Thursday, November 24, 2022, Pao Roy

Happy Thanksgiving! I personally am thankful for family, friends, health, and the New York Times crossword puzzle. I've been blogging on this site for [looks back in blog] nearly seven years. It's been a fun ride, solving the puzzle daily and intermittently reviewing the outcome.

Today's is a first in my memory. The long across answers each have a rebus for the word "dot." Thus, 20A: Iconic Voyager 1 photograph taken 3.7 billion miles from Earth (PALEBLUE[DOT]). This was immediately clear to me, with the first four letters already figured out from crosses. But I wasn't sure what was going on with the rebus, which equally clearly did not fit with 7D: Olivia Rodrigo or Billie Eilish (POPIDOL). 

Even figuring out 10A: And so on ([DOT][DOT][DOT]) didn't really help, although I found it interesting that our constructor had found three words beginning with I in that corner that allowed 15A: The third (III) to work out.

It wasn't until I got to 56A right at the end of the solve that all became clear (DOTTHEIS). It's really impressive! Every single I in the puzzle has a dot rebus above it, and there are no other Is in the puzzle at all. Finally I can see why the rebuses don't contribute to the down answers: you have to imagine that they are the dots on the I in the word. Beautifully done.

The original by WEIRDAL

MERCYME! The New York Times crossword puzzle allowed 13A: Aroused, informally (HORNY)! What is the world coming to? The Old Gray Lady is starting to have a modern sensibility. Funny then, that 5D: &#$!@, e.g. (SYMBOLS) is not "swears," or "cusswords," or some similar thing.

64A: Not get reception? (ELOPE) is laugh out loud funny. What an excellent way to exit the solve.

- Colum

Wednesday, November 23, 2022, Erica Hsiung Wojcik and Matthew Stock

You know what you get on Wednesdays? Odd ducks (and one day before Turkey day at that). Today is certainly no exception.

First off, the grid is 14 x 16, which is unusual. I tried to count the number of such puzzles on xwordinfo.com, but my eyes started to cross scanning through their list of non-square grids. I kind of feel like the pattern of black squares looks like a Transformers face. Back me up here.

Second, it's an odd theme, but beautifully done. It starts with the intertwining red and yellow circles of the MASTERCARDLOGO, then adds a circle of another color with each progressive answer as we move down the grid. Thus, the next has the red, yellow, and green circles of a TRAFFICLIGHT, the third adds the blue circle in a TWISTERMAT (from the game), and the last adds the black circle (ring) of the OLYMPICRINGS.

The five olympic rings were meant to represent the inhabited continents at the time the flag was created (1913), with South and North America lumped together. Interestingly, it is not clear if the originator, Pierre de Coubertin, meant each ring to represent a specific continent or not. He only commented that the colors, along with the white of the flag, would encompass the colors of all the countries' flags. Later, somebody suggested the most stereotypical connections between colors and continents, but this has been rejected.

But enough of my history lesson. 

DRWHO

I would rather that 41D: "Patton" or "Platoon" (WARDRAMA) be answered as "war movie." After all, is there a war movie that is not a drama? I Googled "war comedy" to see what I came up with. Tropic Thunder? Possibly. Inglorious Basterds? Funny, but more of a fantasy revenge movie than a war movie. I suppose that M*A*S*H sorta kinda fits. Other thoughts?

DEATHGRIP is a good answer, as are VASSAR and PASSPORT. And I chuckled at 32A: Say what you want? (ORDER). WHYYES. Yes, indeed.

- Colum

Tuesday, November 22, 2022, Wendy L. Brandes

Today's puzzle is very impressive from a construction point of view, but I liked the fill as well, so it's a win-win!

There are five theme answers and a grid-spanning revealer at 7D, crossing every single one of those theme answers. 7D: Part of a blackjack dealer's ritual ... or what this answer is doing vis-à-vis the answers to the starred clues (CUTTINGTHECARDS). And indeed, 7D crosses over words that can be combined with "card" to make a common phrase. Thus, "picture card," "gift card," "note card," "dance card," and "credit card." That must have taken some doing to make it work.

