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SATURDAY, Jan. 12, 2008 - Frederick J. Healy (VIEW FROM CATANIA)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
THEME: Records (or, none)
Well, I oughta piss you guys off more often - yesterday was the highest single-day traffic this site has seen: over 10K visitors for the first time ever. I haven't had readers get riled up like that since the time I got into it with His Crossword Holiness back in September. Good times. . . I want to say publicly, as I said to Mike Nothnagel privately yesterday, that his puzzle deserved more attention to its good qualities, especially since, as I said early on in yesterday's commentary, the great bulk of it was Fantastic.
Today's puzzle is not as flashy as yeterday's, but it's a very solid and entertaining effort nonetheless, with lots of good compound phrases and a playful focus on the word "record" throughout four different clues in the puzzle. There were many potential toe-holds for aspiring late-week solvers - crossword common answers included ABIE (13D: Rose's beau on Broadway), AERIE (39A: High hideaway), FRI (53D: Many workers look forward to it: Abbr.), ETNA (48D: View from Catania -
PERFECT TEN is one cornerstone of the "Record" theme that runs throughout this puzzle. We also get
- 33A: Record holder (registrar)
- 45D: Record holder (hi fi), and
- 53A: Recording session starter (first take)
I especially like REGISTRAR, as it takes the meaning of "record" in a direction I wasn't expecting. Also, it gave me a great "AHA" moment, because I wanted the skater at 31D: 1987 world figure skating champion to be ORSER (and it is), but I was looking at a cross, then, that ended -TRAR, which seemed awfully strange... until the only word to fit the bill sprang up and smacked me in the face.
I just had POCONO / MTS in some puzzle or other, so POCONO was fresh in my mind. I guessed the MT part (28A: Touristy resort borough SE of Scranton, Pa.). This got me into the consonant-heavy center of the puzzle, where LT GOV. (23D: State second: Abbr.) crosses REALITY TV (37A: Much unscripted fare) in that final "V" (rare to see two final-V answers intersect at the "V" like that). Struggled mightily (well, somewhat) to get MD DEGREE, which is perfectly, craftily clued (40A: Acquisition before becoming a resident). I couldn't stop thinking GREEN CARD.I am going to guess that the toughest part of the puzzle for most people was the Far West, if only because a Lesser Nymph, the OREAD (26D: Mountain nymph), intersects a puzzle-worthy but not exactly household name in EDEL (34A: Writer of a five-volume Henry James biography).
The Scrooge- or Grinch-oriented nature of 32A: Christmas story bad guy (Herod) might have thrown some people too. This was certainly the thorniest part of the puzzle for me, but it wasn't that thorny, to be honest. This was the second-to-last section to fall - I did the puzzle in mostly a counterclockwise order, starting with PEABO (16A: Singer Bryson) in the NE and ending somewhere around ILLE (2D: River at Rennes) in the NW. Speaking of ILLE ... ??? That was the one truly mystifying answer today. Everything else was at least marginally familiar.Wrap-up:
- 15A: "Tom Jones" beat it for Best Picture of 1963 ("Cleopatra") - before my time. Did I ever tell you how I tried to study for the English Lit GREs, and I picked up "Tom Jones" (it's massive), read the first paragraph, thought "I can't read 700 pages of this right now," put it down ... and then that first paragraph ended up being on the test? It's true. Serendipity.
- 17A: Cocky competitors might take them on (all comers) - something about how this is phrased made it a gimme.
- 18A: Star Steeler Stautner (Ernie) - I did not know this, but I do know that ERNIE is a name one might actually have, unlike, say, [redacted]
- 20A: Beards (defies) - I was trying to think of another short word for "a female companion that makes you appear as if you are a heterosexual man."
- 42A: Fits behind the wheel? (road rage) - easy, but great. I have (mostly) learned to control mine, although people talking on hand-held cell phones while driving have been known to turn me feral.
