tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post5135213141806805398..comments2024-03-28T15:13:08.509-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Mountain in Deuteronomy / SUN 11-20-11 / Will's ex-wife on Glee / Rank in kendo / Sci-fi series set in 23rd century / Italian province seaport / TV award discontinued in 1997 / Color whose name is French for fleaRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21199507602863507872021-07-04T12:44:40.076-04:002021-07-04T12:44:40.076-04:00@Bob -- I *love* your "Monitor initials"...@Bob -- I *love* your "Monitor initials" answer. I dearly hope that someone uses it in a puzzle!<br /><br />I got seriously slowed by all of the proper nouns, including having to deduce a couple of the numbers at the end to get "DISTRICT C" and "O-D GRAPHICS" (they come in various dimensions when you're int he business). I also got slowed by the across-down switch at ABO / 8-BALL. Didn't finish in the WSW, with PODIA/DIED/TEENA, due to a brain-fry (not thinking of "PODIA", a perfectly good answer).<br /><br />Entertaining for the day, certainly.Prunehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00224476641730508311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-90346318838747285792012-04-07T20:50:56.933-04:002012-04-07T20:50:56.933-04:00I come to this site occasionally. It's a grea...I come to this site occasionally. It's a great site, thanks Rex. My wife and I do all the Weds-Sat puzzles, but often much later than anyone else, with Across Lite. We just did this one.<br /><br />This is probably the stupidest Sunday puzzle I've ever seen, and I've seen hundreds. It is certainly the most annoying. We figured out the theme about 85% of the way through, finally got all nine letters, finally figured out to read it backwards -- for what? Enormous letdown. Utterly purposeless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-48175838510196158922012-01-14T08:43:15.328-05:002012-01-14T08:43:15.328-05:00Hey folks, my first time here.
I got this puzzle a...Hey folks, my first time here.<br />I got this puzzle as a rerun in the Wilmington DE paper. Just solving it now (Jan 14 2012).<br />-- I "lucked" into a misdirection that nobody else has mentioned. My first long success was "Babylon Five" which I put in first as a Roman numeral, i.e. Bab-V. Then I got luckier still with High-Definition-Graphics, HD-Graph, for 23-A. <br />-- With the crosses in the circled boxes that gave me TWO STATES!!! VT and OH. I got SWAG for 52-A and kept trying to force an "A" onto the end of 2-D to get WA, Washington. <br />-- When that just wouldn't work, I went back and tried 5 for the end of Babylon and got further hints from the engine & the vitamin answers, and finally got on the right track. Whew!<br />-- Of course, it didn't help that my paper reprinted the circles as diagonally slashed boxes, so I was always seeing the fill letters, side-by-side, without the "dimension shift" suggested by the circles.<br />-- Fun blog here! Glad I found it!!<br />Rusty (Trenton NJ)RustyXCVnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44998435463166287982011-12-11T10:25:53.038-05:002011-12-11T10:25:53.038-05:00Lede is spelled that way, as in a reporter's l...Lede is spelled that way, as in a reporter's lede, in order to avoid confusion with the printing term "lead" (rhymes with bed), which designates the amount of actual lead (the metal) spacing between the lines of print, back in the days of lead type.<br />I enjoyed the puzzle (saved from when it came out till I had time!), but missed on podia/ose, too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58193723655592953132011-12-04T18:55:16.357-05:002011-12-04T18:55:16.357-05:00@wcutler - I just put all of my old papers in the ...@wcutler - I just put all of my old papers in the recycling bin so I can't look at this puzzle, but if you tell me the clue for ATP I'll try to help you out (no guarantees, though).Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-39126379613938465152011-12-04T18:32:18.256-05:002011-12-04T18:32:18.256-05:00I loved this puzzle, I just want to say, to balanc...I loved this puzzle, I just want to say, to balance out some of the reviews panning it. <br /><br />I don't understand the comments about not getting the relationship between the letters and numbers. I had to write the numbers 1 to (didn't know how many) and fill in the ones I had answers for, then figure out the count down word, then go back to the puzzle to fill in the numbers where didn't know what they were (district 9, babylon 5, vitamin b1), or the letters (as in "nine" letters, where I had "the" letters). <br /><br />I don't even know what sport ATP refers to.wcutlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08615799228069705972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86293962958648093982011-11-29T16:40:06.072-05:002011-11-29T16:40:06.072-05:00No slashes in the puzzle as printed in the Sacrame...No slashes in the puzzle as printed in the Sacramento Bee. Had to look at the solution just to get started.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-33508117343984148852011-11-28T00:37:23.602-05:002011-11-28T00:37:23.602-05:00Despite my *Spacecraft* handle, I choose not to ba...Despite my *Spacecraft* handle, I choose not to bandy Star Wars with Raul; I defer to his expertise. I was a lot more confused by Chi Cygni, which my research revealed is a variable star--in fact the variability is its chief interest--so naturally I assumed it would be a VSTAR. This makes it really hard to come up with thuggish sorts ending in V, so later, when I did have a prefectly fine 5-letter word for a thug, I just figured "S" had to go in there.<br /> Thrown off for a while by MEDIA instead of PODIA (though rare is the occasion when ANYONE in the media actually "supports" pols).<br /> LEDE was a headscratcher for me too. Maybe it's pronounced "leedee"<br />as in "What can I writey for my leadie?" UGH.<br /> Finally, why don't IRING the constructor's neck for that word?