I think "cutting the deck" is a little more common parlance than the answer in the grid. And to be fair, no blackjack dealer in any normal casino will ever have a deck, but rather a shoe with multiple decks in it to stop people from card counting. Also, I think most people would say "open book tests" rather than OPENNOTETESTS, but the idea's the same.

Love MOONDANCE, and the clue's great, so that's excellent, as is The LASTPICTURESHOW, with a young Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges!

With this much theme material, the fill is bound to suffer some, but the clever partitioning allows for chunky NW and SE corners, with the nice OHITSYOU and DEADLINE. 40D: Popular New Year's resolution (GETFIT) had me scratching my head for a sec when I thought it might be an A instead of the I.

55A: Like some long trains (BRIDAL) is a great piece of misdirection. And the two languages FARSI and HINDI sharing their I was lovely (not to mention the unexpected XIANG on a Tuesday).

I can put up with RSS SHO ETES for all of that.

- Colum

Monday, November 21, 2022, Brandon Koppy

Yesterday was day one of the 2022 FIFA WORLDCUP, and so today we get a puzzle to celebrate this quadrennial event. There are many reasons to be unhappy about this specific year's event, relating primarily to Qatar's human rights record, particularly with the horrifying details of the workers who built the venues for the games, with many deaths ensuing. Not to mention that FIFA was happy to accept the money from the country in order to approve them getting the tournament.

But this is a blog about a fun activity we all enjoy doing, so let's just pretend they're talking about 2018's World Cup! Oh, wait. That was in Russia. 2014? A little better, in Brazil. Oh, well...

Anyway, we get the revealer at 64A, but more fun, we get the VUVUZELA at 17A, the chant OLEOLEOLEOLEOLE, and everybody's favorite GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL at 48A. Even those 12 Os are not enough to account for the 22 seconds of shouting recorded by one announcer.

The rest of the puzzle is smoothly filled for the most part. I liked that both 39D and 66A are clued with "Requiring rare knowledge" (ESOTERIC and ARCANE). 

THEDEETS, EYECONTACT, and THISWONTDO are fun long answers. 

Best clue was 21A: Having a thermal exhaust port lead straight to the reactor of your Death Star, e.g. (FLAW). Understatement of the year.

- Colum

Sunday, November 20, 2022, Joe Deeney

FAN CLUB

Hello, faithful readers! Colum here, taking over after two weeks of fun reviews by Horace. Guess where I'm definitely not blogging from. That's right, Paris. I'm not in Paris. Just good old Albany. No fancy, baguette eating, opera watching, Seine strolling blogging here.

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

But hey, we don't need to be spreading the HATES around. In fact, this puzzle is all about really enjoying things. Our theme is taking standard phrases and reinterpreting the first word or two as a synonym for finding pleasure in something. The clue then takes that something and (mostly) creates a new semi-scientific name for it. Thus, 21A: Geometrophiles... (LOVETRIANGLES). Because they enjoy geometric shapes. Get it?

My favorite by far was the grid spanning 63A: Dextropodophiles... (GETOFFONTHERIGHTFOOT). Hah! That's ludicrous... ly good. I also chuckled at 79A: Autotumulophiles... (DIGTHEIROWNGRAVE). It's a lot of fun seeing words like "fancy" or "like" reinterpreted in this way.

Lake Victoria

I found the fill to be equally satisfying today. 2D: High wind (OBOE) got me today, but then I had to smile when I reached 86A: High winds (GALES). 

Some fun long answers, like WANNABES, STINKEYE, STRAGGLE, and WHATNOTS. TSETSEFLIES are only welcome in a puzzle, but in their full form look good. I have never had an ITALIANHERO in my life. It's a sub, and that's all there is to it.