- 56A: Sultana-stuffed treat (raisin pie) - once I remembered what a "sultana" was, this one was easy. RAISIN PIE sounds Awfully sweet.
- 1D: Plymouth Reliant, for one (K-car) - Familiar term, though I have No idea what it means. I'm guessing there's no relation to K-STAR (or KAY STARR, for that matter).
- 3D: Frames a collector might frame (cels) - animation cels. I'd love to have one of Lisa or Homer doing just about anything.
- 4D: "Citizen _____" (1992 autobiography) ("Koch") - I wanted "RUTH" ... but that was a movie about abortion with Laura Dern.
- 6D: Monkey (tamper) - I had TINKER
24D: Col. Potter on "M*A*S*H," to pals (Sherm) - killed me that I couldn't get this instantly. Could think only of "Henry," who was the colonel (Blake) who preceded Potter. HENRY POTTER also sounds a lot like the hero of the book I read every night with my daughter.
- 38D: Acknowledgment on a slip ("I goofed") - very nice. Knew it started with "I" and wanted "I OWE YOU."
- 46D: Designer Saab (Elie) - I know one ELIE. His name is Wiesel.
- 54D: Golfer Woosnam (Ian) - I know many IANs. This is not one of them. Luckily for me, I never saw this clue.
All best wishes for a happy weekend.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
The day's other crosswords:
- LAT 10:29 (C) - Robert H. Wolfe
- CS 4:11 (C) - Martin Ashwood-Smith, "Fare Weather" (a riddle)
- Newsday 22:56 (!?) (C) - Daniel Stark, Saturday Stumper - got most of it done quickly and then had a horrible, long free-fall in the generally S and SE portions of the puzzle. In the end, quite doable.
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48 comments:
took me forever - 45 minutes.
Had sit tight for let slide.
some answers were easy:
roadrage.
DIdn't know Herod but finally
worked it out.
Hated yesterday. liked today.
[Sharp] could also have been ACUTE, which I opted for first. Three AC*** options for a single clue? Astounding!
There's also ELIE Tahari, another fashion designer, but I suspect ELIE Saab is the bigger name since he accounts for 19 of the first 20 Google hits for Elie fashion. If you liked Halle Berry's Oscar dress several years back, you know Elie Saab's work.
I like the assorted nymph names that pop up in crosswords. OREAD has a common root with words like orogeny (mountain building). Naiads pertain to nymphs in running water (and the word does double duty with dragonfly nymphs). Dryads are wood nymphs.
I had a fun time with this, though I didn't zip through it. But there were enough toeholds to at least not have me staring at a blank grid &/or banging my head on the keyboard trying to knock some words into it (my usual Saturday-puzzle routine).
I got roadrage quickly, and felt very clever (when green card wouldn't fit) at confidently putting in workvisa. What a mess that made!!
Nadia was my first fill, in honor of our recently-passed German Shorthair who had big sad eyes and was a gymnast (for a dog)... thus her name. I'm glad it was correct.
I wanted sharp to be acute and it seemed like all was going well with that first ac... fooled me again!
Allcomers kept me stymied for a while since I was expecting the clue to hint at illegal birdfighting something. oh well.
and herod... he sat there unfinished too long even with three letters filled in, since grinch and scrooge didn't fit, and my mind would not get off fictional Xmas bad guys.
The RRR's wouldn't let go of ABC's, keeping that corner unfinishable until the end. I also wanted the citizen to be (Roy) Cohn.
I have the same clue-praises as Rex.
And enjoyed the food fight splat yesterday hahah!
I couldn't let go of RET for FRI or STRAY for STRAP ("She Boy"?!).
Beards=DEFIES was irksome; I'm a massive, lifelong bookworm and can't recall this verb. RRR!
:)
That Colonel Potter poster is priceless!! Did you make that up with Photoshop, Rex?
I got myself into trouble in so many places today that I won't even go into them except for HENRY Potter and this is not the first time I've done this.
