tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post48244829832460300..comments2024-03-29T08:53:09.581-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Comic actor Dom / MON 11-29-10 / Bouquets-to-order co / Wildflower from which cultivated carrot originated / 1950s Ford flopRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-52258329997149315772010-11-30T12:24:19.690-05:002010-11-30T12:24:19.690-05:00By the way, thanks for yesterday's offer of re...By the way, thanks for yesterday's offer of recipes, @ChefBea. We have a surfeit of stuffing for reasons that are a little unclear to me. Multiple suppliers, mostly. Any suggestions? <br /><br />Other problems: salad and succotash. The rest got frozen. <br /><br />And Hanukkah starts Friday. Oy!JaxInL.A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13792405579998093081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7502517142075783532010-11-30T00:44:23.118-05:002010-11-30T00:44:23.118-05:00Rex, Definitely a good theme. In my world, Traffic...Rex, Definitely a good theme. In my world, Traffic and Cream are far more significant bands than Queen and Kiss. Is that a generational thing (60s vs 70s?). Cream and Traffic were indeed "head" bands, as were the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, Canned Heat, etc. Queen? Maybe. But Kiss - that's headbanger music - still involves the head, but not the same thing!Laurence Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16512608792667325309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63697478319213223612010-11-30T00:40:45.815-05:002010-11-30T00:40:45.815-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Laurence Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16512608792667325309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62782025902871141502010-11-29T23:38:20.157-05:002010-11-29T23:38:20.157-05:00Very much a fun puzzle. Nice to see a female const...Very much a fun puzzle. Nice to see a female constructor after what seems like a long string of guys.<br /><br />We solved driving from Irondequoit, NY, to Wells, ME, and it only took a few exits of the NY Thruway. Felt that HAIR METAL would have been a better theme but only came up with Crüe Socks and Poison (something, ala Rex).Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02681342234536407419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66750018544665358922010-11-29T23:14:50.766-05:002010-11-29T23:14:50.766-05:00@Retired Chemist - Maybe More said that, but look ...@Retired Chemist - Maybe More said that, but look what good it did him.Thomas Cromwellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87205754711999888532010-11-29T22:01:23.413-05:002010-11-29T22:01:23.413-05:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation. 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 7:03, 6:56, 1.02, 61%, Medium-Challenging<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:48, 3:42, 1.03, 64%, Medium-Challengingsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45088117438962642992010-11-29T21:59:49.856-05:002010-11-29T21:59:49.856-05:00I loved this puzzle.... other than that bit about ...I loved this puzzle.... other than that bit about PFUI. Really in truly this has been my favorite Monday puzzle of the year even with that awful little fill-in. Don't have much else to say that hasn't been said, but really did enjoy this one a lot.Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04176353196193935474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-59920397557562711352010-11-29T21:33:53.764-05:002010-11-29T21:33:53.764-05:00@sanfranman59,
As the anonymous poster at 10:59a...@sanfranman59, <br /><br />As the anonymous poster at 10:59a.m., I was pleased to see my casual comment actually had some merit. <br /><br />Thanks for the fascinating presentation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32954146055373154462010-11-29T21:06:59.587-05:002010-11-29T21:06:59.587-05:00@Clark,
Rex has banished me from these premises,...@Clark, <br /><br />Rex has banished me from these premises, so do not take my silence as acquiesence in your assertion....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58097594711234558222010-11-29T19:49:40.096-05:002010-11-29T19:49:40.096-05:00Enjoyable Monday puzzle and theme.