30D: Private affairs? (ARMYLIFE) feels slightly off, but maybe that's because the poor fellow got a DEARJOHN letter (79D: Announcement of a split decision?).

Fun Sunday, and a good start to Thanksgiving week.

- Colum

Saturday, November 19, 2022, Benji Goldsmith

It's either "Ah me," or "Oh my." No mixing and matching.

Other than that, the hardest square for me was the D of DENS (Studies) and DINESH (Kumail Nanjiani's role on "Silicon Valley"). I guessed kENS for Studies, but that wasn't exactly right and I knew it. Kind of like the editor must have felt about OHME. Too soon?

CREATESAMONSTER (Isn't able to control the outcome of one's actions) is a good one, and "Question asked without reservation" is a cute clue for ISTHISSEATTAKEN. But "Moves from 9 to 5, say" (DIALSITBACK) is trying a little too hard.

Did you all think of Frannie and me when you got to "The Bastille and the Tower of London, historically" (PRISONS). Have I mentioned that we're in Paris, and staying near the former site of the Bastille? :) BTW, Carmen was very good. Turns out there's some real catchy tunes in there. 

We know it's a Saturday puzzle because we have CETE (Pride : lions :: ____ : badgers) in the grid. Other unfortunate fill includes INI, INA, and IMO. But SOCKEYE (Salmon variety) was good, and it took a while for "Erroneous answer to 'What are the odds?'" (EVENS) to sink in, but now I think it's hilarious. As if someone asked you to recite the odd numbers and you said the even ones. Weird, but funny.

Well, it's been fun blogging from Paris, but Colum takes over tomorrow, and we're going to spend our last few days here with one less responsibility. A bientôt!

- Horace

Friday, November 18, 2022, Robyn Weintraub

We're in Paris, we're waking up with coffee in our AirBnB, it's a sunny, blue-sky day, and we've got tickets to the opera for tonight (Carmen) - what else could we possibly ask for? Well, a Robyn Weintraub puzzle to go with the coffee, that's what! Et voilà. THANKSALOT! :) 

Although there were a couple gimmes (MONSTERMASH and CAREPACKAGE, for example), I did FALTER in a few areas, and I was downright tricked by a few. The hidden capital in "Superior dwellings, say" (LAKEHOUSES) had me fooled, and the plain old normal capital in "Bill collectors?" (MONEYCLIPS) had me over-thinking things. And then there was "Toy from a place that no longer exists" (POMERANIAN). Nice. I looked it up, of course, and Pomerania was an area spanning parts of Germany and Poland, right at the edge of the Baltic Sea.

We don't usually include pictures of things we talk about, but I thought this was interesting enough to break with tradition. In fact, here's another one that shows it more clearly in the current political context.

So anyway, another one where the clue didn't really help me until I had almost all the crosses was "Get out while you're still up?" (SKYDIVE). Heh. And how 'bout that "One of 26 in Texas's Katy Freeway (LANE). I guessed "mile" and Frannie guessed "exit," which I think is better, but LANE!? I looked it up, and sure enough, it's the widest highway in America. The photos are terrifying. And no, I'm not posting one. 

TRASHPANDA (Raccoon, humorously) will always bring a smile, and I also enjoyed "Roger's relative?" for COPYTHAT. 

In the "the clue is straightforward if you know the answer" category we have "It follows precedent" (CASELAW) and "Lender requiring collateral up front" (PAWNSHOP). Both very good.

Overall, a lovely way to start the day. Our plan for the rest of it is to stick around and explore the neighborhood where our AirBnB is. Maybe take a little stroll on the Coulée verte RENÉ-Dumont - Paris's raised walkway on an old railroad line that inspired the High Line in New York ... Maybe hang out a bit in our local Bistro du Coin... or maybe just buy eclair after eclair before struggling to fit into our fancy clothes for the night out. So, as you can see, we're quite busy. Until tomorrow, then.

- Horace