1:10:28
The week so far has been on the easy side, but today we were served a real toughie! That SW/S area was a killer! I don't know how many times I put ROCKIE (60A: Coors Field player) in and then took it out again. I mean, I knew they played there, but I couldn't make anything work, and who knows, maybe somebody else plays there too? No. Probably not. Also, we had "bible" for TORAH (52A: Text with Numbers) for a long time, which yielded nothing. ABBE (43A: Title for Liszt) was very tricky. ION (59A: Bond bit) only came after we had every cross. REHEAR (63A: Try again) and OVERT (54A: Patent) were both slow to come. In short, it was a mess down there. We probably spent over half an hour just working on that section. None of it seemed especially unfair, it was just hard, which, actually, is usually pretty fun. Especially when, like today, we eventually get there.
In other areas, we don't know what ATP (26A: Mitochondrion-made material, briefly) is (tried RNA and DNA), nor SSGT (10D: Squad cmdr.). I am guessing that Colum can explain the first, and Huygens the second. And speaking of Huygens, I'm sure he will enjoy XXX (62A: Really dirty).
Mr. Ashwood-Smith went easy on us in one way today, however, by only going with the one central quad-stack. Frannie got NATIONALANTHEMS (40A: Many of them play at the Olympics) (very nice, and timely!) first, and then we picked away at the other three.
In all, a satisfying puzzle, but I'm a little worried about tomorrow.
- Horace
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014, Stanley Newman
0:21:21
"Don't talk about yourself. We will do that after you leave." A quote, running through four long spaces, thought funny enough to carry the puzzle. I guess I agree.
But let's get right to the elephant in the puzzle, shall we? YELLOWY (22D: Blond). (Slightly related to 20D: Like some blonds (DYED.)) So? What do we think of that? I started with outrage, but slowly was converted to acceptance, and then even appreciation. We puzzle-doers want the grids to be fresh, with current language, right? I'll gladly accept TOOTOO (47D: Overdone), and SLOMO (41D: Time-stretching effect), but I frowned at "YELLOWY." Why? No more! I don't want to see it every day, but every once in a while, something like "YELLOWY" is fine by me. Especially in a puzzle with a decent amount of other strong material.
SCARCE (1D: Pretty hard to find), CABAL (9D: Ring of rebels), APPALL (29A: Severely consternate), and SHRIVEL (43D: Contract) (Oh! conTRACT! Not CONtract...), are all good words. We could do without ODISTS (42A: Some Coleridge colleagues) and OAS (52A: Alliance HQ'd near the White House) (?), and I guess I have to accept that "Epicurean" no longer has anything to do with philosophy, but those are small things. DIURNAL (11D: Active when the sun goes down), AZORES (10D: Columbus stopping point of 1493) (tricky trivia!), IDIOCY (50A: Folly), MASTS (17A: Spars) (Good clue!)... they're all solid.
It was a solid puzzle. Better than solid. What do you think?
- Horace
"Don't talk about yourself. We will do that after you leave." A quote, running through four long spaces, thought funny enough to carry the puzzle. I guess I agree.
But let's get right to the elephant in the puzzle, shall we? YELLOWY (22D: Blond). (Slightly related to 20D: Like some blonds (DYED.)) So? What do we think of that? I started with outrage, but slowly was converted to acceptance, and then even appreciation. We puzzle-doers want the grids to be fresh, with current language, right? I'll gladly accept TOOTOO (47D: Overdone), and SLOMO (41D: Time-stretching effect), but I frowned at "YELLOWY." Why? No more! I don't want to see it every day, but every once in a while, something like "YELLOWY" is fine by me. Especially in a puzzle with a decent amount of other strong material.
