Sunday, December 31, 2017, John Lampkin

RING OUT THE OLD, RING IN THE NEW

Of the "ring out" entries, I am partial to the absurdity of LASTTANGINPARIS (22A: Result of a French powdered drink shortage?), and SUMWRESTLER (15D: One having trouble with basic arithmetic?) isn't bad either. My "photog" self bristled at CAMGEAR. Never once have I heard anyone say that, and I've been in and around photography and photographers since the 80s.

Of the "ring ins," the only one I really liked was INEEDAHUGO (76A: Struggling sci-fi writer's plea for recognition?), but MADCAPO (65D: Godfather after being double-crossed?) got a bit of a chuckle.

It's kind of an odd theme. We need to think of the top of the puzzle as old, and the bottom as new. I guess it kind of works.

In other areas, I liked FLEDGE (59D: Grow feathers), NOSEBLEED (3D: Result of a haymaker, maybe), CONNECT (6D: Couple), PLAGUE (32D: Harass incessantly), and several others. I was held up for quite a while by trying to force "reGAn" into 74D: "King Lear" role (EDGAR). Who the hell is EDGAR? IGUESS I'll need to read that someday if I can't just continue getting by on what I've learned of it from hearing other people talk about it. Sheesh!

It's hardly fair rating 1-Across on a Sunday, but here goes: OWN (Have) - C+. My favorite might have been 33A: Legends in the automotive world (ACURAS) because it took me so long to figure out. My least favorite is probably SOLER (66A: Cobbler, at times). Yuck.

But overall, I liked this one fairly well. Not great, but not terrible. Kind of like the year gone. Sure, the country is F'd, but personally, there were definitely highlights. Frannie and I spent a wonderful week in Paris in February, we had some good production from our vegetable garden, my job is going along pretty well, and perhaps most importantly (as regards this blog) I did much better this year at the ACPT! Here's hoping you can also find good things to remember in a year with so many national lowlights, and I wish for better things for all of us in 2018.

Thanks for reading.

- Horace

Saturday, December 30, 2017, Damn Gulczyinski

0:28:04* (F.W.O.E.)

Tough puzzle today. After about fifteen minutes of staring at the NW with nothing but a tentative SCUD (23A: Gulf War weapon), I asked Frannie for verification of that one word, and then got AIDING (19A: Benefiting) and KOP (27A: Keystone figure) from her as well, and that was enough to give me the rest. DASHIKIS (1A: Colorful pullovers) (A-, minus for the plural) is a great entry. I had heard the word before, but I couldn't have told you accurately what one was. And boy, that's a tough and beautiful clue for MNEMONIC (17A: Loss prevention association?). I'll have to remember that one! :)

I don't feel too bad about asking for help, though, because ALNICO (2D: Magnet alloy) is crazy hard, HAMID (4D: ____ Karzai, ex-president of Afghanistan) is crazy hard for someone who never watches the news or reads a paper, and 7D: ____ Kamoze, "Here Comes the Hotstepper" singer (INI) was not helpful. And it was especially unfortunate that I had never before heard the nickname KINGJAMES (6D: "The Chosen One" of the N.B.A.). In short, that was a tough quadrant.

Elsewhere, we have the ridiculous CZOLGOSZ (34D: McKinley's assassin), the alternate spelling FOGY (28D: Old-fashioned sort), and the "sounds familiar but hard to come up with on its own" HOWDAH (42D: Elephant rider's seat).

It may sound like I'm complaining, but I am not. I loved this puzzle. Very hard with lots of trivia and words I don't know. Luckily, for me, Frannie just recently read The Old Man and the Sea, and we talked a lot about it, so SANTIAGO went in without crosses. If only I had had more like that...

OK, one more to go in 2017! See you tomorrow.

- Horace

Friday, December 29, 2017, David Steinberg

0:17:41

OK, let's start with something good. I really liked 1D: Children's character associated with a crook (BOPEEP). I was misled into thinking of Oliver Twist, and if I hadn't already guessed OXYCONTIN (15A: Percocet relative) and backed it up with TYRONE (3D: Power of old films), I might have entered it. I also liked 1A: Checks for bugs (BETATESTS) (B+) pretty well. CSINY (10D: TV spinoff beginning in 2004) made no sense at all to me for several seconds as I tried to parse it out, and SEMI (20A: Vehicle with a cab) also took me a good long while to get - even with S_MI!

