Sunday, May 31, 2015, Tom McCoy

MAKING PROJECTIONS

I knew something was up when I confidently put in "Mount Everest" at 4D (Peak that's known as "the Great One") - confident, even though I had no idea if it was right (and it wasn't). It became clear quickly that something wasn't working out. Furthermore, the instructions indicated that there would be a phrase reading clockwise around the edges, and I didn't see how the words I was putting in (TEACH, PILLS) would fit into a phrase.

I got the idea at 15D: Catcher of some waves, where I had ADI____, and figured that had to start with [R]ADIO. The answers with the "projections" are symmetrically placed, with one extra at the start point, at the top central letter. It's always a challenge to figure out a clue when a letter is absent, but a fun one in this case. My favorite of the theme answers is DROPDOWNMEN[U], for the appropriateness of its direction.

And there's a nice payoff when you read the phrase around the edges: the added letters stick out like a SORE THUMB.

With so little in the way of actual theme, the puzzle is freed up to be a good one. It's almost like a 21 x 21 relatively easy themeless. This is best shown in the remarkably chunky middle section, where there the answers range from five to eight letters. SUHWEET was a fun surprise. COLOURS was clued nicely with the British ways of spelling gray and ocher. KELVINS is something we don't see often in the puzzle. 63D: Something you might get a kick out of? (KARATE) is a bit of a stretch from a cluing perspective. 66A: Gets harsher (HOARSENS) was not the kind of harsh I expected at first.

There are a fair amount of long answers that weren't theme related. 76A: Hockey team with a patriotic name (MAPLELEAFS) plays on our America-centric thinking to trick us. 78A: Distraction for many an idle person (SMARTPHONE) is well done and modern. SEMIANNUAL, ITSNOWONDER and HIBERNATION are all good words.

My hardest cross was at 5D: Rare notes and 20A: Kurt Vonnegut's "Happy Birthday, ____ June". The latter was made more difficult by 7D: Further, where I had put AdD instead of AND. I finally figured that the notes in the first clue were bank notes (TWOS for two-dollar bills). WAdDA didn't make sense, so I got the N. The SE corner was filled with question-mark clues, but they weren't terribly difficult.

Well, it's the last day of May. I guess we can look forward to some TOMFOOLERY when Horace takes over again tomorrow.

- Colum

Saturday, May 30, 2015, Samuel A. Donaldson and Brad Wilbur

14:53

This has been a really great end of the week, from Thursday through today. A great way to usher in the end of my month of blogging - I hope Sunday lives up to it!

I love this kind of grid: from NW to SE flows with open spaces. The NE and SW corners are a little isolated, but the entrees into those areas are high quality words. Very little in the way of fill I didn't like. Let's get to it.

I knew 1D: Footwear donned on camera by Mr. Rogers (KEDS) immediately, and put in EMINENCE at 15A off of that. I got 6D: The bigger picture: Abbr. (ENL) with my Saturday solving hat on, but got stuck in that corner for lack of knowledge of Hagar the Horrible's dog's name (SNERT) or Newsman Holt et al. (LESTERS). As is often the case for me, the NW ended up being the last section I solved.

I got a smattering of answers, wrong (lewd for RACY, swirls for TWISTS) or right (MYNAS, ASHY, AWL) throughout the puzzle, but didn't really get going until Mr. Bertrand RUSSELL, which led naturally to 42A: Heads for the garden? (LETTUCES) and 38D: Cultured ones? (BACTERIA). I liked both of those.

ERUPTIVE was a guess, and the SE corner fell. I enjoyed the pairing of 33D: Where you might lose an hour (STATELINE) and 34D: It might gain you an hour (TIMESAVER). Mr. Isaac Asimov is always welcome in a grid, even if only represented by his BOLOTIE. I corrected the soft-serve ice cream answer, which helped find ADORATION, and completed the NE. ATANYRATE is a nice answer also.

52A: Chalked warning left for custodial staff (DONTERASE) is funny and highly unexpected. We also get ONESIE and the excellent 46D: Burn the midnight oil, e.g. (IDIOM), the sort of clue that gets me every time. I looked at ID_O_ for quite some time before twigging to the trick.

NONSTARTER and SMELLTEST go well together, the former not passing the latter. Who knew that OTTERS congregated in "rafts?" Well, I guess I do now. 36A: Pirates' place (DIAMOND) is another nice trick. I'd seen DIXIECRAT before, even referring to Mr. Strom Thurmond, but I needed much of the last syllable in crosses before I could fill it in. IMUPFORIT is a nice piece of vernacular.

My last word was DUXELLES, crossing ACEAWARD.

Best clue? 9D: Noted employee of Slate (FLINTSTONE). Way to hint at an up-to-date reference but actually go seriously retro.

