Solving time: 39:31 (while puttering around sister's kitchen)
THEME: "Yule Laughs" - uh ... funny Xmas puns?
Great, easy puzzle. Can't write much because Amy's computer is crazy slow and temperamental and the cursor randomly disappears and reappears at arbirtrary places in the document. My time is totally inflated because I just poked at the puzzle, early in morning, half-heartedly hoping someone would come in and do it with me, or help me - which would give me the new solving experience that I could really use to spice up the blog. But no luck. Wife came out at about the 1/2 way mark and I asked if she wanted to do some of the puzzle and she said "no thanks." :(
I was proud of this puzzle, mostly because there were several guesses that were right (applet accepted the first version I submitted!). I had never heard of 74A: Dispatch boats (avisos) or 68D: Melodic pieces (ariosi) or 16D: Spiny cactus (cholla) or 48D: Italian tragic poet Vittorio (Al Fieri) or 96D: Kansas City suburb (Lenexa) ,but I got 'em all right. RESEAM, RETIES, REMARKET ... this would be the opposite of ODD JOBS. In fact, the mirror opposite - instead of adding -ER to the end of verbs to make improbable nouns, you add RE- to the beginning of words to create verbs of doing random things again. Me no like.
JESUS and the SON are here - as I suggested in yesterday's comments, the puzzle is getting pretty Churchy these past two days, what with all the THREE's in yesterday's puzzle (subliminal Trinity) and today's 1-2 Christ punch. See also REDCROSS in the middle of the puzzle! RED with the blood of Christ!? RED like REDCROSSE KNIGHT in Spenser's Faerie Queene, a Christian allegory?! I'm just askin'...
Must go eat eggs, drink coffee, what not. If I can figure out how to grab the puzzle image, load it to Flickr, and post it here, all without my sister's hamster-wheel-powered computer freezing or losing key information along the way, then I'll put the puzzle up like normal later in the day. Otherwise, enjoy this picture-free version of RPDTNYTCP. It's puritanical . . . for the Holidays!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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what number is this puzzle? The one in my paper is 1217
ReplyDelete1217 = the December 17th NYT crossword (scroll down or click the link in the "previous posts" sidebar). You're getting a sneak peek at next week's syndicated puzzle (the Sunday puzzle runs a week behind the NYT, dailies six weeks behind).
ReplyDelete1217 = the December 17th NYT crossword (scroll down or click the link in the "previous posts" sidebar). You're getting a sneak peek at next week's syndicated puzzle (the Sunday puzzle runs a week behind the NYT, dailies six weeks behind).
ReplyDeleteThere's also TRIUNE somewhere in the SW, clued as "Three-in-one," I think.
ReplyDeleteTitle "Yule Laugh" (singular), a pun.
ReplyDeleteWeird - when I saw "Yule Laugh" I did not think "You'll laugh" - I thought of the more Germanic / Middle English pronunciation of "laugh" - which gives you a vowel sound like the "o" in LOG and a guttural phlegm-clearing sound on the "gh" which is not a "G" sound, but closer to a "G" than an "F." And I thought "how weird to go Germanic for your pun (on YULE LOG)." And now I see ... the light (but not the light of the YULE LOG)
ReplyDeletescratch???? doremi???? splain please....I'm so confused.
ReplyDeleteSlang terms for money—do re mi as in "dough."
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I am the only one that knows Santa's reindeer is Donder, not Donner. That makes the clue to 112 across incorrect. It reminds me of another puzzle where the answer was Elvis Aaron Presley....his middle name was Aron. I guess Quigley is too young to appreciate these nuances.
ReplyDeleteI believe that both "Donner" and "Donder" are correct. Moore, who wrote the poem "A Visit From St Nick" used both names, changing them in different nineteenth century editions. One is Dutch for thunder, one is German for thunder. Moore also used multiple variations for Blixen.
ReplyDeletethank-you rex for always being here to help me!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Axel. I did not bother to post my solved puzzles during my Christmas vacation in Colorado. It won't happen again (until I go to Mexico in April).
ReplyDeleteRP
Red Cross, the organization, serves as a relief agency in times of emergency or cases of disasters, such as floods, providing such relief as food and shelter, thus "relief provider."
ReplyDelete