I did not particularly enjoy the lecherous PARTYGIRL (17A: She's always down for a good time), and DEADSEXY (14D: Smokin' hot) I associate only with Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers movies, which is pretty much the opposite of smokin' hot.

"48D: Containing a spoiler, say" (SPORTY) is a clue that is trying too hard to be clever. Sure, a car with a spoiler may be called SPORTY, but I don't think anyone would ever say that a car "contained" a spoiler. It's not natural speech, and it doesn't make for a satisfying solve. Also somewhat unsatisfying were DEARYME (41D: "Heavens to Betsy!"), SNL (9D: Hot show with a cold open, for short) ("Hot show?"), and EXACTO (2D: "Precisely!," informally). And when you put both mom and dad into the clue "Stay-at-home mom and dad," it doesn't really translate well to ROLES. Maybe "Stay-at-home mom and Stay-at-home dad," but that would have been too cumbersome. When they're grouped together, they are no longer roles, they're a weird situation where neither parent works.

I had never heard of either actress (ENGEL (6D: TV actress Georgia) or SLEZAK (46D: Erika with six Daytime Emmys), but the crosses were gettable. My least favorite section was the one that took me the longest to finish - the SE. JOYBUZZER might have been a joke shop purchase in the 1920s, LAMBROAST (62A: Passover meal in exodus) was a generic guess, and OKEYDOKEY (64A: "Sounds good") was just one colloquialism too many for me.

Here's to tomorrow.

- Horace

Thursday, December 28, 2017, Gary Larson

0:11:52

The first thing I did after finishing this was to go to xwordinfo to check on whether or not this was the Gary Larson. It's not. But it is a debut! Wouldn't it be great to debut on a Thursday? I sure think so.

The trick today is to UPTHEANTE. When I was solving, I never really fully assessed the situation. First I tried a rebus, but that didn't last long, and after a while I guess I imagined that you had to "blow up" the "ante," because they were just missing in my answers. I didn't notice until I was reviewing the puzzle that the word ANTE runs up from the A in each theme answer. Very nicely done.

I liked ACADEMICS (18A: Professors and such) and TURNABOUT (60A: Fair play, to some), and I really liked INDISARRAY (29D: Unorganized) and DRINKATHON (10D: Affair for bingers). Hah! And speaking of amusing, I appreciated the clue for ANI (42A: Something a Mississippi cheerleader repeatedly calls for).

1A: 1970s New York City mayor (BEAME). D. Never heard of him.
Fave: PETNAMES (15D: Honey and Sugar)
Least: Take your pick from the next sentence.

Some odd plurals (ELMOS, ANDS), and more than a few tough names (RAU, ELIE, ESAU, and BEAME), but overall, I come down in favor of this one. Congrats on the debut, Mr. Larson!

- Horace

p.s. Can you believe that the other Gary Larson retired on January 1, 1995!?

Wednesday, December 27, 2017, David Kwong

0:09:12

Funny revealer today - "What some performers saw in Las Vegas?" (LADIES INHALF) leading to Ladies Gaga, Godiva, Jane Grey, and Chatterley. Each is "sawed" in half and appears at the beginning and end of four symmetrical puzzle rows. I like that the broken pieces appear in two different entries, and I also like that the "Lady" part is always used when speaking of these four. It's a little unfortunate, I guess, that "Grey" couldn't be found in anything but another name, but still, I think the theme was solid.

p.s. I didn't notice this until I read Mr. Kwong's comments on xwordinfo, but the names go in a progression of 4, 6, 8, and 10 letters, and are sawn perfectly in half. Now I like the theme even more!

SENDCASH (37D: Message from a short person?) was kind of funny (I immediately thought of "down here"), as was AIRWAVE (7D: Broadcasting unit?), but AGESAGO and INERTIAL were just ok. And it seemed like I ran into a lot of groaners in the bottom half - EDGERS, ATTA, CTRL, GASTRO, YESYES, NONET... And up top we have the 45-year-old movie HUD, and the fifty-year-old "hit" DEDE Dinah. Yeah, ok.

So if we take it in halves, the theme half was good, and the fill half was just SHYOF that mark.