SCARCE (1D: Pretty hard to find), CABAL (9D: Ring of rebels), APPALL (29A: Severely consternate), and SHRIVEL (43D: Contract) (Oh! conTRACT! Not CONtract...), are all good words. We could do without ODISTS (42A: Some Coleridge colleagues) and OAS (52A: Alliance HQ'd near the White House) (?), and I guess I have to accept that "Epicurean" no longer has anything to do with philosophy, but those are small things. DIURNAL (11D: Active when the sun goes down), AZORES (10D: Columbus stopping point of 1493) (tricky trivia!), IDIOCY (50A: Folly), MASTS (17A: Spars) (Good clue!)... they're all solid.
It was a solid puzzle. Better than solid. What do you think?
- Horace
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014, Ruth B. Margolin
0:08:45
1A: Fare in "blankets" (PIGS) took me a couple crosses, but when it went in I smiled, and had a good feeling about the puzzle from then on. I like the related clues, like 15A: Bahamas cruise stop (NASSAU) and 16A: South American cruise stop, for short (RIO) (even though neither came to mind immediately), and 42D: It carries a shell (SNAIL) and 51A: Shell carries it (GAS). Those are nice touches.
The theme is, I guess, the addition of "IST" to various phrases. Is "Cub Reporter" a thing? A young reporter? A reporter who only reports on the Cub Scouts?... The other three are all good, especially POMPOUSASSIST (26A: Help from a jerk?). That, and STARKISTNAKED (44A: Canned tuna without mayo?) are both nicely risqué.
I liked a lot about this one. The Orwell reference - EURASIA (10D: "1984" superstate), CALYPSO (41D: Harry Belafonte genre), GUEVARA (24D: Compadre of Castro), SPORK (29D: Picnic utensil) (!), and more. Sure, there are a few ORA, ESE, CAF, and EEL (!!) -type clues, but not too many, and the overall good vibe outweighed them. At least for this reviewer.
A fine Wednesday.
- Horace
1A: Fare in "blankets" (PIGS) took me a couple crosses, but when it went in I smiled, and had a good feeling about the puzzle from then on. I like the related clues, like 15A: Bahamas cruise stop (NASSAU) and 16A: South American cruise stop, for short (RIO) (even though neither came to mind immediately), and 42D: It carries a shell (SNAIL) and 51A: Shell carries it (GAS). Those are nice touches.
The theme is, I guess, the addition of "IST" to various phrases. Is "Cub Reporter" a thing? A young reporter? A reporter who only reports on the Cub Scouts?... The other three are all good, especially POMPOUSASSIST (26A: Help from a jerk?). That, and STARKISTNAKED (44A: Canned tuna without mayo?) are both nicely risqué.
I liked a lot about this one. The Orwell reference - EURASIA (10D: "1984" superstate), CALYPSO (41D: Harry Belafonte genre), GUEVARA (24D: Compadre of Castro), SPORK (29D: Picnic utensil) (!), and more. Sure, there are a few ORA, ESE, CAF, and EEL (!!) -type clues, but not too many, and the overall good vibe outweighed them. At least for this reviewer.
A fine Wednesday.
- Horace
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014, Matthew E. Paronto and Jeff Chen
0:06:21
Just yesterday, or the day before, I said to Frannie that I would try to make a puzzle for my family using nothing but tired crosswordese, and then lo and behold, this arrives! Even before we got to 20A: EPEE (FENCINGBLADE), I had noticed a trend. ORBS, IBIS, ONO, REFI, IPAD, SATE, NIN, LIN, TAPA, AFRO, ANAT, even GOTTI (17A: John known as the "Teflon Don") was seen within the last few days.
I wondered, at first, why they bothered to put the theme clues in all caps, but then I thought, if they didn't, how would you know there even was a theme? Hah. I kid. But really, putting those words outside the grid, instead of inside, was a nice change, and the usual clues for those words - NEEDLECASE (20A: ETUI) and ARABLEADER (47A: EMIR) (and the aforementioned FENCINGBLADE) are at least decent fill.
There are a couple of fun non-theme answers - CLOWNAROUND (25D: Be a goof) and BANANASPLIT (10D: Fountain treat with cherries on top) both outshine the theme itself - but I like to think that the entire grid is acting as theme support. On the bottom half you get OBOE, REVS, REE, ALA, EXE, RENO, INN, and ANEW.
