tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post4431053538859066290..comments2024-03-28T16:50:50.953-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Characters in Romola Gondoliers / THU 7-7-16 / Gilbert protagonist of Vampire Diaries / Onetime Caribbean native / Spherical symbol of authority / Political comic who once had a one-man Broadway show Rex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-30225594130810189662017-10-21T15:17:21.186-04:002017-10-21T15:17:21.186-04:00Ever wanted to get free Instagram Likes?
Did you k...Ever wanted to get <b>free Instagram Likes</b>?<br />Did you know that you can get these <b>ON AUTOPILOT & TOTALLY FOR FREE</b> by getting an account on <b><a href="http://socialexch.syntaxlinks.com/r/AddMeFast" rel="nofollow">Add Me Fast</a></b>?Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07287821785570247118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-23435089902336115102016-08-11T15:52:42.788-04:002016-08-11T15:52:42.788-04:00Danced all around the grid, and soon had enuf mid ...Danced all around the grid, and soon had enuf mid stuff to get CHECKPOINTS. Then, THAT'SAMORE gave the TSAs away. Finished the top half off all by myself, but succumbed to looking up ARAWAK, ELENA, and EWEN. Haven't read all the comments yet, but it sounds like they were woes to lotsa folks. <br /><br />Got KETONE from a dark brain recess. High school chemistry was an awful experience. The teacher did not like 16-year-old people, and she left after that (her first) year. All I remember is "always add acid." Fortunately I sat next to a genius, Harris B., who had the periodic table memorized and could turn what she said into English. <br /><br />But hey - I got a rebus? And filled them in all by myself! I think I'll advance myself to puzzle 5th grade. Wow - the other kids look bigger here.<br /><br />From yesterday:<br /><br />@Lefty - the more we know, the more we can know. Our memory banks just grow and grow. (Used to teach this stuff.) That's one of the reasons X-words are great - you add file drawers to your memory cabinet. Like I know little of chemistry, but have learned a bit from GeorgeB and the like.<br /><br />@Rondo - speaking of memory, "it's all about the story." When you attach a story (or strike a remembered story) to an idea, you will remember it. (See Joshua Foer's TED talk on memory.)<br /><br />And thanks for the shoutout - @Teedmn, that goes for you too!<br /><br />Enjoy Lollapuzzula, @T! Anyone else going?<br /><br />Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for CrosswordsDiana,LIWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60795621156756813702016-08-11T15:50:05.798-04:002016-08-11T15:50:05.798-04:00@rondo: Thanks for your response yesterday, a good...@rondo: Thanks for your response yesterday, a good one. @Lady Di, appreciate your mulling the thoughts. Will add responsiveness of fellow solvers to my list of x-word "worthwhiles."leftcoastTAMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-39928569100794982452016-08-11T15:37:47.443-04:002016-08-11T15:37:47.443-04:00Got the TSA rebus early, and it helped but not eno...Got the TSA rebus early, and it helped but not enough, especially in the NE and SW corners.<br /><br />Did finally sort out the TRENTE/SEAHARES/TESSAS/AAA crosses in the NE though.<br /><br />The SW, not so good. ARAWAK/KETONE cross was the problem, and not just the K's. Wild guesses of ARApAn/nETONE was an injury, and pARTS instead of WARTS added insult, self-inflicted.<br /><br />I like rebuses, and this was a good one. leftcoastTAMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61461557521284476702016-08-11T14:59:50.578-04:002016-08-11T14:59:50.578-04:00@Z: Loved your suggested clue for KETONE: "S...@Z: Loved your suggested clue for KETONE: "Some vaguely sciencey word you will recognize, sort of, when you get all the crosses." LOL! So true, and it seems most everyone DID get it, in spite of the complaints. So OK, then.<br /><br />I thought this puzzle was entertaining, and (mostly) surprisingly easy for a Thursday, in spite of my FIW in the SE. ELENA and EWEN were complete unknowns, so I did NOT get all the crosses to suss out 53D, which could have been any of several things. I went for I DO SO and obviously guessed wrong.Sailorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05185068601066087185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44989869719886549462016-08-11T14:25:32.636-04:002016-08-11T14:25:32.636-04:00I've heard SUDSES used as a verb in commercial...I've heard SUDSES used as a verb in commercials, but I'd never do that. "This detergent SUDSES better than that one." And anyway, suds are useless (unless you are talking beer). It's the stuff in solution that cleans your clothes, teeth, skin. The suds are merely window dressing.