Wednesday, July 7, 2021, Peter A. Collins

A fabulous puzzle today - lit'rally! The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare is cleverly represented in the grid. While both the TORTOISE and the HARE - who appear in circled letters that run diagonally down the grid - begin at the starting line (the topmost row of the puzzle), only the Tortoise, going SLOWANDSTEADY, makes it to the finish line and WINS THE RACE. Along the way, the Hare TAKESANAP and LOSESABET. Were he the type, the Tortoise might exclaim, TADA! to celebrate his success. 

There were some crafty clues in the rest of the puzzle, especially for your more common crossword fill: "One who whistles while working" is an entertaining clue for REF. I thought "Boston Bruins icon" was a clever clue for ORR because I was first misled into trying to think of their logo. Other similar clues were "Farm connector" (YOKE) and "Fiji alternative" (DASANI). I thought "Don't knock until you've tried it" (DOORBELL) was funny.

Fill-wise DIONYSIA is a nice ten-dollar word - you don't see that every day. OHDRYUP is a great expression. I also enjoy APOP. And who doesn't love an ALP - on view in Tour de France coverage in recent days.  

None of our dear readers will be surprised to hear that I'm not super familiar with Baghdad's SADR city, but thanks to a recent viewing of "Thunder Force", I was reminded of URKEL, which came in handy because I had first entered dEAr for "Sweetheart" at 13A. While not an Oscar contender, the movie had a certain APPEAL. :)

~Frannie.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021, Katie Hale

If our dear readers ever wondered whether I like ABBA, the answer is IDOIDOIDOIDOIDO, so today's theme of alternatively clued song titles from the band gets a thumbs up from me. Just this past Sunday, my sister-in-law and I were reminiscing about seeing the stage version of "Mamma Mia" in 2001. We didn't think we'd end up dancing in the aisles at the show, but we did.  The "jukebox musical" - as I see it's called in the Wikipedia - includes all three songs that appear in the puzzle - plus a whole lot more. I have seen the movie version, but didn't enjoy it as much. When the stage version took off, I think someone just thought to themselves MONEYMONEYMONEY. 

 

Perhaps helped along by the three grid-spanning theme answers which all consisted of repeated words, the solve went quickly without a single SOS moment. Despite being geographically challenged, I even entered IRAN off the clue ("Land with coasts on both the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf"). I wasn't certain of the answer but it seemed to whisper, "take a chance on me," so I did. Winner takes it all!

As we all know, though, in puzzle construction, the name of the game is good clueing and quality fill, and I think we get that here. BUMPED for "Knocked off the schedule" is apt. Apt! "Website where you go to see the stars?" (YELP) is amusing. I liked the gently ambiguous clue "Caves" (GIVESIN), and also "Poker giveaway" (TELL). 

Fill-wise, I liked VOID and TIPSY - BONY less so, for some reason. AXIOM is strong.  STATUE is an funny word, if you sit still and think about it for too long.  

And how about SNAPE showing up in the puzzle today?!?! Harry Potter re-read FTW! And speaking of HP, with Philbo's encouragement, I have decided to press on and finish the entire series. Let's hope the 734 page "Goblet of Fire" won't be my Waterloo. 

~Frannie.

Monday, July 5, 2021, Peter Gordon

As I started to solve the Monday puzzle here on the evening of Sunday, July 4th, a barrage of fireworks exploded in the neighborhood, which completely blew my chances for a personal best. But seriously folks, I did have a RAREBIT of trouble with a Monday puzzle. I misspelled IDI (Amin) with an "E" even though I know better. Sometimes when there are two to options to choose between, and I know I've made the wrong choice before, I remember the wrong choice better than the right one, especially when I'm trying to be quick.

After correcting my error and completing the grid, I took a look at the shaded and circled squares. The shaded squares contain a multi-letter spell-out of the single circled letter that follows. EYEINTHESKY, for example. WHYYOULITTLE naturally brought The Simpsons immediately to mind. :)

I enjoyed a number of the clues as I went along, including "Undergraduate's declaration" (MAJOR), "Attire for the Mario Bros. or the Minions (OVERALLS), "Butter unit" (PAT), and "What can barely give a hoot?" (OWLET). Speaking of which, earlier this week I dug up my Harry Potter books to lend to Huygens, but for some reason started re-reading them myself. I finished the third book, HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban, tonight. I think I'll stop there, but who knows? The series seems to have cast some kind of spell on me. 

