tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post3812273545705152696..comments2024-03-29T08:20:27.450-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: SUNDAY, Sep. 21, 2008 - Brendan Emmett Quigley (Card game played to 61 / Biological dividing wall / Opposite of guerra)Rex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-209266199845679822008-09-30T14:56:00.000-04:002008-09-30T14:56:00.000-04:00I didn't get the theme until after I was finished,...I didn't get the theme until after I was finished, mostly due to never having heard of Drew University or madera county... I kept wanting to put in deep university, like a play on deep universe, and i had medina instead of madera, and hee instead of har, so the NW corner was good and screwed up for me... finally got it after googling california counties, so technically I cheated... I would have liked the theme better if the clues were related to the theme instead of just the answers... I got all the theme answers without needing the theme for a hint, not as fun that way... not a bad puzzle all in all...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29074277410253815422008-09-23T17:45:00.000-04:002008-09-23T17:45:00.000-04:00Dead right on the da Vinci comment. We should refe...Dead right on the da Vinci comment. We should refer to him as Leonardo or Leonardo da Vinci. Or are we going to start referring to "Of Nazareth" rather than Jesus? Nice call.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16350533140470186582008-09-22T17:26:00.000-04:002008-09-22T17:26:00.000-04:00Because of this quote, I will always remember RAGL...Because of this quote, I will always remember RAGLAN:<BR/><BR/><I>Lord Raglan, the commander of the British forces, previously the Duke of Wellington’s aide-de-camp, lost his arm to a French cannonball at Waterloo. His specially designed sleeve – the Raglan sleeve, along with the cardigan and the balaclava – is how we remember the Crimean War.</I><BR/><BR/>(From <A HREF="http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/which-came-first-part-two/" REL="nofollow">http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/which-came-first-part-two/</A>.)<BR/><BR/>With regards to Ms. Ensler's monologues, I recently attended a performance of same. I was not the only man in the audience, but there were just a few of us. (A friend had organized the performance, and both she and my wife encouraged my attendance.) In the common phrase, I laughed, I cried, and I was (at times) embarrassed. But I don't regret going.Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00884188052527454989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72764504555494057612008-09-22T12:45:00.000-04:002008-09-22T12:45:00.000-04:00@ulrich (and others) I'm chastened to have to ackn...@ulrich (and others) I'm chastened to have to acknowledge that you are right in that an arcsine is a function producing an angle. @towerofdabble alsom has a point though (just that it wasn't the point I was making). Pedantically, I would say that ARCSINE is a function, and *an* (or *the*) ARCSINE is an angle, but it's a fine line and not a distinction we would expect in a crossword.pochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08861361305246858918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27312439580012493802008-09-22T09:31:00.000-04:002008-09-22T09:31:00.000-04:00Am I the only person who thinks the cluing for Eve...Am I the only person who thinks the cluing for Eve ENSLER via her monologues is <I>not</I> breakfast appropriate? A few years ago EVE Ensler was clued the same way.<BR/><BR/>ARCSINE is indeed used to mean both the function and the particular angle returned. The clue and answer as given are correct.<BR/><BR/>The NYT had an article on New Haven's issuing the first known telephone directory sometime this past summer. I even remembered, while doing the puzzle, that it was some well-known city in Connecticut. For the life of me, I absolutely couldn't recall the name of the city with the Ivy League school in it! Must have been that Princeton education of mine.<BR/><BR/>Regarding the diagramless--I was astonished to learn a certain bit of spelling trivia about a famous Bela Lugosi character--and even more astonished that I've never seen it in the regular NYT crosswords.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-30635638429072856532008-09-22T08:41:00.000-04:002008-09-22T08:41:00.000-04:00@orange: just asking, didn't mean to offend.@orange: just asking, didn't mean to offend.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19875652064474549882008-09-22T00:43:00.000-04:002008-09-22T00:43:00.000-04:00it's kind of funny that we have these discussions ...it's kind of funny that we have these discussions every time ARCSINE comes up. <A HREF="http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2008/03/saturday-mar-1-2008.html" REL="nofollow">last time</A> it was people not knowing the difference between domain and range. this time it's even simpler, though the confusion is along much the same lines. ARCSINE is definitely a function which returns an angle. therefore, any angle whose sine is relevant is an ARCSINE, albeit not "the" ARCSINE (the function itself). that makes the clue very much correct: an ARCSINE is a [Trig angle].