<br /><br />Speaking chemically, ahem, calling camphor or fructose a KETONE, simply because it has a carbonyl function (-C=O) is like calling glucose an alcohol. I don't really care, honest, but if you are going to use a chemical clue, at least use it correctly.<br /><br />A pretty enjoyable puzzle (nice to see ACME again) and pretty easy except for a bit of stupidity on my part with THAT'S AMORE, where I had the ORE in place and added THAT to the beginning and didn't notice that I hadn't filled in the entire answer. Till much later. Once I did, the rest was straightforward, and fun to do. I continue to pause when I have to use American spelling, as in --SABERS, where --SABRES is preferred.<br /><br />I think we may all have a TSA story, but suffice it to say that these people are the rudest and most humourless examples of humanity. Whether they are effective is moot.<br /><br />Good Thursdayrain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-90547325913029279482016-08-11T12:01:00.143-04:002016-08-11T12:01:00.143-04:00One eeler to another: “That’s a moray.”
My ATTITU...One eeler to another: “That’s a moray.”<br /><br />My ATTITUDE must be changing. For a rebus puz, this wasn’t half bad. And I’ve gotta appreciate any puz with RON in it, no? Last week I wanted to spell ELYSE with an I; not falling for that again. And ERENOW I don’t think wild child yeah baby Miley Cyrus has been USEd as a quote source.<br /><br />Didn’t Darth E.VADER play around with LIGHTSABERS? ILOSE track. Gotta admit the Star Wars stuff is known to me mostly from xwords. Never paid much attention to it, except Princess Leia.<br /><br />@George B must be the leader of the KETONE Kops. A real KAHUNA, methinks. <br /><br />Nary a w/o, so no INKfest. A little heavy on three letter answers, 19 if I’m a good TOTALER, and IFTHAT matters. Nice to see the @ACME handle on a Thurs-puz.<br />RONdonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46893774621214846982016-08-11T11:49:57.420-04:002016-08-11T11:49:57.420-04:00Not a word about ARAWAK--or SUDSES??? By the time ...Not a word about ARAWAK--or SUDSES??? By the time I got to the SE, I was thinking "How can IGOON?" which is what I tried for 53-down. Two huge problems in an otherwise nice grid. I liked the cluing that calls to mind the scene on the ice planet Hoth when Luke was about to become monster food: "USE the force, Luke!" And so he did, retrieving his LIGHTSABER just in time.<br /><br />I have a CHECKPOINT story, but it's way too long to go into here. Suffice to say, I could have been spirited away as a spy to the salt mines, but I was saved from my own stupidity. I'm just glad the Iron Curtain is gone.<br /><br />Back to the puzzle, I finished with a guess for square 60; KETONE winning me over. (Hmm, why is KETONE red-lined?) This would have been a birdie but for those two "ick" inducers. Par.<br /><br />BTW, Olympic golf tees off today; good luck Ricky and Matt!spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18710152079260701022016-08-11T11:10:27.762-04:002016-08-11T11:10:27.762-04:00TESSA’S BED ATTITUDE
YOUDONTSAY it’s alright to L...TESSA’S BED ATTITUDE<br /><br />YOUDONTSAY it’s alright to LOOK and CHECKPOINTS on that girl??<br />IFTHAT ONEIS CONTRITE she’ll ENTREAT me to SEAHARES that CURL.<br /><br />--- EWEN SOLO<br />Burma Shavenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-73074909892571411002016-07-08T11:22:28.543-04:002016-07-08T11:22:28.543-04:00Very poor quality clue to the rebus square, just a...Very poor quality clue to the rebus square, just awful. I kept trying to use the word check in the black squares at the borders, so much time wasted. And the NYT is purportedly so literate. Bah.xyzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08287781952915413013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-59800443524488912642016-07-08T10:42:22.558-04:002016-07-08T10:42:22.558-04:00@Gill, thanks for the catch on "illegal"...