I liked the 2 sets of 3 9's in the northeast and southwest corners. Has anyone ever used their HOTELSAFE? Maybe only in a Nero WOLFE novel. And speaking of hotels, I appreciated all the non-English answers: olio di OLIVA, EAU, ARC de Triomphe, TIA, and of course ELLIBERTADOR, once I got his eye in the right place. 

~Frannie. 

Sunday, July 4, 2021, Howard Barkin

I'VE GOT A FEELING

In 2015, I attended my first A.C.P.T. by myself. I didn't know anyone at all, but being something of an extrovert, I went into the grand ballroom on Friday evening for the "ice-breaker" games and plunked myself down at a table. I ended up solving the puzzles that night with none other than Doug Hoylman - a six-time A.C.P.T. champion, the chief counsel for the I.R.S. - a nice guy and a formidable crossworder, and a guy whose daughter was attending Beloit College - my alma mater. I knew right away I was in the right place.

On Saturday, I talked to people in the hallways between puzzles, and I usually asked them how they were doing, etc. I ended up talking for a while with a guy who told me he thought he was doing pretty well ... that he maybe could have done better, but he felt pretty good about how things were going. It's a comment you hear from many people. When I checked the standings for his name, I saw he was third. It was Howard Barkin. 

So anyway, today we have a puzzle by Mr. Barkin, and you might think I'm just being kind to someone I met at the tournament (Hi Howard!), but I tell you I genuinely LOL'd at the clever re-defining of the theme answers. "Bacteriologist's emotion upon a new discovery?" for CULTURESHOCK, "Jester's emotion after the king's laughter?" (COMICRELIEF), and "Wild horse's emotion?" (UNBRIDLEDJOY) - those are all great. And what about "Evil genie's emotion?" for BOTTLEDUPANGER? Genius! And hilarious.

In contrast to some other bloggers (Hi Jeff!), I always enjoy a theme that appears in both Across and Down answers. I feel it opens the puzzle up somehow. Some say it makes it more challenging to have clean fill, but I didn't find much to complain about. In fact, nestled right beside the vertical theme entries we find BUGSBUNNY (Famous toon with a Brooklyn accent), CONARTIST (One might take you in), and WETBAR (Home mixologist's spot) - all strong.

Other bits I liked were DEEPCUT (Lesser-known song), ACINCH (Easy as pie) (Was not expecting two words here!), EULOGY (The Gettysburg Address, e.g.), LABELLED (Hurrah for the two-l spelling!), and ZENO (One of his paradoxes claims that two objects can never really touch). 

Overall, it was a fun Sunday puzzle. Frannie takes over tomorrow, and I'll see you in a few weeks.

- Horace

Saturday, July 3, 2021, Kameron Austin Collins

When I see the name Kameron Austin Collins attached to a Saturday NYTX, I get a little worried because I know he will MAKEME struggle. Today, however, I thought maybe I could HOPEFOR an easier time, when I guessed SOREspot right off the bat for "What may need to be kneaded," and then dropped in OMITS (Drops) and ELlie (____ Gilbert, "The Vampire Diaries" protagonist) (I never read these, it's really ELENA), and then strawHUT (Cabana) (BEACHHUT). 

So, obviously, off to a great start. 

Outside of the NW I had better luck, dropping in HAMOPERATOR (Radio amateur), and then TOHELEN off the O, and SPITITOUT ("Just say what you're going to say!") from the T. NOUS (More than just moi) was easy for this French major, and CREATUREFEATURE brought back memories of Channel 38 on weekend afternoons. It was "Creature Double Feature," and I never watched any of them, but the commercials were always on while I was watching something else, like "The Three Stooges" or "The Munsters."

ALLEYCAT (Street prowler) and MASSGENERAL were welcome gimmes, but OREN Ishii and ROYCOHN took quite a few crosses. 

This is one of those puzzles that, when you look back over it, you think everything looks so obvious. TRIALRUNS is so clearly the answer to "Tests," for example, but when I first read "Tests," I read it as a verb. Ay, there's the rub, eh?

