tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post1579494984359311655..comments2024-03-29T09:24:38.958-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Birthplace of Natalie Portman / FRI 12-28-12 / Sabre ou pistolet / Failure of imagination per Graham Greene / Like bars that are often near horses / Hard to block jumper in hoops / Quaker makers / Critter with humanlike fingerprints / Brandy alternative / Pale Blue Dot author / Spitfire landing locale Rex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87907421446261450222013-02-02T07:26:28.598-05:002013-02-02T07:26:28.598-05:00Don't recall seeing Ashton Anderson's name...Don't recall seeing Ashton Anderson's name before, but if this puzzle is representative, he could quickly become one of my favorite constructors. This puzzle was the easiest Friday I can remember. Heck, it was probably the easiest puzzle this week except for Monday. The clue for PINTO was hilarious.<br />@ Z 8:54 AM - Don't feel too bad. In high school, two of my good friends had '66 Mustangs, but three (yes, really) had Pinto wagons! Go figure. On the used car lot I saw a '66 Mustang Fastback I really wanted, but my dad wouldn't let me buy it - made me get a '66 Beetle instead. 40 horsepower and zero to 60 in 60 seconds (no exaggeration). So, it could have been worse (for you, I mean).<br />@ evil doug 9:18 AM - Ah yes, the Vega - the one car that made the Pinto look good by comparison. Apparently, they (or at least their Pontiac twin, the Astra) were flammable too. Went out with some friends one night, and one took his dad's Astra. After we got back, we noticed a red glow emanating from under the engine of the Astra. Somehow it managed to catch fire all by itself, without being hit or anything, after being parked in the driveway. Luckily we were able to put it out with a garden hose. Another friend's boyfriend had a Vega, and he had to replace the engine after only 30K miles. That had to be the worst car made in this country in the last 40 years.<br />Anonyratnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27359150031916335262013-02-01T17:08:14.458-05:002013-02-01T17:08:14.458-05:00Both yesterday's puzzle and this one were beau...Both yesterday's puzzle and this one were beautiful examples of the constructor's art. I DNF'd yesterday's primarily because I was stupid (just sayin', a phrase which is great in a puzzle, IMO), but today the stupidity did not interfere with my struggles. After the NW, which came pretty quickly, I made steady progress, with just a hiccup with COATI instead of KOALA, even though I thought the dog org had to be AKC. So then I thought COATI could be KOATI until, d'oh!, KOALA left its fingerprints on the page (who knew?). Lotsa good stuff in this one.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19498344065622204442013-02-01T15:39:08.411-05:002013-02-01T15:39:08.411-05:00I often blame my inability to see a theme or under...I often blame my inability to see a theme or understand a clue on my "failure of imagination" but I sure didn't HATE today's puzzle. I finished more quickly than yesterday albeit with a couple of write-overs,the most notable being orAng before KOALA - who knew those cute little beasts had fingerprints? As for Natalie Portman's birthplace, I had SALEM in place and wondered if it would be "east" or "west", so I was pleasantly surprised when JERU showed up!Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67917019542971789652013-02-01T14:37:55.097-05:002013-02-01T14:37:55.097-05:00Wow, my iPad just hiccuped and wiped out my longis...Wow, my iPad just hiccuped and wiped out my longish comment. A message? So here's a short re-cap.<br />After last Friday's fiasco, I am pleased to say this is a puzzle about which I can say DF!<br /><br />Hang-ups were in the NW. Slow to arrive at JEJUNE which some previous puzzle taught me meant young. Anyway, that forced the cringe inducing JUSTSAYIN, and I was done except for the F in FOP which crossed a term I'd never heard. <br /><br />Now to post while this machine let's me.DMGrandmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5878533787882021632013-02-01T10:16:52.140-05:002013-02-01T10:16:52.140-05:00When 1d turned out to be JEJUNE, I frowned at the ...When 1d turned out to be JEJUNE, I frowned at the clue. Guess I'm stuck on the original definition of immature, as in un- or underdeveloped. Credit medical training: jejunum. There's nothing "dull" about that.<br /><br />A PAT of butter isn't any more two-dimensional than a DIE, though I confess to a hand-up for thinking that first.<br /><br />Getting a little tired of GENXERS. It's become a "xword" cliche. The cross XENON saves it somewhat.<br /><br />Agreed that WHATASHOT seems a bit forced, and I also F[e]llAWAY before FADing. Only writeover. Though a sports fan, I don't much like b-ball any more. What talent does it take to jump and stuff a ball--still in your hand--through a hoop? Be born with long femurs? Bah. Raise the basket to at LEAST 12 feet and we'll talk.<br /><br />Who says ENLACE? Nobody. When we mean that, we invariably say "entwine." Terrible word.<br /><br />My favorite lyric from the sixties: PARANOIA will destroy ya! Back when Bob Barker was emceeing The Price is Right, he called the lowest number among possible contestant choices "ELCHEAPO," a mind trick that people never seemed to glom onto. You can have Drew; I want Bob back. The man had class. Anyway, that was a nice memory jog.<br /><br />Those two, plus my hero Dr. Carl SAGAN, saved the day for a puzzle that was, for me, NOT TOOHOT. