tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post6938965022781184046..comments2024-03-29T01:22:33.864-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Pen name for Angela Lansbury's character on "Murder, She Wrote" / TUE 2-4-14 / One-named singer with 2006 hit Too Little Too Late / Viscount's superior / Joe Namath Mark GastineauRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-65481485081675204492014-03-11T21:03:22.945-04:002014-03-11T21:03:22.945-04:00@Waxy - you continue to amaze with your mastery of...@Waxy - you continue to amaze with your mastery of arcane facts (which I wanted to call "arcania" but apparently a video game has pre-empted that term) and original insights. <br /><br />@Gil I.P. - You have discovered yet another of my innumerable inadequacies. I suspect a working knowledge of Chinese will be more important to future generations than it was to mine.<br /><br />I was dealt four 4s, can I play this hand?Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86246029400794296682014-03-11T20:18:12.470-04:002014-03-11T20:18:12.470-04:00@rain, welcome home. The "other" David S...@rain, welcome home. The "other" David Steinberg is currently the subject of an excellent TV biopic "Quality Balls". <br /><br />Only JoJo I know is/was the (in)famous Canadian TV medium or psychic who enjoyed her 15 minutes about 20 years ago.<br /><br />To complement JJPUTZ, too bad SPARKY LYLE wasn't clued instead of Lovett.<br /><br />Even though I've read Blondie for over 60 years, took the longest time to arrive at JC for Mr. Dithers. Julius came readily to mind as did his wife's name, Cora.<br /><br />Have long thought Tito's original surname, BROZ, would have made a great name for a rap or hiphop artist as in BRO-Z (ala ICE-T).Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-648318773487753542014-03-11T19:47:05.212-04:002014-03-11T19:47:05.212-04:00@Diri...You don't speak Chinese???? I'm s...@Diri...You don't speak Chinese???? I'm shocked, truly shocked...GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42520445253078138312014-03-11T19:01:06.982-04:002014-03-11T19:01:06.982-04:00@rainy - nice to see you back even if it's onl...@rainy - nice to see you back even if it's only "tentative". As to your observations, I suspect some things will never change, but there's a new puzzle every day and I, like you, can always find something to like and I've found that if I skip all of the really long posts I can arrive in syndiland with my good humor intact. <br /><br />@Z -I can hardly wait to see what the "discussion" is all about. In the meantime I decided to go with bourbon, but thanks for the recommendation.<br /><br />@Gil I.P. - OK, your avatar needs some explaining.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74021377114735852642014-03-11T18:35:07.225-04:002014-03-11T18:35:07.225-04:00@rain forest...You CRACK me up. You and Diri (wel...@rain forest...You CRACK me up. You and Diri (well all of you syndies ought to pop into our time zone every once in a while - you know, pep thinks up and all ;-)GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56707894909312527272014-03-11T16:48:46.096-04:002014-03-11T16:48:46.096-04:00Consider this a tentative return to Syndiville. I...Consider this a tentative return to Syndiville. I'll admit I have lurked (twice, actually) and on both occasions I could see that @Rex is still on his "the NYT puzzle/Will comes up Shortz (har)" thing, @Steve J continues to point out what he sees as bad fill (and therefore IS bad fill), and @lms isn't running out of random memories anytime soon.<br /><br />However, I had to comment on today's puzzle because, and I don't care what day it is, I found it tremendously enjoyable and, well, different, in a good way. Perhaps because JJ PUTZ, Josip BROZ, JOS Boys, and JC DITHERS, were gimmes helped, but I'm pretty sure I would have liked it anyway. Lovely to get something out of left field once in awhile. <br /><br />Btw, today's constructor is the namesake of a very funny Canadian comedian who used to break me up.<br /><br />Who knows? I may be BACH.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84988121793223512232014-03-11T16:34:37.665-04:002014-03-11T16:34:37.665-04:00@Dirigonzo - Momentarily confused because we'r...@Dirigonzo - Momentarily confused because we're having a fun cannabis "discussion" five weeks in the future. Let me recommend a Monkey Fist IPA. Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-65320116964607204342014-03-11T15:53:16.499-04:002014-03-11T15:53:16.499-04:00OOOnA in the NE and JJPUTt in the SW seemed plausi...OOOnA in the NE and JJPUTt in the SW seemed plausible so a DNF for me. If I lived in WA or CO I might be tempted to smoke a "J" to console myself but I don't so I'll have a beer instead - Perhaps @Z can recommend on appropriate for the occasion?