@fikink I agre...Enjoyable Monday puzzle and theme. <br />@fikink I agree about Blind Faith. Steve Winwood was like 16 or 17. Traffic was a great follow up. Early Clapton, Cream was great too. Can't relate to Kiss or Queen. PFUI! I thought they were "Hair" bands.<br /><br />I remember Queen Anne's Lace growing wild in the summer when I lived in PA. In Southern CA, you have to buy it at the florist and it's very expensive - same for bittersweet.CrazyCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00245025301434920905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5649924390143545942010-11-29T19:45:20.655-05:002010-11-29T19:45:20.655-05:00@anon 5:39 -- He does not have the law of Barterto...@anon 5:39 -- He does not have the law of Bartertown on his side. Nor does he have our law on his side. Silence means acquiescence in the law only in particular contexts where the law makes it so -- not generally. And, finally, I do not think Cardozo said what you said he said (though I would be happy to know where he said it if he did).Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83985138536241208502010-11-29T19:42:09.592-05:002010-11-29T19:42:09.592-05:00@jaxin LA want some recipes????@jaxin LA want some recipes????chefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77797059149501829952010-11-29T18:32:24.287-05:002010-11-29T18:32:24.287-05:00The truck carrying the NYT broke down below Albany...The truck carrying the NYT broke down below Albany. No CW for me today.Sfingihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06903616949048940858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62156551761257595232010-11-29T18:25:32.897-05:002010-11-29T18:25:32.897-05:00@retired_chemist - True, but More lost his head ov...@retired_chemist - True, but More lost his head over his statement, whereas Cardozo was writing for the majority....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-39076605356499587692010-11-29T18:18:47.913-05:002010-11-29T18:18:47.913-05:00Or there is my favorite Will Rogers quip about sil...Or there is my favorite Will Rogers quip about silence, and probably more to @Clark's point: "Never miss a good chance to shut up."<br />(not that I have always observed this maxim)fikinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06324570637549775751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36866201490376073752010-11-29T18:09:23.496-05:002010-11-29T18:09:23.496-05:00Anon @10:59am's post got me to looking at the ...Anon @10:59am's post got me to looking at the data I've compiled to date to see what the quintile ranges are for each day of the week (quintiles are the fancy statistical term for 5 equal proportions of a distribution of values, which is what I use for my Easy, Easy-Medium, Medium, Medium-Challenging, Challenging scale). Here are the current ranges for the All Solvers group by day of week:<br /><br />(Easy 0-20% | Easy-Medium 20-40% | Medium 40-60% | Medium-Challenging 60-80% | Challenging 80-100%)<br /><br />Mon | 5:46-6:21 | 6:24-6:39 | 6:40-7:02 | 7:03-7:30 | 7:31-8:42<br />Tue | 6:40-7:58 | 8:01-8:22 | 8:25-9:10 | 9:11-9:49 | 9:52-11:47<br />Wed | 8:17-9:53 | 9:57-10:51 | 10:54-11:47 | 11:48-12:55 | 13:11-18:03<br />Thu | 12:59-15:13 | 15:15-17:18 | 17:22-19:01 | 19:18-21:34 | 21:50-30:44*<br />Fri | 17:30*-22:27 | 22:38-24:52 | 25:12-27:42 | 27:43-29:55 | 29:56-35:55*<br />Sat | 21:07-26:44 | 26:45-29:29 | 29:37-31:23 | 31:30-34:15 | 34:31-42:09<br /><br />*Since the actual highest Thursday and Friday solve times (34:05 and 39:54) and the lowest Friday solve time (12:47) are outliers, I've omitted them from this summary. The 30:44 Thursday time is more than 2 minutes above the next highest time (28:24), but I decided to leave it in the table anyway.<br /><br />General observations:<br /><br />- There's lots of overlap on adjacent days of the week, particularly Friday and Saturday.<br /><br />- Easy Tuesday puzzles are comparable to Medium Monday puzzles and Easy Wednesdays are comparable to Medium Tuesdays.<br /><br />- There's not much overlap between puzzles two days apart, except that Easy Saturdays are comparable to Challenging Thursdays.<br /><br />- There's a pretty big jump in difficulty between Wednesday and Thursday. Only the most challenging of the Wednesday puzzles are comparable to the easiest of the Thursday puzzles.sanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83187187727150499772010-11-29T17:58:27.831-05:002010-11-29T17:58:27.831-05:00!@ Anon 5:39 -
Thomas More's famous statemen...!@ Anon 5:39 - <br /><br /><a href="http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/more/morechrono.html" rel="nofollow">Thomas More's famous statement of July 1, 1535 that silence gives assent</a> predates Cardozo by several centuries.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6334120950047466942010-11-29T17:39:38.925-05:002010-11-29T17:39:38.925-05:00Clark,