An interesting idea (I guess I have to say that, since I have already claimed a desire to construct such a grid), but in the end, maybe a bit of "imitative fallacy," as our old creative writing teacher used to say. If you're writing about someone who is boring, don't make your writing boring.
Plus, no EEL!
- Horace
p.s. I have read elsewhere that the "pun" part of the revealer CROSSWORDESE (55A: What this puzzle's capitalized clues are, both by definition and pun) refers to all the theme clues beginning with the letter E (EPEE, ETUI, ERNE, EMIR). I didn't even notice that. I thought that it somehow referred to "crossword ease" because they were incredibly easy for any regular solver. Also, "Crossword Es?" Lame. Especially since the variant "AMIR" is nearly as frequent. Maybe if the only vowel were E - then they could have used "EMEER." And EEL! Dammit!
Just yesterday, or the day before, I said to Frannie that I would try to make a puzzle for my family using nothing but tired crosswordese, and then lo and behold, this arrives! Even before we got to 20A: EPEE (FENCINGBLADE), I had noticed a trend. ORBS, IBIS, ONO, REFI, IPAD, SATE, NIN, LIN, TAPA, AFRO, ANAT, even GOTTI (17A: John known as the "Teflon Don") was seen within the last few days.
I wondered, at first, why they bothered to put the theme clues in all caps, but then I thought, if they didn't, how would you know there even was a theme? Hah. I kid. But really, putting those words outside the grid, instead of inside, was a nice change, and the usual clues for those words - NEEDLECASE (20A: ETUI) and ARABLEADER (47A: EMIR) (and the aforementioned FENCINGBLADE) are at least decent fill.
There are a couple of fun non-theme answers - CLOWNAROUND (25D: Be a goof) and BANANASPLIT (10D: Fountain treat with cherries on top) both outshine the theme itself - but I like to think that the entire grid is acting as theme support. On the bottom half you get OBOE, REVS, REE, ALA, EXE, RENO, INN, and ANEW.
An interesting idea (I guess I have to say that, since I have already claimed a desire to construct such a grid), but in the end, maybe a bit of "imitative fallacy," as our old creative writing teacher used to say. If you're writing about someone who is boring, don't make your writing boring.
Plus, no EEL!
- Horace
p.s. I have read elsewhere that the "pun" part of the revealer CROSSWORDESE (55A: What this puzzle's capitalized clues are, both by definition and pun) refers to all the theme clues beginning with the letter E (EPEE, ETUI, ERNE, EMIR). I didn't even notice that. I thought that it somehow referred to "crossword ease" because they were incredibly easy for any regular solver. Also, "Crossword Es?" Lame. Especially since the variant "AMIR" is nearly as frequent. Maybe if the only vowel were E - then they could have used "EMEER." And EEL! Dammit!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014, Adam G. Perl
0:05:04
Well, would you look at that, a Little Women theme! I thought for a second when I put in the name LOUISAMAYALCOTT (39A: Author who created the characters named by the starts of 17-, 24-, 49-, and 61-Across) about whether or not I had put in anything else literary yet, but I was trying to go quickly, so I didn't figure out the theme until I had finished it up. After consulting with Frannie, I can report that they are not presented in order of age (Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy), but hey, you can't have everything all the time. Just ask Beth. … What? Too soon?
I enjoyed the puzzle just fine as it went along. I like the word SCALENE (47A: Having sides of different lengths, as a triangle), and being reminded of old-timers GAVIN (44A: Actor MacLeod of old TV) and 55A: Three-time A.L. batting champion Tony (OLIVA) was ok with me, plus - I always like seeing ORONO (15A: Maine university town) in the grid, because my Dad went there.
I've never heard of "poppers," but AMYLNITRITE (61D: Chemical compound in "poppers") was filled in entirely by crosses, so it didn't much matter.