- Colum

Friday, May 29, 2015, Patrick Berry

DNF

And here is the aforementioned Friday puzzle blog. I did not finish because of time constraints. And it's a shame, because Patrick Berry's puzzles usually fit right in my wheelhouse. I was doing great until the very last section, and I couldn't leave it and come back to it later.

In any case, it's an outstanding puzzle, and I have very little to complain about.

Lovely chunks of three 10-letter or three 9-letter answers make up the corners, and the center is approached through two more 9-letter answers. It makes for a nice chunky puzzle, with only three 3-letter answers.

I got off to a rough start when I confused my hecklephone with my euphonium and put "tuba" at 14A (OBOE). I put SUES in at 19A, and then moved elsewhere. I couldn't find purchase in the NE either, so I moved to the middle. I got ATE (28D: Took a course? great clue for a 3-letter), then put in SAINTHOOD (27A: Judas never attained it - nice clue) as well as GOTTO, KITS, and KIA (25A: Soul producer - also clever).

I recognized THEHEAT (pretty hilarious movie, actually), but then moved into the SE. HORSEHIDE fell immediately, and I put OZONE____ in at 31D, not knowing exactly what the end would be. Everything else in that corner went pretty quickly, including the two brand names HIHO and IZOD. I got out of the corner into the SW with all three downs at 45, 46, and 40. UPSTHEANTE was clear from that, but the other two took some time.

At this point, I remembered Lee TREVINO (never been a golf fan), and was able to clear the NE. INRAREFORM and STONEHENGE are nice answers. 11D: Very sad turnout (NOONE) is perhaps my favorite clue-answer pairing of the month. Brilliant. And look! LENTO makes a reappearance from Thursday, referencing Chopin obliquely, so I'm happy.

Now I remembered ABOUTABOY, which allowed me to correct OBOE, and fill in the NW. I even got the SW. ABUZZ (one of the rare A- words I'll accept) next to TYPEB is fine construction. So where was the problem? Why didn't I finish the puzzle?

It all comes down to 36A: Four-hour tour features? (EYERHYMES). I recognized that the clue was getting at the fact that the first three words ended in the same three letters. I've never heard the term before, but I get what it means, and I would have gotten there eventually, but I also had GusSIES at 34D (Broadway chorus dancers, informally). Which is pretty obviously wrong. As in no way close to being correct. It's not even a noun. But anyway, I couldn't see around it. And I couldn't parse 37D: Sub entries (HATCHES), so the H escaped me.

Anyway, awesome puzzle.

I'm back on schedule!!!

- Colum

Thursday, May 28, 2015, Jeff Chen

12:15

Wow, it's been busy up Albany way. My apologies for the extremely late Thursday blog entry, especially after reading Wednesday's comments. I'm looking forward to what people have to say about this puzzle too.

Before we get there, if anybody's around Albany June 5, 6, or 7, my daughter's acting group is putting on the really excellent Broadway musical, Once On This Island. I am the music director and band leader, and will be playing in the pit orchestra as well. Should be a lot of fun.

Okay. Back to the blog.

I always am happy to see Mr. Chen's name on a puzzle, because I know it will be clean and interesting, and this Thursday did not disappoint. The theme is very well done. EVEN ODDS is put across the middle, and each theme answer is made up of two shorter words whose letters, when placed in ALTERNATION, create a larger phrase.

We've seen this sort of thing done in Games magazine, of course, but it's very well done here. I love 16A: Hits hard + famed spokescow = some Bach compositions (CELLOSUITES, made up of "clouts" and "Elsie"), as well as 54A: Duke's ride + slowly = this puzzle's theme (the above mentioned ALTERNATION, made up of "A-train" and "lento" - we'll get to that latter answer in tomorrow's puzzle blog).

The others are very good as well, although not as virtuosic. I like BLUETITS the best, both for the strange image it brings to mind (if your mind is in the gutter) and the fact that it uses the word "butt". Heh heh... he said butt.

In the meantime, the remainder of the puzzle is pretty interesting as well. CLERISY was an unusual word, defined as "a distinct class of learned or literary people" on the Interwebz.  I like the informality of 3D: "Whoa, whoa, whoa - go back" (IMLOST). And 18A: Exceptional start? (BUT) is a clever clue for a common 3-letter answer.

I don't much like EINK (another blah E- answer). OOP is clued awfully strangely as an abbreviation for "out of print". I'd never heard of the Olympic Australis OPAL, and its crossing with UAE, clued as the location of Umm al-Quwain, was perhaps a bit unfair, but attainable.

Other great clues: 35A: Superior woman? (ABBESS). 31D: Bye line? (ADIEU) - short and sweet. Strange clue for HAITIAN - second oldest independent country in the New World is a lot of trivia. I love ENTROPY next to MESONS. That's some out there stuff.