I say Bravo, but, alas, Jim has the law on...Clark,<br /><br />I say Bravo, but, alas, Jim has the law on his side. Justice Cardozo once wrote: Silence means acquiescence. Of course Dickens wrote: the law is a long-eared equine....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45031246662564132102010-11-29T17:31:39.055-05:002010-11-29T17:31:39.055-05:00@Jim -- "notice how no one else objected"...@Jim -- "notice how no one else objected". If you say something I disagree with, about, oh, say, the conjugation of a Greek verb, or the meaning of an obscure legal term, or whether this or that clue may or may not be misleading, then I feel a certain impulse to object. And in such cases, while you would still be foolish to take my failure to object to be some kind of agreement, I can at least see why you might make that mistake. But it would be a serious confusion on your part to take the silence of commenters on this blog to be a confirmation of something you may have said about politics.<br /><br />"People come here to trade, make a little profit, do a little business. . . . Let's talk. Come inside. Leave your weapons here. It's the law." -- Mad Max Beyond ThunderdomeClarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3288839877398100152010-11-29T17:21:23.124-05:002010-11-29T17:21:23.124-05:00Hey, @Sparky! Welcome back and hope you are on th...Hey, @Sparky! Welcome back and hope you are on the mend. <br /><br />So hemlock masquerades as QUEEN ANNE'S LACE? Thanks, @PlantieBea. <br /><br />PFUI comes from German? This stuff is why I keep coming back. Always learn something interesting. <br /><br />Liked the puzzle, liked the theme, thought that the fill was excellent (Rex's diatribe against PFUI notwithstanding), and remarkably free of the stuff we usually complain about here. <br /><br />We had two full Turkey days, so anyone who wants to come over for dinner would be more than welcome. Not sure how to store/eat all this food!JaxInL.A.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79014119913958834102010-11-29T15:50:41.906-05:002010-11-29T15:50:41.906-05:00Jim: Thanks for the post.
From Answers.Com: &quo...Jim: Thanks for the post. <br /><br />From Answers.Com: "Critics accused Goss of being too closely tied to the Bush administration and of politicizing the CIA, while his supporters claimed he was trying to lead a moribund agency in new directions. Goss refused to explain his surprise resignation in 2006, telling a reporter from CNN that the reasons were 'just one of those mysteries.'"<br /><br />Wikipedia reports: Goss is an avid organic farmer. According to a September 13, 2004 article in Roll Call, Goss has a farm in Virginia and spends his summers on Fishers Island in Long Island Sound.<br /><br />We should all be so lucky....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-9629391167207831262010-11-29T15:48:13.776-05:002010-11-29T15:48:13.776-05:00Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/...Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation of my method):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 7:03, 6:56, 1.02, 61%, Medium-Challenging<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:54, 3:42, 1.05, 80%, Medium-Challengingsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50272210333791143742010-11-29T15:28:50.301-05:002010-11-29T15:28:50.301-05:00Anonymous:
Hmmph. Seems you're right. Two y...Anonymous:<br /><br />Hmmph. Seems you're right. Two years...and certainly resignation was hardly scandalous (although he never offered an adequate explanation). <br /><br />Unfortunately, the passage of time and fading of memories has led to guilt by association for nearly everyone with that administration (notice how no one else objected, as it seems perfectly plausible).<br /><br />Anyway, my apologies to Mr Goss, who seems to have been a perfectly respectable (if hyper-partisan) man.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18391847471384798773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22452935863039251852010-11-29T15:27:13.753-05:002010-11-29T15:27:13.753-05:00I didn't think this was difficult at all.
Pick...I didn't think this was difficult at all.<br />Picked up the "theme" (or whatever you want to call it) quickly.<br /><br />PFUI can go PF*** itself.<br />Why not FOOEY? <br />Look it up in the Urban Dictionary.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17857747515877769718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51541997347144805312010-11-29T15:09:04.699-05:002010-11-29T15:09:04.699-05:00@Nighthawk: agreed. But I know "low spark&q...@Nighthawk: agreed. But I know "low spark" because freshman year I couldn't ever seem to get a date. Sat around listening to music instead. <br /><br />@fikink: don't know how to work Blind Faith into this puzzle. Maybe that's why Kiss got in...archaeoprofhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17956231727789223463noreply@blogger.com