I liked the Latin clue, 23A: "____, vidi, vici" (VENI), because, hey!, remember when I said I was sad because I hadn't signed up to read the Aeneid? Well, I signed up after all! And it's going great, thanks!
Lastly, once I put in BYEBYELOVE (11D: 1957 Everly Brothers hit with the repeated lyric "Hello loneliness"), it became the SOUNDTRACK to my solve, and there's nothing wrong with that.
- Horace
Well, would you look at that, a Little Women theme! I thought for a second when I put in the name LOUISAMAYALCOTT (39A: Author who created the characters named by the starts of 17-, 24-, 49-, and 61-Across) about whether or not I had put in anything else literary yet, but I was trying to go quickly, so I didn't figure out the theme until I had finished it up. After consulting with Frannie, I can report that they are not presented in order of age (Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy), but hey, you can't have everything all the time. Just ask Beth. … What? Too soon?
I enjoyed the puzzle just fine as it went along. I like the word SCALENE (47A: Having sides of different lengths, as a triangle), and being reminded of old-timers GAVIN (44A: Actor MacLeod of old TV) and 55A: Three-time A.L. batting champion Tony (OLIVA) was ok with me, plus - I always like seeing ORONO (15A: Maine university town) in the grid, because my Dad went there.
I've never heard of "poppers," but AMYLNITRITE (61D: Chemical compound in "poppers") was filled in entirely by crosses, so it didn't much matter.
I liked the Latin clue, 23A: "____, vidi, vici" (VENI), because, hey!, remember when I said I was sad because I hadn't signed up to read the Aeneid? Well, I signed up after all! And it's going great, thanks!
Lastly, once I put in BYEBYELOVE (11D: 1957 Everly Brothers hit with the repeated lyric "Hello loneliness"), it became the SOUNDTRACK to my solve, and there's nothing wrong with that.
- Horace
Sunday, February 23, 2014, Victor Flemming
0:50:40
REEL-LIFE ANNIVERSARY
Frannie likes an old-movie theme, and even though these weren't the most recognizable old titles (with a couple notable exceptions, of course), it was still ok. She says, though, that it's like the "Golden Globes" puzzle - it was ok, but it ain't the Oscars. And speaking of the Oscars, shouldn't this have been run next week? They must have something big in store.
I was put off by the dual affront of ROBERTS (1A: Bush judicial appointee) and ALITO (15A: Bush judicial appointee). I know Roberts cast "the deciding vote" (a ridiculous term) on health care, but I'm still not convinced he's a decent guy.
SOLIPSIST (60A: Self-absorbed sort) was pretty, and it's an added bonus that "egomanIac" fits in the same space. RIPOSTE (126A: Comeback) is fancy, and I liked the modernity of BAILS (37D: Gives up, in slang) and EATIT (125A: Suffer humiliation, in slang), but overall, the puzzle seemed a little flat. NTESTS (78A: 2000s events in the North Korea, for short), DYER (58A: Colorist), ERE (92A: Odist's preposition)... I guess it's kind of a nice clue for LEI (99A: Award for Miss Hawaii, in addition to a tiara), but all in all, kind of a bland Sunday.
- Horace
REEL-LIFE ANNIVERSARY
Frannie likes an old-movie theme, and even though these weren't the most recognizable old titles (with a couple notable exceptions, of course), it was still ok. She says, though, that it's like the "Golden Globes" puzzle - it was ok, but it ain't the Oscars. And speaking of the Oscars, shouldn't this have been run next week? They must have something big in store.
I was put off by the dual affront of ROBERTS (1A: Bush judicial appointee) and ALITO (15A: Bush judicial appointee). I know Roberts cast "the deciding vote" (a ridiculous term) on health care, but I'm still not convinced he's a decent guy.