- Colum

Wednesday, May 27, 2015, Jim Quinlan

8:17

This is an odd theme, to be sure. We take common words (well, sometimes common, sometimes not, as I'll discuss below) where the second part of the word can be reinterpreted as a verb, and then make them contractions with "not" to amusing ends. I liked it very much when I first came across CATSCANT (23A: Jazz players are incapable). I liked it less with BUSHWASNT (35A: W. never existed). I mean, "bushwa"? Is that the underlying word? Apparently it means nonsense, which is what happened here. Where did the S in the final answer come from?

KATYDIDNT (55A: Singer Perry opted out) is straightforward and acceptable. ANIMUSTNT (18A: Singer DiFranco should heed a warning) comes close to working. But the T is again added in, and the word "animus" does not sound like "Ani must" because of that missing T. And then we get MATHISNT (49A: Calculus disappears). "Mathis"?! This is not a common word. It is a name (Johnny Mathis springs to mind), but then it's the only name used in the set of theme answers. I'm going to cry foul. I will say I liked the clues a lot, but I'm not sure why they're in italics.

I have to say that I thought I was going to love the puzzle from the NW section. OBAMA crossed with BIGEARS is great. I like ADOPTED and any reference to MARISA Tomei is a winner in my book. And there's lots of great stuff in the rest of the grid as well. SASHIMI next to TINYTIM. TOTEBAG and VANGOGH. I like PEERAGE, and OCTET above LOWNOTE is fun.

I didn't like the middle section, with OASES and OESTE right near each other, but they support CROUTON and KENNETH, so I can't complain too much. I've never heard of a SKIBOB, but it looks like a ton of fun.

There's some crosswordese scattered around, but I won't complain too much about it. Overall, the fill made up for the strangeness of the theme, and I guess that's what Wednesday is all about.

- Colum

Tuesday, May 26, 2015, Gareth Bain

5:43

This one had me at hello (1D: Lawn sport - BOCCE), and kept me happy all the way through. The theme is straightforward and reasonably well carried out. The Beatles revealer (ALLYOUNEEDISLOVE) tells you to put love before each half of each theme answer to get separate phrases. Some of them work better than others ("love game"? I'm not sure what that is), but each of the original answers feels genuine.

But it's the fill where this puzzle really shines, and it makes me feel that, more and more, it's the fill that makes me enjoy solving a crossword. I can appreciate a really well executed theme. But I like uncovering unusual long answers. And this one abounds in them.

9D: Cooked in a clay oven, as in India (TANDOORI) was very nice. I didn't need the portion of the clue about India, but it's a Tuesday. 23D: Like the best bonds (RATEDAAA) was excellent. I balked at putting those As in, but was happy when it turned out to be the right answer.

40D: One who's fluent in both JavaScript and Klingon, say (UBERGEEK) is outstanding. Hurrah for that clue and answer in every way! I like the pair of flowers, MAGNOLIA and DAHLIA, so close to each other. And Germaine GREER and Graham GREENE represent all the Gs you'd ever want in a pair of names.

The NW made me happy. TUSHES, above "Michael, row the boat ASHORE" above Alfred E. NEUMAN. Wonderful.

Are there things I'd rather do without? Sure. TERR is iffy. PLAX I've never heard of, but inferred pretty quickly. MLLE and BCE and ENS and MPAA are less than interesting abbreviations.

But how about that clue for ENTS? (65A: Foes of Saruman in "The Two Towers") So much better than "Tolkien creatures". And AOUT. I love it.

I say OLEOLE!

- Colum

Monday, May 25, 2015, Jennifer Nutt

5:02

And on this day we celebrate those men and women who have gone to fight in wars, the New York Times publishes a puzzle about... fingernails. Seems a mite trivial, but even in the grand scheme of things, a hangnail can really ruin your day.

That being said, the theme was definitely not clear until I finished the puzzle, and then not even until I realized that INAILEDIT was not "in ail edit" but rather "I nailed it!" That made more sense. And then I got that the last word of each of the other five long across answers are things you do with finger (or toe) nails. I like CIRCULARFILE the best of these, and SOCIALPOLISH the least. I wanted "social skills" to answer the clue "What a boor sorely lacks".

Six theme entries are a lot for a puzzle of this size, but it's nice that the fill is not sacrificed too much. Just looking at 1D, 2D, and 3D: HAVOC, ALIBI, NADIR. Those are some nice words. I don't like PRIER at all, although I see how tough it would have been to put "prior" in there. INURE is pretty tired fill by now, and TRINI has to use the Wayback Machine to find its way into 2015. But otherwise, nice stuff.

I like BABYLON, COVEN, SPRITE, and QUIP, which doesn't feel like it's shoved in there so that a Q can be represented. SIZE across SEIZE is a little redundant feeling, but they're independent words. Glad to see NORA refer to Ms. Ephron, rather than Nick and...

I think this puzzle felt a little like a Tuesday, but it was a good fun grid to work through.

- Colum