<br /><br />@DMG - My pairs are 2, 3s and 4s; how sad is that?Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-24798011651583413322014-03-11T12:30:03.076-04:002014-03-11T12:30:03.076-04:00What a conglomeration of odditys! Eventually slog...What a conglomeration of odditys! Eventually slogged through it once I got the J connection, only having to replace HuNgERS with HANKERS. But, I ended up with plenty of ?? where it seemed my answers were too weird to be real, only they were! Wonder how much Google research was required to put this thing together? I prefer my puzzles involve word play, not trivia. Maybe tomorrow.<br /><br />@Ginger: Thanks for the hint. I found a free download for my iPad, something new at Paribas this year. Now I can at least keep more current than yesterday's scores in the paper. Can't believe how fast the big names are falling!<br /><br />Another nothing hand, unless you can count three pairs!DMGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34051698940567216522014-03-11T12:26:09.665-04:002014-03-11T12:26:09.665-04:00Don't know why the above says "anonymous;...Don't know why the above says "anonymous; it was I.spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-24901977121386596082014-03-11T12:23:52.332-04:002014-03-11T12:23:52.332-04:00"...Despite wincing here and there at the fil..."...Despite wincing here and there at the fill..."???? Yougottabekiddingme! Beside the double-triple-O's in the NE: ONELB JAI JCTS MMDII...and who the *&$#@ is JJPUTZ? There's really some family with that name--and they DIDN'T change it? This guy must've been a PUTZ; I never heard of him.<br /><br />Had a moment there, filling in the acrosses in the SE, when REMO popped up at 58d before I even saw the clue. I was let down when it didn't refer to that weird "pilot" movie that never spawned a follow-up, "REMO Williams: The Adventure Begins," featuring a very forgettable title hero but a most memorable tour-de-force by the great Joel Gray. <br /><br />David: stay away from early-week. Would Emanuel Ax play Chopsticks?<br /><br />This was neither Renoir nor Matisse. A Dali? Closer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62166680649448594642014-02-08T17:51:05.149-05:002014-02-08T17:51:05.149-05:00@airymom..21 across I thank Forgetting Sarah Marsh...@airymom..21 across I thank Forgetting Sarah Marshall. way to comment days after the puzzle, Claire! (that's me, never late in real life)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-54388260899479003932014-02-06T00:34:49.371-05:002014-02-06T00:34:49.371-05:00My favorite Steinberg yet. Imagine, at his age, an...My favorite Steinberg yet. Imagine, at his age, and his last name is a synonym for a work famous because of who did it. A Renoir. A Matisse. A Steinberg.MaharajaMackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17586547065009442807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61427403826599149382014-02-05T08:48:56.387-05:002014-02-05T08:48:56.387-05:00Thanks ACME, made my day.Thanks ACME, made my day.Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07466240197659721721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-48978929475852435392014-02-05T01:23:17.000-05:002014-02-05T01:23:17.000-05:00This 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 6:04, 6:22, 0.95, 27%, Easy-Medium<br />Tue 10:30, 8:18, 1.27, 94%, Challenging (13th highest ratio of 217 Tuesdays)<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 4:01, 4:00, 1.00, 47%, Medium<br />Tue 6:33, 5:14, 1.25, 96%, Challenging (9th highest ratio of 217 Tuesdays)<br /><br />... and another new low for the number of online solvers ... as of 6pm Pacific, there were 301 (I wasn't able to check the count at the closing bell this evening). The previous Tuesday low was 357 for Tim Croce's puzzle of three weeks ago. Methinks these low numbers are the new reality in my research sample. For now, I think the ratings based on the Top 100 solve times are more reliable, even for early week puzzles.sanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88179175338536960062014-02-05T01:08:31.867-05:002014-02-05T01:08:31.867-05:00@Leon 6:57
THanks for the spelled out list! And H...@Leon 6:57<br />THanks for the spelled out list! And Happy Birthday (belatedly)<br /><br />@AliasZ, @Milford, @Sfingi<br />Good lists...for the record JCPENNY and JREWING seem to be the same length for your future magnus opus...<br /> <br />But I like that David went a bit more obscure... and JDSALINGER certainly was timely, timeless!<br />(Just watched that JDSALINGER film on PBS and everyone seemed to call him Jerry which I don't associate with the vision I have of "JD".)<br /><br />@Balkanite 9:34<br />Good point. If he had been called a dictator would that have been too biased a clue? Statesman seems to be the literal middle of the road answer.