Orange, I knew all the nymphs (or at least the ones in puzzles) but always forget which is which.
Your mention of orogeny now gives me a permanent fix on these as Naiad begins with the same two letters as natation and that leaves Dryad by default (I'm filing it under dry wood).
I'm getting to the point that simple memorization doesn't work, I need to put a handle on things.
Rex,
Loved the blurb for 18A.
Frank from yesterday,
I'm your father's age and there are people in puzzles that I only know from puzzles.
Some of the references go back to my parents and grandparents time.
Will,
The KCAR is not a cultural icon or historic vehicle. You can not watch one perform in an old movie.
I know KCAR because I drove one but it is a word that needs to die a crossword death.
I don't think it's in puzzles enough anymore for anyone under forty to know it.
anon 10:04,
"Bearding the lion" is biblical in origin and is still used today.
Bearding the lion
I mostly liked this puzzle, but had two issues.
First, I think I have made a mistake each of the past four days and in the Mid Atlantic area I stumbled on the Latin phrase (In my previous lives I was never a Roman...maybe a Gaul) and 31D was unknown to me. I tried acute for 43D so there is a blob of ink there and I thought the Biblical King (who died in like 4 BCE) was Harod, so I was slow there.
Second, The NE eluded me. PEABO (going to see if he/she has ever appeared) was unknown. Actually, I guess it is a he, but what would the feminine form of Peabo be? Rose and Abie who? If you have toes can you be webbed? DRAT.
Ok, I need to remember EDEL and OREAD and think EFILE will come again but liked the cross with old technology HIFI. MDDEGREE was good and laughed at LTGOV.
Rex, too funny about Tom Jones--I took a British novel class in college, wherein we read 15 19th-century British novels. I hated Tom Jones So much. I literally got chills at the thought of a 5-volume biography of Henry Fielding.
Did anyone see Dilbert today?!
Kathy
PEABO is making his fifth appearance, so we better get used to that name. I haven't decided among Peaboette, Peaba and Pebenne for the feminine version.
I read the K-Car comments and just remembered that the joke was that Chrysler was being sued for false advertising on the K-Car because of the misrepresentation in the second part of the name.
On 49D, I think more of the 'all hands on deck' being a call by the Ensign or perhaps the Admiral...I know the phrase 'I am Captain of my ship', but does a Destroyer have a Capitan these days?
Two Saturdays in a row have made me feel Ken Jennings-like! Peabo and Ernie along with Kcar and Edel and Lani and Ian gave me a nice entree into varied geography. God, sometimes it's good to be old! I always "oro" that there's a Latin phrase or two to justify those four years of wading through Cicero and Vergil.
Why does it seem Saturdays have been far easier lately? Must be the PNW rainy weather.
Good puzzle but I liked yesterday's better because I got it all then, even "beak" (nut cracker).
However, today I began with "jump start", which soon was corrected with "cels and "koch" -- so that left me with "jack start". Lived near Rennes one summer, but that river was not very memorable, and who knew from J cars or "K cars"? Oh well, kudos to those able to figure everything out.
Hope we don't see "Peabo" again. Egads.
Lots of nice traps that can take you in many directions like 32, 40 and 42 across.
Haven't seen this many Ps in a while. The SPs : speedos, spew, spoiled , splat - just splendid.
p.s. I especially liked the clue "beards" (20A) -- wanted Decoys, but that just wouldn't fit!
p.p.s Thanks to Rick for the note about "mens rea" late yesterday!
Why the photo from "The Office"?
I was so happy to remember PEEBO (sic) Bryson from some long-ago Oscars show, and how nicely that name crossed with "Levi" Guinier and "Ervie" Stautner. (12D, 16A, 18A.)
Turn off the computer and enjoy the rest of the day.
I agree with you about Cyndi Lauper, Rex. It's funny, considering all the songs that came out of SHE'S SO UNUSUAL, my favorite on that album was never released as a single: her KILLER version of Prince's "When U Were Mine." (Cyndi also contributed essential vocals to the 2006 song "Beecharmer" by Nellie McKay, if anyone cares.)