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15060496581613110492011-11-27T17:34:30.693-05:002011-11-27T17:34:30.693-05:00Weak title. Less than exciting theme. No connect...Weak title. Less than exciting theme. No connection to any kind of countdown anywhere else in the grid that I can see. Nonetheless, in honor of the incredible effort this must have taken to construct, I am going to start my 2012 New Year's countdown at 9 instead of 10 this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77024051099374347862011-11-27T17:12:26.854-05:002011-11-27T17:12:26.854-05:00From syndicationland, where presumably everyone re...From syndicationland, where presumably everyone received the correct puzzle today. Puzzle-friend and I had a lot of fun working together to "figure it out". Our grid had slashes dividing the squares that shared a letter and a number and I think that helped us visualize what was going on. We had a few numbers wrong so the final answer required some "anagramming" to arrive at the appropriate final word per the instructions.<br /><br />I wonder how Rex recovered from his birthday in 2006?:<br />- "Solving time: 5:28 (applet)<br />THEME: "Quote by Bertrand Russell relevant to crossword solvers" - THE TIME YOU ENJOY / WASTING / IS NOT WASTED TIME"<br />- "Back to work today, ugh. I have a turkey-birthday hangover, as I consumed something like my body weight over the four-day weekend. Back to dietary basics, starting ... now."<br />- "Soon this answer will be clued "Dictator Vladimir" or "Despot Vladimir" or "Guy who has journalists killed with radioactive material Vladimir." Russia apparently has gotten tired of being an also-ran country and is making a play to get back into the world tyranny game in a big way. Remember when we won the Cold War? Ah, good times."<br />- "Somewhere in a loch in Scotland, a certain giant amphibious creature I know is getting very angry at being snubbed in puzzle after puzzle in favor of this alleged crime-fighter guy. Can't the world's stealthiest dinosaur get a little love? "Home of Scottish monster" - how hard is that? You could even add "allegedly" if you felt you had to. You've got CLAN (1A) in the northwest of the puzzle - you could bring a little of that Scottishness to the far southeast. Viva Scotland. Cue Willie!"<br />- @Orange made the only comment.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69925684932799164152011-11-21T16:02:04.361-05:002011-11-21T16:02:04.361-05:00PeDIA for politicians supporters...well, it's ...PeDIA for politicians supporters...well, it's true, no?<br /><br />@Leslie - to me, PUCE evokes Marché aux Puces, (flea market, of course), but with the flair of a different culture's idea of junk...<br /><br />Just too many TV names (worst- numbers) that are impossible to infer.<br />Plus, being unable to accept SWAG as "ill-gotten" gains, though now I see it as the 1st def in Collins.<br /><br />Liked the idea, but the numbers were just too random. <br />Not good anagrams, and even more so when I'm missing one of the letters (W).<br /><br />Not my favorite Sunday, amd that's not just cause my DNF is IRING me.Titahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368251255494687496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57912202398157206782011-11-21T15:05:55.150-05:002011-11-21T15:05:55.150-05:00"cherry7uup" is the answer to make "..."cherry7uup" is the answer to make "brutes" work, but is inconsistent with the rest of the number answers.Bitshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975034568508245907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-68881665135422228362011-11-21T09:47:32.714-05:002011-11-21T09:47:32.714-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Titahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368251255494687496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41796275300305028162011-11-21T06:32:29.294-05:002011-11-21T06:32:29.294-05:00thanks william e emba. I knew all that except you...thanks william e emba. I knew all that except your third paragraph, which is the meat of it. So it has nothing to do with Chicago Aussie-rules football!Joe in Montrealnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75801376256214687092011-11-21T00:36:21.339-05:002011-11-21T00:36:21.339-05:00Chi Cygni from the clue means the "chi"t...Chi Cygni from the clue means the "chi"th naked-eye star in order of visibility, sort of, in the constellation Cygnus. (The stars are labelled alpha, beta, etc, down the Greek alphabet. Cygni is the Latin genitive of Cygnus.)<br /><br />Chi is way down the Greek alphabet, which means this is a pretty dim star, one you've almost certainly never seen. However, Chi Cygni is of special interest astronomically, as its Wikipedia entry reveals, so the clue was not technically "random star name", but for all practical purposes, any star name qualifies as a "random star name".<br /><br />The Wikipedia Infobox says the star's "spectral type" is S6III. This is 3 types of information, S, 6, and III. In the olden days, only the S was bandied about. So the answer is S-STAR.<br /><br />What you're supposed to do when you get a star name is simply right in -STAR, and figure out the missing first letter from the cross. That's right, four gimme letters and one impossible to guess. Except that usually it's one of OBAFGKM--that was the original classification--and which has the advantage of being very easy to memorize so it can help you perhaps with guessing the cross. (See Wikipedia entry for OBAFGKM to find out why it's very easy to memorize.) These are probably the only stars you'll see before Friday. Or for that matter, in the sky!william e embanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6648807857646918552011-11-20T23:21:39.471-05:002011-11-20T23:21:39.471-05:00Well I never did get this one from magmic they nee...Well I never did get this one from magmic they need a mass user revolt...is there any way to get your money back?Kristin yes it's menoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-4073737648086962842011-11-20T23:03:49.057-05:002011-11-20T23:03:49.057-05:00LEDE is in fact a real thing in the world of journ...LEDE is in fact a real thing in the world of journalistic notation. As is GRAF (paragraph), TK (to come), and STET. But if a journalist was, say, sending an email, they would say "Don't bury the lead" or "The third graph is weak."Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02681342234536407419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75285732354697233262011-11-20T22:47:41.975-05:002011-11-20T22:47:41.975-05:00Thank you for not blaming me.