One last thing - 56D: Ben Solo's father (HAN) makes me want to tell you that Frannie and I saw "The Last Jedi" last night. I won't give anything about the movie away, but about myself, I will say that I think I am done with those movies now. It just seems like they're making the same film over and over again. I liked it the first time, when I saw Star Wars AGESAGO, but how many times can I watch x-wing fighters and TIE fighters shooting at each other? How many more miles does the Millenium Falcon have left? And sure, the light saber is the coolest sci-fi weapon ever conceived, but I don't care to see any more duels. Honestly, I think it started when Obi-Wan was struck down. After that, the franchise became more powerful than anyone could possibly have imagined.

Looking forward to The Turn!

- Horace

Tuesday, December 26, 2017, Peter Gordon

0:07:50

I'm guessing this AJJACOBS is a friend of Mr. Gordon's, because as far as I'm concerned, s/he might as well be a 5-letter WORDSTARTINGWITH LOSANDENDINGWITHER.

Weird. Is that a famous quote? Or just a somewhat amusing, crossword-ish put-down? And speaking of put-downs, I was more amused by what I'm assuming is a hidden themer - ABSENTEE (70A: No-show) symmetrically opposite 1A.

So I didn't love the theme. Partly because I don't know this person, and partly because, like with any quote theme, there are a lot (45) of boxes that must be filled in by crosses alone. In this case, I nearly stumbled on 40D: Things used on a bridle path (REINS) when, reading too quickly, I entered "veils" until the ..AvT.. string made me look more carefully at the spelling of "bridle." Another temporary error came at 28D: Vaping devices (ECIGS), for which I entered "pipes," not expecting the un-announced abbreviation.

I wouldn't go so far as to call the fill BANAL today, but some of it was on the LAMER side. MENACER (60A: Threatening person) and EARED (54D: Dog-____ (like some well-read books)) were kind of meh, and SCOUTCAR (62A: Military vehicle used for reconnaissance) and CAPITALW (12D: Chemical symbol for tungsten), interesting as it is (it is from its alternate name, wolfram), still seems a little forced. I mean, is the "capital" really necessary? Especially with a W, which is capital only in the context of other letters, am I right? You draw a little w, and then draw even smaller other letters, and you've got a capital W. see what I mean?

OK, I admit, that was silly.

It wasn't all bad, of course. ABSCESS (9A: Sore spot), while gross, is a good word, and RESONATE, SANTIAGO, and especially DATABASE are all good. And I liked the clue for SECRET (14D: Like some handshakes and formulas). But over all, the theme left me flat.

- Horace

p.s. I looked up A. J. Jacobs, of course, and found that he was a "stunt journalist." This knowledge did little to improve the puzzle for me.

Monday, December 25, 2017, Lynn Lempel

0:05:27

Merry Christmas! How 'bout for a present I clock you one?

Kind of a funny theme today of different words for violent impacts. "Clock" and "belt" are, to me, verbs indicating a direct hit by a fist. "Paste" is slightly more vague, and I guess it's close to "bean." I'd be likely to put those both in the passive voice. "He got beaned," "I got pasted." And finally, "pelt" I think of as implying collective hits, as in: "They pelted us with rocks and garbage." Overall, though,  whatever your shading of understanding, you can't really argue with them all falling in nicely under HITPARADE. The entries they end are also perfectly fine. LUCYVANPELT (24D: *Dispenser of psychiatric advice to Charlie Brown) probably ought to be the most obscure, but Peanuts seems to have incredible staying power, and I doubt very many will be stuck too long there.

The fill is full of crosswordsy gifts. FIASCO (43A: Utter failure), MOXIE (56A: Spunk), FAUXPAS (43D: Social gaffe), and SUMMIT (46D: Peak) were all fun to unwrap. LAYETTE (9D: Purchase for a newborn) and RUSSE (20A: Charlotte ____ (rich dessert)) are both somewhat fancy, and is KAYO (35A: Clobber in the ring) a bit of bonus theme material?

1A: Adhering to old-fashioned modesty (PRIM) - A. Uncommon word, in amusing contrast to the theme.
Favorite: BLURB (29D: Book jacket write-up). Fun word. I looked it up just now, and find that it was coined in 1910 by Galett Burgess with his book "Are You a Bromide?" which, based solely on the title, I think I will try to find.
Least: FAT Hey, it's Christmas, why you gotta hate? I'll go back to counting CALORIEs tomorrow!

I can't decide whether I love or hate VETOER (40A: President saying "No!"). The clue is hilarious, so I guess I come down in favor. As I do for this puzzle in general. It played slightly harder for me than Mondays sometimes do, which is another good thing. Overall, thumbs up!

- Horace