You know, I got LTGOV but couldn't figure out what the heck it meant until I came here. Thanks, Rex!
I also had DRYAD in place of OREAD for the longest time.
Pennsylvanians (or spouses of Pennsylvanians, in my case) once again have a leg up, thanks to MTPOCONO.
RAISINPIE was new to me, but it sure sounds tasty!
Today was a bit challenging but quite enjoyable. Time to hit the Sunday puzzle!
p.p.p.s. What kinds of hirsute beards are there besides Van Dykes?
This morning my daughter was reading the funnies, and we asked her which strips she liked best. She went through the full two pages of comics, and she failed to name only two strips: "Dilbert" and "Gil Thorp." After we stopped laughing, my wife and I thought that perhaps the two strips should merge to become "Gilbert" or "Dil Thorp." I think I'm going to try swapping their dialogue someday, using Photoshop, and see what happens. My hypothesis: some kind of strange alchemy where Funny is made to emerge out of non-funny.
rp
PS "The Office" is set in "Scranton, Pa."
OK, I was SURE that someone else was going to have the same problem I had which totally threw me...
"Acquisition before becoming a resident" - I had filled in a couple of letter after knowing "Sherm" and finishing the SW corner, so I had:
M _ _ _ G _ _ _
and I guess "MORTGAGE"
Did no one else make this erroneous leap? :-)
Otherwise I enjoyed the puzzle very much, and agree with Rex's assessment on the level of difficulty!
Would have finished a lot sooner without the "mortgage" error!
Talk soon, all!
Greg
Had IDLED for CEDED and NAIAD (Similar to nadia) for OREAD; this gave me SINKER and KILLERBALL which seemed quite reasonable at the time.
Had an impossible (for me) crossing at PEABO x LANI (never heard of either).
I,too, had ACUTE and IOWEYOU.
Can't win 'em all!
I confidently put in Spitz for 29-down and Seven Golds for 11-down. Wrong year (1972, not 76), but it fit in really well with Speedos, I thought.
Hi All:
I think the K CAR is something of a cultural hallmark kinda like the Pinto was.
True, K-cars were crap, and I'd bet dollar to donut that none are still driving today -- at least not on their original 4-cylinder engines.
Yet K-cars, as far as I can recall, are one of the reasons Chrysler is still around -- even if the K-car isn't. (Well, that and Lee Iacocca).
And speaking of the 80's -- wasn't SHE BOP a song about masturbation? Guess breakfast is served later on weekends...
Pen Girl :)
Orange,
Elie Saab and the Oscars has been in the news recently. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (how else do you stay up on latest in popular culture?), they discuss the possibility of the Oscars being cancelled, and point out that it could affect even unknowns. They specifically use the example of the career break that Elie Saab got for doing Halle Berry's dress.
Rex,
As always, thanks for finding the hidden 'theme.'
I grimaced when I figured out RAISIN PIE -- sounds about as scary as tapioca pudding. Gack!
Can't wait to read the inagural DIL THORPE strip. Go Rex!
The clue "web sites" made my day -- reminded me of that hilarious underwater video clip of a diving duck's feet, linked on this site awhile back.
RRRockrabbit
Good puzzle, definitley not Easy for me. I had problems in a couple of spots:
I had LETalone in LETSLIDE's spot. Unfortunately, I let it alone, and coupled with my mistrust in MTPOCONO, I never did get the SPEEDOS and DEFIES bit.
Also, tried out mmmBOP in SHEBOP's spot. Perhaps "Mmm-bop" was the one done by the Hanson Sodas? But SHE eventually popped out, much like Cyndi's voice took off over the all-star throng on "We Are The World".
Captain - quit sitting on your hands and do something!