<BR/><BR/>(i note with bemusement that BEQ was also responsible for the previous ARCSINE appearance. i don't know if it's BEQ or WS who's responsible for these correct-despite-what-everyone-thinks ARCSINE clues, but i applaud them both.)Joonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07825085755390339668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32451583375685391202008-09-21T22:13:00.000-04:002008-09-21T22:13:00.000-04:00@mac, Thank you! I especially appreciate it coming...@mac, Thank you! I especially appreciate it coming from you. Actually as I was reading your first post, I was thinking about how I love the same kind of mystery novels as you do-- by British females, witness the list I have on my profile. Great minds...<BR/><BR/>I just registered at Orange's new site. Very impressive! and it looks like it will get a lot of traffic. I think I will be getting even less sleep...foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32909046199861177672008-09-21T21:55:00.000-04:002008-09-21T21:55:00.000-04:00@rex: I don't know if anyone mentioned this, I hav...@rex: I don't know if anyone mentioned this, I haven't read off the above comments, but your grid looks so wonderful!machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26371556856015316062008-09-21T21:16:00.000-04:002008-09-21T21:16:00.000-04:00Agree strongly with foodie. This one was a dud. In...Agree strongly with foodie. This one was a dud. In the spirit of "constructiveness, not snarkiness," I will say no more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55969965498094078252008-09-21T21:09:00.000-04:002008-09-21T21:09:00.000-04:00Seeing a BEQ puzzle always makes me think that I'm...Seeing a BEQ puzzle always makes me think that I'm in for a hard solving experience. But this one was not hard for me -- perhaps because I like crime fiction (another similarity to commenter archaeoprof in addition to our profession [there is a subdisciplinary difference} and our like of crossword puzzles). <BR/><BR/> I also thought the fill was very good.<BR/><BR/> On the debate between Rex and constructor Craig yesterday -- I'm on Rex's side. (Always dangerous to do this in a blog since he might not agree with what comes next!) As a solver, I really have limited interest in the aesthetics of a grid. I appreciate, for example, a grid with few black spaces, but that sort of thing is of much less importance to me than the quality of clue-answer combos and (if relevant) the cleverness of the theme.Michael Chibnikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04700426644898924644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57865306635344838982008-09-21T20:53:00.000-04:002008-09-21T20:53:00.000-04:00@foodie: I just went back once again to yesterday'...@foodie: I just went back once again to yesterday's comments and I have to thank you for what is, I think, what many of us Rex commenters would want to express. You are just wonderful, and not just in this instance, but on an almost daily basis!machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79524041917299334422008-09-21T20:26:00.000-04:002008-09-21T20:26:00.000-04:00This was the first Sunday puzzle I really enjoyed ...This was the first Sunday puzzle I really enjoyed in a long time. No googles, and a lot of fun with the fill. I have loved mysteries for many years, but I seem to like the female, and often British, authors the best. There were only two or three names I recognized in this puzzle, but it wasn't hard to get them through crosses.<BR/><BR/> I did have some funny initial mistakes: "Donne" instead of "Heine", the first needed a lot of forgiveness, as per his words; twimc (to whom it may concern) for 28d; and when I asked my husband, the resident New England Yankee and raw bar afficionado, "would you have steamers at a raw bar?", he said "I would have steamers anywhere.<BR/><BR/>@glitch: last night we were at a fundraiser and the caterers managed to serve mashed potatoes made out of undercooked/basically half raw potatoes.....machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58937205984815671952008-09-21T20:05:00.000-04:002008-09-21T20:05:00.000-04:00Well, Joho, if the clue's looking for an enzyme, i...Well, Joho, if the clue's looking for an enzyme, it would be handy to have an A.S.E. phrase that comes readily to mind and not be thinking, "Let's see, O sweet elixir is for sugars, so it's not that..." Not like I can't remember that, but still.Orangehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12433254398377357737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82025321130988613442008-09-21T20:01:00.000-04:002008-09-21T20:01:00.000-04:00@ulrich -- arcsine may give you a solution that's ...@ulrich -- arcsine may give you a solution that's an angle, but saying arcsine is an angle is like saying modulo is an integer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50139054224525783622008-09-21T19:57:00.000-04:002008-09-21T19:57:00.000-04:00@poc -- thank you!That drove me crazy. An arcsine ...@poc -- thank you!