<br />Like we seem to be able to say "Dictator Amin" and not even allowed to have Hitler, so at what point does a "statesman" become a "dictator", crossword-clue-wise???<br /><br />And no one brought up the whole day that TITO is in the Venn Diagram overlap of the conjoined circles of Yugoslavian dictators and Jackson 5 Brothers. <br />(My fave New Yorker cartoon...and I think the subject of the first comment I made on @Rex probably five years ago!)andrea carla michaelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08091986128593034022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84748112124052996302014-02-04T23:19:12.379-05:002014-02-04T23:19:12.379-05:00Did. Not. Like. As has been said, I refuse to goog...Did. Not. Like. As has been said, I refuse to google on Tuesday. My real problem was that I missed the main part of the theme. I foolishly dropped in HAdJ early, and could not think of BARRIE's first initial much less DITHERS' middle one. Eventually put in inTS for 57D and kept wondering about this strange theme of a bunch of last names with 2 initials. But I did know JOS (no, haven't read it) and so somehow guessed JJ PUTZ right. Time to go back to NZ and do some more of the Kiwi cryptics in the Christchurch Press.skua76https://www.blogger.com/profile/15450051465313263422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82199850085387479962014-02-04T19:24:19.418-05:002014-02-04T19:24:19.418-05:00Jessica FLETCHER from Murder, She Wrote was a clu...Jessica FLETCHER from Murder, She Wrote was a clue/answer on Jeopardy tonight.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09567874862630285191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53391895278525376572014-02-04T19:03:20.448-05:002014-02-04T19:03:20.448-05:00Deb over at the wordplay blog explains the pronunc...Deb over at the wordplay blog explains the pronunciation of jj putzAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-30386274527729472322014-02-04T18:54:13.486-05:002014-02-04T18:54:13.486-05:00As often happens, Steve J's impressions most c...As often happens, Steve J's impressions most closely approximate my own. It's rare that I enjoy a puzzle *less* than Rex, and I (incorrectly) anticipated this thing being BAH-lasted. On further review, it's not such a bad little puzzle, but what ugly fill. August Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09919963003128838777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88771207887411141582014-02-04T18:28:40.561-05:002014-02-04T18:28:40.561-05:00Challenging Tues for me b/c of all of the OOOOfy s...Challenging Tues for me b/c of all of the OOOOfy stuff in the NE pointed out already. I also had nyJET for EXJET. And BRaz for BROZ. Took a while to correct.<br /><br />Knew JJ PUTZ b/c he pitched for my NY Mets (poorly) for a year. So, he could have been clued as EX MET.<br /><br />@Ret Chem - Tito means "taco sandwich" in Croatian. ;)Rob Cnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-78441073609101074412014-02-04T17:49:44.261-05:002014-02-04T17:49:44.261-05:00@mohairsam: Wasn't intending to scold you wit...@mohairsam: Wasn't intending to scold you with my comment. Was intended more as a general remark.<br />@retired chemist: As far as I know, Tito didn't mean anything in particular. It was an alias BROZ used before he came into power, at a time when the communist party was illegal in his homeland, so that he could carry on his communist activities after having spent time as a political prisoner. The name stuck.<br />There are various theories as to why he chose the name as an alias, but no one seems to actually know.Benkonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-40504958843154926482014-02-04T17:27:13.089-05:002014-02-04T17:27:13.089-05:00Stalin's name at birth was Ioseb Besarionis dz...Stalin's name at birth was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin" rel="nofollow">Ioseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili (Wikipedia)</a>. Apparently it was the fashion for strongmen of that era to take an assumed surname. Somewhere I read it means "Steel." What does Tito's name mean?retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28520059525479605802014-02-04T17:22:39.556-05:002014-02-04T17:22:39.556-05:00http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Gastineau
I rem...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Gastineau<br /><br />I remember him as a JET, but also for his marriage to Brigitte Nielsen (can't explain why, exactly)JenCThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18290169184354765840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53332834151483719582014-02-04T17:20:33.674-05:002014-02-04T17:20:33.674-05:00@Numinous...No happy ending, sorry to say. Jack re...@Numinous...No happy ending, sorry to say. Jack really was a p/Putz, but noone knew. A little leverage goes a long way!Ludyjynnnoreply@blogger.com