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63441008763443335232012-12-29T17:08:57.633-05:002012-12-29T17:08:57.633-05:00thanks to all the nerd and nerdettes [meant in the...thanks to all the nerd and nerdettes [meant in the most endearing way] for the imput!i guess it was a tie so neither my friend nor i wins this argument.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63968979596949649132012-12-29T00:43:07.667-05:002012-12-29T00:43:07.667-05:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.<br /><br />All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 5:46, 6:12, 0.93, 18%, Easy<br />Tue 7:32, 8:37, 0.88, 14%, Easy<br />Wed 12:31, 11:52, 1.06, 66%, Medium-Challenging<br />Thu 20:13, 17:05, 1.18, 82%, Challenging<br />Fri 18:22, 21:07, 0.87, 27%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:31, 3:39, 0.96, 26%, Easy-Medium<br />Tue 4:24, 4:57, 0.89, 13%, Easy<br />Wed 7:05, 6:34, 1.08, 73%, Medium-Challenging<br />Thu 10:59, 9:27, 1.16, 78%, Medium-Challenging<br />Fri 11:37, 11:47, 0.99, 46%, Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-23880763807998491552012-12-28T22:02:23.786-05:002012-12-28T22:02:23.786-05:00I so liked SAUTEPAN, got stuck with 22 across.I so liked SAUTEPAN, got stuck with 22 across.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56185962470592902592012-12-28T20:35:13.158-05:002012-12-28T20:35:13.158-05:00After I finished, I thought that this was an excep...After I finished, I thought that this was an exceptionally good puzzle (though I couldn't say exactly why). Glad to see that a lot of others thought the same.michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62110173092496429622012-12-28T19:00:39.748-05:002012-12-28T19:00:39.748-05:00Kingsley Amis called the substitution of “jejeune”...Kingsley Amis called the substitution of “jejeune” for “jejune” his “favourite solecism of all time.” In a passage from his book The King’s English, Amis gives a fictional reconstruction of the life history of this unusual eggcorn, positing three English speakers, A, B, and C:<br /><br />Stage 1: A writes: “His arguments are unoriginal and jejune” (A knows that ‘jejune’ means ‘thin, unsatisfying’, a rare word, admittedly, but one with a nice ring to it).<br /><br />Stage 2: B notices the nice ring. He doesn’t know what the word means and, of course, wouldn’t dream of consulting a dictionary even if he possessed one. There is something vaguely French as well as nice about the ring to ‘jejune’; in fact, now he comes to think of it, it reminds him of ‘jeune’, which he knows means ‘young’. Peering at the context, he sees that ‘jejune’ could mean, if not exactly ‘young’, then something like ‘un-grown-up, immature, callow’. Hooray! – he’s always needing words for that, and here’s a new one, one of superior quality, too.<br /><br />Stage 3: B starts writing stuff like “much of the dialogue is jejune, in fact downright childish.” With the latest edition of OED giving ‘peurile’ as a sense of ‘jejune’, the story might be thought to be over, but there is one further stage.<br /><br />Stage 4: Having ‘jeune’ in their heads, people who have never seen the word in print start pronouncing ‘jejune’ not as ‘djiJOON’ but ‘zherZHERN’, in the apparent belief that French people always give a tiny stutter when they say ‘jeune’. (I have heard ‘zherZHERN’ several times in the last few years). Finally C takes the inevitable step of writing ‘jejeune’ (I have seen several examples) or even, just that much better: “Although the actual arguments are a little jéjeune, the staging of the mass scenes are {sic} impressive.” Italics in original! – which, with the newly acquired acute accent in place set the seal on the deportation of an English word into French, surely a unique event. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66362329346332495372012-12-28T17:45:08.079-05:002012-12-28T17:45:08.079-05:00@Z - Funny...Scalia is the one I had in mind.@Z - Funny...Scalia is the one I had in mind.Carolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15971759975067250908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79744875073498141162012-12-28T17:14:25.813-05:002012-12-28T17:14:25.813-05:00@evil doug
Just marveling at how quickly and accu...@evil doug<br /><br />Just marveling at how quickly and accurately you were able to quote verbatim Elaine's infamous bathroom scene on "Seinfeld" from when @Tyler posted his 'PLY' answer!<br /><br />Seems to be a matter of 12 minutes- takes me longer to get thru the capcha!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-444594362836216532012-12-28T16:57:08.301-05:002012-12-28T16:57:08.301-05:00Very nice Friday! I solved it starting vertically,...Very nice Friday! I solved it starting vertically, through the middle, then the shorter words sideways. Great clues.<br /><br />We're in NY, so not too much time for puzzles or computers....machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88889380725743505992012-12-28T16:14:19.604-05:002012-12-28T16:14:19.604-05:00@syndy, 1:37 - Thank you so much for the explanati...@syndy, 1:37 - Thank you so much for the explanation of race cars with SOLAR panels! Once you point it out, it seems perfectly obvious!<br /><br />A few times recently, someone has commented that this or that answer is illogical or flat out wrong. I have wanted to say, but didn't, that in crosswords it is only necessary that an answer <i>may</i> be true, not that it <i>must</i> be true. This is a perfect example of that rule.Bob Kerfufflehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02615811802419025933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42260999147566282862012-12-28T14:14:41.298-05:002012-12-28T14:14:41.298-05:00@Tyler - make that "have".