<BR/><BR/>That drove me crazy. An arcsine is NOT an angle, it's a function. This really bothered me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5537233987737831352008-09-21T18:49:00.000-04:002008-09-21T18:49:00.000-04:00@ulrich: thank you for your translations of Heine'...@ulrich: thank you for your translations of Heine's poems. You make me want to dust off some old books from college. I studied Rainer Maria Rilke under Erich Heller there. <BR/><BR/>@orange: this may sound really stupid, but if you already have your mnemonic for sugars to remember OSE as "O sweet elixir" why do need another for ASE?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-23724677759462744952008-09-21T18:42:00.000-04:002008-09-21T18:42:00.000-04:00I took this puzzle to the beach at Bayville, where...I took this puzzle to the beach at Bayville, where after Labor Day - you do not have to be a resident. I got in a mile swim from Steirs beach to Steve's Pier,(Which is no longer in business), and then hung out on a beach chair and did the puzzle. I did the diagramless too. But even after I finished, didn't realize the theme until I read Rex's blog - duh!!!!!<BR/>Now I can check out Orange's commentary too - along with Jimh, and Donald's Gothic.alanrichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06395356843823270129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79958340474775308042008-09-21T18:12:00.000-04:002008-09-21T18:12:00.000-04:00I was introduced to the concept of a WOOD LOT by m...I was introduced to the concept of a WOOD LOT by my in-laws in Wisconsin. In a farm community, the "wood lot" is a section of land reserved for cutting wood for lumber or fuel. Often the wood lot is not connected to the farm property, but in a remote location that has never been cleared and drained for farming.C zarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12893340048068815126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47984707926059374442008-09-21T17:05:00.000-04:002008-09-21T17:05:00.000-04:00@blues2uVerbal cues to farm teams (usually oxen, u...@blues2u<BR/><BR/>Verbal cues to farm teams (usually oxen, usually when plowing)=<BR/><BR/>Gee = go right<BR/>Haw = go left<BR/><BR/>They come up fairly often.<BR/><BR/>Geed is the past tense, I presume. If there can be such a thing, it exists only in crosswordese.<BR/><BR/>@poc<BR/><BR/>I think I follow Ulrich on arcsine, (not to be confused with cosine), my trig now starts to fade around SOHCAHTOA, but remember being taught to read arcsine as *the ANGLE whos sine is ...*<BR/><BR/>.../GlitchAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58549581313866519802008-09-21T17:02:00.000-04:002008-09-21T17:02:00.000-04:00@Orange, since enzymes break things down and chang...@Orange, since enzymes break things down and change them forever, how about using "A Sad End" to remember the ASE ending?<BR/><BR/>I did not know about the existence of directories before telephones. What is remarkable is that cities in the Middle East (e.g. Beirut, Damascus, Amman) still don't have good directories. If you ask for an address, you get something like "near the Mecca Mall" (and YES, there is a Mecca Mall in Amman!).foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15171345122329002462008-09-21T16:41:00.000-04:002008-09-21T16:41:00.000-04:00I love this site and it has vastly improved my sol...I love this site and it has vastly improved my solving, particularly getting through Fridays and Saturdays now whereas that used to be almost impossible for me. On the down side the difficulty ratings reflect the host's skills (extraordinary) rather than a more typical visitor's abilities.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60874256836685284092008-09-21T15:42:00.000-04:002008-09-21T15:42:00.000-04:00@poc: Since none of our math mavens has spoken yet...@poc: Since none of our math mavens has spoken yet, let me take the lead in respectfully disagreeing with you. arcsin is not a function of an angle: Its domain is the interval from -1 to 1, i.e. the range of the sin function, which is in essence the ratio between two sides of a right triangle forming an angle. arcsin takes such a ratio and gives you back the corresponding angle, measured in radians, which are easily converted into degrees. So, the clue is correct for all practical purposes.<BR/><BR/>@fikink: Sometimes, we expect too much from the world, be it xword puzzles or politics.Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-85903652280827225392008-09-21T15:26:00.000-04:002008-09-21T15:26:00.000-04:00I was so giddy with the idea that SPILT and SPLIT ...I was so giddy with the idea that SPILT and SPLIT was cleverly buried in the same puzzle, I refused to let go of it.<BR/>Alas, my wonderfully resonant inner world defeats me all the time.fikinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06324570637549775751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-65408695408902602592008-09-21T15:03:00.000-04:002008-09-21T15:03:00.000-04:00For enzymes how about "acts on substrates"?For enzymes how about "acts on substrates"?miriam bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03506593846362044050noreply@blogger.com