Well, not all of it is obvious, I guess. I've never heard of FISACOURT (Govt. body that approves warrant requests for spies), and I have no idea what it means to REVET an embankment. And how many times did I try SOpS and SOtS at 1-Down (SOGS (Soaks))? Many, many times. I spent nearly ten full minutes putting things in and taking them out again in the NW corner, until finally I figured out CTRL KEY (part of some shortcuts) and everything came together. 

We love a Saturday challenge, and Mr. Collins is among the best at delivering just that. This was a satisfying struggle full of trivia (CAMBODIA (Country that celebrates the new year ("Choul Chnam Thmey") in April) and MARINER (Member of the only M.L.B. team never to have played in a World Series)) and clever clues ("Trace evidence?" (STENCIL) and "Shaded from the sun" (TAN)). 

Satisfying, challenging, and fun. The best kind of puzzle.

- Horace

Friday, July 2, 2021, Brooke Husic and Adam Nicolle

I need some help today - why is ORB clued as "Scepter topper?" I thought it was "scepter and orb" - two separate things. Does the orb fit onto the scepter? Is something other than the British monarchy being discussed here? Is it a gaming thing? 

OK, let's talk about something else. Howzabout I rank the six (!) grid-spanners:

1. GOOGLETRANSLATE (Cut-and-paste tool for language learners). Odd clue. I'd guess that less than half of its users are true language learners. But maybe I'm wrong. Even with its shortcomings, though, I have to give this first place. It's not perfect, but it can help a lot, and the real-time, live-camera translation (i.e. point your camera at a menu in a foreign language and see English words) is pretty amazing.

2. NOISECANCELLING (Like some headphones). Love the old-school double-l spelling (when will "spelling" be spelled "speling?") and I absolutely love the product. Plane rides to countries where I need to use the live-camera GOOGLETRANSLATE are made much more pleasant by use of these. Plus, I've used them more than ever during the past year for work Zoom meetings. I'm kind of hoping that when we go back to real conference rooms, I can still wear them, but then it will be to cancel out all the talking, not hear it better. :)

The rest are all fine. ALONGTIMECOMING and REALLYSOMETHING are comfortingly idiomatic. And at a local restaurant we frequently order an appetizer "the way they used to do it," which is, I guess, something like a SECRETMENUITEM. And ACTIVELIFESTYLE, sure. That's fine. Stop nagging me!

I FWOEd today on the cross of "One-named rapper with the 2019 video "Can't Explain It" and "Daughter of Styx." I guessed NIlE for the latter, thinking of rivers, but when I didn't get the "Congratulations" screen I knew the square, and had to literally run the alphabet to finish. Oh well.

Someday I want to go to the ISLEOFSKYE. It just sounds so lovely, doesn't it?

- Horace

Thursday, July 1, 2021, Joe Deeney

I figured out this theme more quickly than any other this week - with the first theme answer - and my time was faster than yesterday and just a minute slower than Tuesday! It probably helped that in the online version the ends of the four theme answers had oversized boxes. Oversized, making the contained word big, and then "big" itself had to be understood in order for the answer to work.

So - "I can't believe I said that" is answered with MEANDMYMOUTH, and "Hold it, buster!" with WHATSTHEIDEA. Not bad, really. 

I'm not familiar with the "Luxury hotel chain," but I sure hope to see this place still in business the next time we get to Paris!

I thought for a moment that ILLALLOWIT (Overruling of an objection) was somehow working as a revealer, but no, it's just a good entry. Same with SOLARPANEL (Something that turns light green?) (Nice clue).

GRANT (50s president) had me fooled twice, because I thought of the 1850s quickly, but then realized he didn't come in until after the Civil War, so I took it out again. But they weren't talking about years, they were talking currency! 

Favorite clue - "They may come to light" for MOTHS. So true.

I like the theme, and I like the long Downs (STAYONTASK, HOWONEARTH). I had a little trouble in the South with HORA (Rhyme for "menora" in "Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah"), where I tried auRA and toRA (misspelled, I know) before getting it right. HELLO and ORALB didn't help much! If not for that little speed bump I would have been closer to a Monday time. As it was, I finished in 8:37, which felt a little fast for a Thursday.

- Horace