Unlike other blogge...Thank you for not blaming me.<br /><br />Unlike other bloggers who will remain nameless.Deb Amlenhttp://www.debamlen.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2449225199241428692011-11-20T22:46:52.681-05:002011-11-20T22:46:52.681-05:00@jberg: EARLS outrank viscounts and barons. They a...@jberg: EARLS outrank viscounts and barons. They are outranked by dukes and marquesses (sp?).Better late than never?noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69094106832441872472011-11-20T22:12:27.192-05:002011-11-20T22:12:27.192-05:00I still don't get SSTARS for Chi Cygni.
LEDE d...I still don't get SSTARS for Chi Cygni.<br />LEDE does not appear in any Scrabble dictionary. I haven't ever tried PODIA.Joe in Montrealnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26741257206740280962011-11-20T21:30:56.352-05:002011-11-20T21:30:56.352-05:00Filled in the theme squares as best I could, then ...Filled in the theme squares as best I could, then painstakingly wrote out N-W-O- etc. and thought I was losing my mind. So, a great moment in the surprise trick ending department -- cue the theme to 'Carrie'.<br /><br />Thanks Trip.Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02681342234536407419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47228282408947301572011-11-20T21:22:51.211-05:002011-11-20T21:22:51.211-05:00@ r.alphbunker
Yep, zero based counting is where ...@ r.alphbunker<br /><br />Yep, zero based counting is where I live, too.John Vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557037910799243636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-10817128498338810442011-11-20T20:20:23.639-05:002011-11-20T20:20:23.639-05:00@JenCT,
I emailed you at the email address given o...@JenCT,<br />I emailed you at the email address given on your blog page.r.alphbunkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-37627843028029365552011-11-20T20:08:57.899-05:002011-11-20T20:08:57.899-05:00HOREB was a gimme for me, I got it off the final B...HOREB was a gimme for me, I got it off the final B. It's the "real" name for Mount Sinai. And <i>Horeb</i> was used by the 19th century Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch as the title of his classic work defending Orthodox Judaism. So it's not just some personal specialty trivia I have to think for a mere moment to recall--the word has stared at me off my bookshelves for almost two decades now.<br /><br />On the other hand, it took me forever to work out the Texas area, where I finished. I had DASH for 118A -, and frankly, that is typographic nonsense. A hyphen is not a dash, en or em, and none of these are minus signs. Plus I had NaTS for the team, Alien for the accent, and liT for the course! Untangling that was a pain. When no numbers were left except 8, I saw 8BALL, then MAGIC, and I finished. Ha! That was an excellent ending.<br /><br />Getting the number/letter crossing trick was almost instantaneous for me. I started in the middle near the final instructions, and quickly got the V6ENGINE.<br /><br />And getting the trick was made easier, because in the back of my mind, I was remembering from about 7-8 years ago, when the NYT did a remarkable 2nd Sunday puzzle, which was a no-black-square (ie, extra thick edges mark word boundaries) diagramless (ie, find them yourself) two-way rebus--which was not explained, with final instructions as one of the answers. It remains one of the all-time best crossword puzzles I've ever done.william e embanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74319626101764068532011-11-20T20:05:40.595-05:002011-11-20T20:05:40.595-05:00I thought this was more medium challenging than me...I thought this was more medium challenging than medium--couldn't finish till I put a night's sleep into it. (Don't get how I can be totally stumped before bed but suddenly see the light come morning.) But it was great fun and terrifically clever. I'll never understand the comments that basically whine "How can I be expected to know things I don't know?" Well, the more you know about a wide breadth of topics, the better you'll be at crosswords. Doesn't that go without saying?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com