SOLIPSIST (60A: Self-absorbed sort) was pretty, and it's an added bonus that "egomanIac" fits in the same space. RIPOSTE (126A: Comeback) is fancy, and I liked the modernity of BAILS (37D: Gives up, in slang) and EATIT (125A: Suffer humiliation, in slang), but overall, the puzzle seemed a little flat. NTESTS (78A: 2000s events in the North Korea, for short), DYER (58A: Colorist), ERE (92A: Odist's preposition)... I guess it's kind of a nice clue for LEI (99A: Award for Miss Hawaii, in addition to a tiara), but all in all, kind of a bland Sunday.
- Horace
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014, Evan Birnholz
0:27:15
Well, we lit it up again this morning. Got ALCHEMISTS (1A: Ones who think things are good as gold?) and PIRATESHIP (15A: Feared sight on the Spanish Main) right off the bat, and then it was off to the races. Relatively, that is. I know there are folks who will finish this grid in under ten minutes, but for us, a Friday/Saturday combined time of under 50 minutes is startling.
Frannie didn't love RESOW (48D: Plant in subsequent seasons), I didn't love AREAR (52D: In the back), and neither of us was familiar with SALMI (53D: Game stew), but these are, I think, small prices to pay for such a nice grid as this.
On the quality side, we've got BLACKMAGIC (33A: Art that uses curse words?) contrasting with ARCHANGELS (61A: High spirits?), and a SAMARITAN (13D: Do-gooder) competing with a BADEGG (55A: No-gooder) and a DOMINATRIX (67A: Whip wielder) (Huygens alert!). HAYSTACKS (4D: Frequent Monet subjects), LIPREADER (34D: One getting messages by word of mouth?), and even WIDERIGHT (37D: Like some missed field goals) are all good.
The NE was where we ended up today. We were slowed considerably by two errant guesses - my "rArE" for BASE (11A: Like metals used by 1-Across) (I couldn't have been more wrong) and Frannie thinking a little too big with "Ship" for SEMI (18A: Big long-distance carrier?). The crossing composers, the TV reference to a show we don't watch, and the tricky James Bond trivia (AMERICANO (12D: First drink ever ordered by James Bond)) didn't give us much to go on. I think we got in at the bottom with WATT (37A: Volt-ampere) and COMEUNDONE (42A: Fall apart), and then climbed up from there.
All in all, a very nice Saturday.
- Horace
Well, we lit it up again this morning. Got ALCHEMISTS (1A: Ones who think things are good as gold?) and PIRATESHIP (15A: Feared sight on the Spanish Main) right off the bat, and then it was off to the races. Relatively, that is. I know there are folks who will finish this grid in under ten minutes, but for us, a Friday/Saturday combined time of under 50 minutes is startling.
Frannie didn't love RESOW (48D: Plant in subsequent seasons), I didn't love AREAR (52D: In the back), and neither of us was familiar with SALMI (53D: Game stew), but these are, I think, small prices to pay for such a nice grid as this.
On the quality side, we've got BLACKMAGIC (33A: Art that uses curse words?) contrasting with ARCHANGELS (61A: High spirits?), and a SAMARITAN (13D: Do-gooder) competing with a BADEGG (55A: No-gooder) and a DOMINATRIX (67A: Whip wielder) (Huygens alert!). HAYSTACKS (4D: Frequent Monet subjects), LIPREADER (34D: One getting messages by word of mouth?), and even WIDERIGHT (37D: Like some missed field goals) are all good.
The NE was where we ended up today. We were slowed considerably by two errant guesses - my "rArE" for BASE (11A: Like metals used by 1-Across) (I couldn't have been more wrong) and Frannie thinking a little too big with "Ship" for SEMI (18A: Big long-distance carrier?). The crossing composers, the TV reference to a show we don't watch, and the tricky James Bond trivia (AMERICANO (12D: First drink ever ordered by James Bond)) didn't give us much to go on. I think we got in at the bottom with WATT (37A: Volt-ampere) and COMEUNDONE (42A: Fall apart), and then climbed up from there.
All in all, a very nice Saturday.
- Horace
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