PEABO Bryson had some sappy romantic hits in the '80s—there's "If Ever You're in My Arms Again," and a duet with Roberta Flack, "Tonight I Celebrate My Love." And also his duet with Regina Belle, "A Whole New World," from the Aladdin soundtrack.
Look, no "Copacabana" this time!
Now I know the accurate meaning of 'bearding the lion' after years of thinking it was more related to confusion or deception. DEFIES worked just well enough to make the entry based on my misunderstanding, but it was yet another instance of seeing how common phrases often have quite different meanings among people who probably consider their unique interpretation to be universal.
I KICKSTARTed this puzzle much more quickly than a typical Saturday puzzle -- so rare that I've filled in the entire NW corner before even glancing at any of the other clues. Toughest area was the center, having Curling thoughts centered on stones sliding along the ice and refinement having something to do with finishing school.
Along with with KICKSTART, WIELD, INDICATED, DIP IN, AS NEAR, TAMPER, LET SLIDE, FIRST TAKE and I GOOFED, it seemed like many of the answers were offering a running commentary about the solving process. Spookily clever, whether this was the intent, or not. Maybe not quite the virtuoso construction of yesterday's gem, but this was a subtly appealing effort, with continuously rising appreciation for the constructor's art.
To Greg 12:43: No, you are not alone. I also initially made the 40A erroneous leap to "mortgage" for MDDEGREE.
--embarassed doc
Since Elie Saab is Lebanese and intersects with Pilaf, the SW corner created a middle eastern theme for me. This notion threw me off when it came to the Sultana treat, as I kept trying to think of some wonderful middle eastern pastry with raisins. The raisin pie did not seem nearly as appetizing, and I wished for it to go Splat in the NEastern food fight...
Rex, I like the two sides of you that we saw yesterday-- annoyed and frustrated-- which gives you the edginess to solve quickly and comment pointedly, yet humorous and forgiving (after a certain refractory period) which makes your blog so clever and entertaining.
Goodway to remember oread. The cookie oreo is named for this.
Enjoyable even if not up to yesterday's. This was relatively easy for me also. I circled the second E in EDEL because I wasn't sure if the nymph was spelled with an I or and E. Nice to guess right. I also had LETALONE for while and TAPIN initially for 27d. I needed my bride for spelling help on POCONO (not sure if there was an A in it at the latin crossing.) With only the M in SHERM, my first entry for 40a was MOTELKEY. I guess yesterday's BEAK/BEAN discussion had me thinking more out of the box.
re: hands and CAPT, I believe the person in command of a ship is always refered to as CAPTAIN no matter what his/her rank.
LTGOV was the first answer I filled in. The terminal V was confirmed, I thought, by the "unscripted fare" clue that clearly pointed to "improv." The M from improv led to 38D appearing to be "my fault," confirmed (I thought) when the terminal "u" on 52A pointed to "pilau." Eventually I erased everything except LTGOV and had much better luck. Did have to Google for the Cyndi Lauper hit; pop culture clues, whether contemporary or 1970-2000, do for me what opera clues do for Rex.
Love this site, have read it for weeks but my first time to post. Took me an hour and nine minutes to solve, with no Google, though some of that was wandering around an upscale Mobil-on-the-go microwaving snacks.
53A, I got the KE so wanted STARTMIKE or anything mike before I got firsttake, and now "Take Five" is going through my head. Acrid I started as acute, defies came in just by the crosses as "fag hags" would not fit. (That's a good-humored term, not a slur.) Scorer I started as weaver. rayed as radii , and "as near" as nearer.
Kicked myself for not getting "Citizen Koch" right away, as I read that book and loved it, especially his dismissal of Albany as a city without a good Chinese restaurant. Isn't he the guy who described upstate New Yorkers as people who drove twenty miles in a pickup truck to buy a Sears Roebuck suit and a gingham dress?
23D LTGOV was easy for me as in my moonlighting job in retail, I just waited on a senior citizen guy whose credit card said Stan Lundine, and I said, "Hey, didn't you used to be LTGOV?" (He did, under Cuomo.)