@Gill, thanks for the catch on "illegal". Anonymous 11:42, you're just being picky. I don't think "without-papered immigrants" would be objectionable, just clumsy. Papers=documents, it's the same thing. You could also say, "In-this-country-illegally people". Or, hey, I have an idea: refugees. That's what they are, from death squads or poverty or both. Very few people endure all the risks and dangers to travel to a strange land where they don't know the language or customs, unless they are desperate. And all too often that desperation is caused by the policies of the very country they are fleeing to. It doesn't speak well of us that we treat those immigrants as if they were, indeed, illegal. <br /><br />@ACME, good to see you in print again. Fun Thursday!Ellen Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00473445503706985149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-25236267722239016552016-07-08T03:03:40.260-04:002016-07-08T03:03:40.260-04:00As a first-wave feminist, I've been following ...As a first-wave feminist, I've been following the PC debates with puzzled bemusement. Hackneyed misogynistic phrases offend me slightly less than belligerent white male outrage on my behalf. I'd rather watch Samantha Bee's Full Frontal. <br /><br />HOWEVER, today's puzzle offers a blatantly offensive cluing that no one has yet called out. KAHUNA=Bigwig. <br /><br />I live in Hawaii, where I teach Native Hawaiian students who would be deeply hurt and offended at this insult to a much-respected class of cultural practitioners: wise men and women who serve as healers and repositories of cultural wisdom. Yes, they still exist, and are far from being considered "Bigwigs."<br /><br />It is also just a bad clue. Presumably the sense comes from "BIG Kahuna," but that would repeat the "big" in "Bigwig." KAHUNA does not appear as a synonym for "Bigwig" in any online thesaurus I looked at: though "Big Cat," "Big Wheel," "Big Cheese," etc. do appear--as do "Nabob,""Pooh-bah,"and "Honcho," the other culturally insensitive terms that are usually clued by "Bigwig." Even "Big Kahuna" doesn't appear: according to Wikipedia (no less), "Big Kahuna" refers to a good surfer (from "Gidget"), but surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku "rejected the term as he knew the original meaning." <br /><br />While Hawaiian terms like UKE, LEI, POI are staple crosswordese, their appropriation by tourist industry excuses, to some extent, stereotypical cluing. That is not the case with KAHUNA, which has deep meaning for Native Hawaiians who are weary of having their culture mocked.djogbahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02923056386674083612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-76223951558979714742016-07-07T23:42:37.586-04:002016-07-07T23:42:37.586-04:00Gill I. 6:33 I do not understand why "undocum...Gill I. 6:33 I do not understand why "undocumented" had to be introduced to the vocabulary when we already had "without papers" from decades earlier. Does it have something to do with the term being associated with a particular immigrant group and considered a slur? If that is the case then "undocumented' could be taken as a slur as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-90387671674101657272016-07-07T20:26:20.340-04:002016-07-07T20:26:20.340-04:00@Loren (4:19 a.m.) -- I cracked up at your CONTRIT...@Loren (4:19 a.m.) -- I cracked up at your CONTRITE dogs video link. So adorable.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16737377749030219974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28097028678302288732016-07-07T20:00:33.448-04:002016-07-07T20:00:33.448-04:00Surely it matters that "ONEIS the loneliest n...Surely it matters that "ONEIS the loneliest number" is not a Three Dog Night lyric but was written by the Beatles' favorite American tunesmith, Harry Nilsson? Doesn't lyric imply they wrote it? Maybe could have used hit... Stuarthttp://bookarchitecture.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69045366473720183762016-07-07T18:33:29.759-04:002016-07-07T18:33:29.759-04:00@Wm.C. - I rarely jump in with any kind of PC prot...@Wm.C. - I rarely jump in with any kind of PC protocol, but here I go.<br />Mexicans, and for that matter, Central or South American or anybody, are not illegal. People are not illegal. They may enter illegally but they ARE NOT ILLEGAL. Change it, if you may, to undocumented alien.