The Hall of ...@Tyler - make that "have".<br /><br />The <a href="http://crucimetrics.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Hall of Fame on Crucimetrics</a> has been updated.Titahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368251255494687496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67443932964486366592012-12-28T13:58:59.859-05:002012-12-28T13:58:59.859-05:00A crunchy, DNF Friday. Some great words. Some gr...A crunchy, DNF Friday. Some great words. Some great ideas here for alternate clues.<br /><br />@acme - I Chirped before I CLUCKed too. SAUtEPAN, TOObad, <br />really, really, wanted sopapillA when I saw that last A - to me "treat" means a sweet.<br /><br />@syndy - maybe cars setting speed records for alternative fuels?<br /><br />@EAP - thanks for that snippet...sends shivers down my spine!<br /><br />Thanks Mr. Anderson - clever clever!<br /><br />@Z - lol re: Natalie.<br /><br />@Tyler - lol! I'll habe to add that to my Hall of Fame.<br />Titahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368251255494687496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26764452606891409042012-12-28T13:48:03.343-05:002012-12-28T13:48:03.343-05:00@Anon 12:29 - also had many nerdy qualifications i...@Anon 12:29 - also had many nerdy qualifications in high school (Latin, violin, science) but still think of nerd as a pejorative. I think of it as being socially inept, unfortunately. But as it is noted above, nerds run the world!Milfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04923019988243284636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53249361458600048782012-12-28T13:42:20.148-05:002012-12-28T13:42:20.148-05:00Pintos would only go up in a fiery mushroom cloud,...Pintos would only go up in a fiery mushroom cloud, if another driver rearended them. Long term, it developed into a heck of a defense mechanism.<br /><br />All Toyota has is sporadic unannounced rocket accelerations, to clear a wide berth for them. Wimps.FoMoConoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51767111324703840472012-12-28T13:37:02.853-05:002012-12-28T13:37:02.853-05:00AH! apparently we're not talking regular profe...AH! apparently we're not talking regular professional race cars but special alternative cars.mostly raced by university teams or electric car companies.Odd looking contraptions!syndyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16814698406887041710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-37657243722155101662012-12-28T13:36:53.742-05:002012-12-28T13:36:53.742-05:00@anon 12:29
I think NERD can be used either way- ...@anon 12:29<br /><br />I think NERD can be used either way- depending on the intent of the user.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11877435955256843352012-12-28T13:36:12.015-05:002012-12-28T13:36:12.015-05:00@anon 12:29
I think NERD can be used either way- ...@anon 12:29<br /><br />I think NERD can be used either way- depending on the intent of the user.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22037714851424052812012-12-28T13:26:04.651-05:002012-12-28T13:26:04.651-05:00FEARS don't make one a quaker, they make one a...FEARS don't make one a quaker, they make one aquake.<br /><br />Please get your made-up words correctlyness.Dictionariesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3207547837700875072012-12-28T12:43:50.417-05:002012-12-28T12:43:50.417-05:00@Bob Kerfuffle, I thought SOLAR panels were odd fo...@Bob Kerfuffle, I thought SOLAR panels were odd for a race car, too. I was looking for answer that had to do with advertising/sponsors. <br /><br />@Anonymous 12:29, I think of NERD as endearingly positive. johohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12708487230515532492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67733216686782586442012-12-28T12:41:59.517-05:002012-12-28T12:41:59.517-05:00Loved the use of words like 'jejune' and &...Loved the use of words like 'jejune' and 'acolyte' not usually found in crosswords Takes me back to high school vocabulary tests.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01260222348672163193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84755313824111622102012-12-28T12:41:41.349-05:002012-12-28T12:41:41.349-05:00NERD used to be pretty negative. Nerds took a lot...NERD used to be pretty negative. Nerds took a lot of abuse. But that has been flipped on its head. Now they run most of the world, have the jocks at their beck and call and can buy and sell the prom queen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com