My preference is for [ALE]XVANH[ALE]N because I don't take a gin drink (LOGGINGINTO), and rum (HARUMSCARUM) turns my head upside down. I think we can all drink to that.

The clue "'Hurry!,' on an order" as a clue for ASAP was like a tonic after a rash of "now" themed clues for the old chestnut. I also liked SOD, FLING, GUSTO, TREAT, VOUCH, DELUXE, LEST, and SVELTE.

I don't mean to wine, but some answers made the overall puzzle feel a little mixy; AEIOU, USOFA, DONEE, and AGAR left me feeling a worse for wear. And in the way that ordering a double seems sensible at the time, more of a thing isn't always better. The high number of three-letter crosswordese answers (OAR, ORE, ORB, FSU, GEO, GAB) left me feeling like I'd had one too many. But, hair of the dog, as the British might say. It's five o'clock somewhere!

~Frannie.