<br />Remember....words matter here. GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-64078679267399600212016-07-07T18:16:41.221-04:002016-07-07T18:16:41.221-04:00Someone who sums is a "summer" or totale...Someone who sums is a "summer" or totaler.Sherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03541441427243883835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11268381200598238482016-07-07T18:15:35.636-04:002016-07-07T18:15:35.636-04:00Someone who sums is a "summer" or totale...Someone who sums is a "summer" or totaler (ugh). Sherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03541441427243883835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74196691865021580122016-07-07T18:05:33.936-04:002016-07-07T18:05:33.936-04:00I had just Lena's tweet about "e-bikes&qu...I had just Lena's tweet about "e-bikes" so when I finished today's puzzle, I immediately thought that 3 down was "e-vader". Perhaps this is what you watch when you stream Star Wars online?eveostaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63894158723901634522016-07-07T18:05:27.956-04:002016-07-07T18:05:27.956-04:00You actually don't have to prove motive at a m...You actually don't have to prove motive at a murder trial....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-64827673879831718122016-07-07T18:04:27.732-04:002016-07-07T18:04:27.732-04:00The southwest was the slowest part for me. I'd...The southwest was the slowest part for me. I'd never heard of REYES and I didn't understand the "Summer" clue until I read Rex's write-up. So the R where they crossed was a guess.<br />Sherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03541441427243883835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6184952908899756422016-07-07T17:40:42.083-04:002016-07-07T17:40:42.083-04:00@puzzlecrone, I love both the Renaissance and Fire...@puzzlecrone, I love both the Renaissance and Firenze, but it was your "ill-used" that makes me want to pick up <i>Romola</i> and give it another go.Carolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15971759975067250908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7171804955230103592016-07-07T16:59:37.883-04:002016-07-07T16:59:37.883-04:00@r.alphbunker, you are cracking me up. Yesterday&#...@r.alphbunker, you are cracking me up. Yesterday's post ended with a "bang", and you've got your sass on today too. Good to see you back.<br /><br />A rebus is a rebus is a rebus and nothing can compare on a Thursday. TSA is perhaps on the easy side, but still most enjoyable. I have come to anticipate an ACME puzzle with joy because they seem fresh faced, clean cut and just All American fun. Congrats to Joel for his debut collaboration. You work well together.<br /><br />@Tita, does your mother know she's become a star in this world? You could sell tickets for a public public appearance, with a sampling of her baked goods of course!<br /><br />@EJCopperman, possibly, but you're excused if you are writing from Bhutan.<br /><br />@GreaterFallRiver, snogging on a crowded subway is gross, unless the couple happen to be famous movie stars and you've got your camera.<br /><br />@Pete, you really improved the clue with "boarder control". IDI should have been clued as just "Forrest Whittaker role" to make it a little tougher. I hope WS is paying attention.<br /><br />Hartley70https://www.blogger.com/profile/00557118655188472450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19167389666617743282016-07-07T16:26:17.334-04:002016-07-07T16:26:17.334-04:00Should have been easy for me, but somehow I wanted...Should have been easy for me, but somehow I wanted MORTSAUL, even though I knew much better. Too much "Breaking Bad" and spinoff maybe? No problem after I came to my senses.Hungry Motherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13465905817770134952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11318264890793228272016-07-07T16:11:17.928-04:002016-07-07T16:11:17.928-04:00My earlier comment did not post, though I suppose ...My earlier comment did not post, though I suppose it may. I liked the puzzle and it was fun looking for the TSA squares. <br /><br />I have no problem with SUDSES. SUDS is a word I've seen as a verb before, meaning to lather up. <br /><br />My explanation for why a TSA airport checkpoint is a border stop is that the checkpoint is the very important border between airside and landside at any modern airport. Landside, you don't need to be screened and can even visit a restaurant if you want. And supplies don't need to be screened either. Airside, everything must be screened and everybody must have proper credentials to work airside or deliver anything there. old timernoreply@blogger.com