Say, to artlver or whoever else here is from Albany, thanks for sharing that the snowstorm a week ago kept all NYTs from reaching Albany - I had looked in multiple stores and wondered why I never found any.
My other favorite site, AlbanyGasPrices.com, has a poster named peabo john whom I always mistakenly address as peabrain john. I had no idea Peabo was a real name.
@John in Albany -- re dearth of NYT in the snowstorm, a nice clerk in Colson's on Rte. 9 in Latham popped up as I looked at the void where the newspaper stack should have been, and cautioned me not to go looking in other stores, before I'd even asked!
If you thought Koch was dismissive of upstate New Yorkers, read Gore Vidal's "Burr" as I am now, though it came out in 1973. Can't wait to find out if the rumor that Martin van Buren was Aaron Burr's bastard son had any legs to stand on, etc. Great satire, anyway, and full of meaty words for puzzle-making!
I just live for Friday and Saturday owing to the puzzles with oomph and challenge and aha kind of moments.May even jar loose to join the gang in Brooklyn as do want to meet others with such an esoteric hobby.
RE: Cyndi Lauper
"When you were mine" is my favorite with "Money Changes Everything" a close second
We snuck in to see Tom Jones when I was a tween.
This puzzle was like a trip down memory lane KCARS, Cleopatra, Speedos and the aforementioned T. Jones
Fun time except for Henry (sic) Potter
managed to get "raisin pie" off of just the _AISINPIE.
I know the KCAR from the modern pop reference 'If I Had a Million Dollars' by the Barenaked Ladies:
"If I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a K-Car
A nice Reliant automobile"
For some reason I always thought they were singing about the Yugoslavian car, not a Chrysler.
Put me in the MORTGAGE camp, also the PEABO/LANI pen. I also tried basketball and volleyball. Given where I live, CAPE COD took me too long. And I really wanted HOUSE to be the curling site.
Joaneee, I'm glad I wasn't the only one to put in SPITZ and SEVEN GOLDS. I was momentarily so proud of myself. Sigh...
Finished today with two errors. I guessed LENI/PEEBO instead of LANI/PEABO as those were complete guesses for me. (Of course, now after reading Orange's comments on Peabo Bryson above, I realize that I heard him interviewed on the Tavis Smiley Show a few months ago.) My other error was SHE BOY/STRAY. I just had no clue on the Cyndi Lauper song despite growing up through the 80's, but I still should have realized that STRAP was much better than STRAY.
LANI was a gimme for me only because she came up in a weekend puzzle sometime last summer (?) and Rex went into some detail about her being in the running for Janet Reno's job in the Clinton admnistration. I think she got caught in the nannygate fiasco? Anyway, that was enough to make her stick in memory.
Just posting for the fun of it because it's Sunday afternoon and nobody is likely to read this.
Back after a week in Vegas and I dove right into Saturday's puzzle. Even though it took me a couple hours in total to solve it (over many sittings), I thought it was fairly easy. I just have to get better at pulling the information that I know I know from the depths of my memory banks.
Mostly the SE was my downfall as ACUTE stood until the very end, when somehow, even with the U there, I got FIRST TAKE. Then it fell. I loved Anonymous' comment about how he got RAISIN PIE.
I also thought of something other than medical related for the [...resident] clue but when green card didn't fit, I went with MD DEGREE.
I also didn't realize that CLEOPATRA as a movie was considered Oscar-worthy.
BTW, I love coming to this blog because everyone has good spelling and grammar. Have you ever read those comments on YouTube? Just scary.
whoever anonymous 7:17 pm is, I just laughed out loud for a full 20 seconds. I got it off of RAISIN_I_.
who is the hot chick in the pink shirt?
I prefer M*A*S*H with Lt. Col. Henry Blake, Trapper John & Major Frank Burns! Hawkeye always gave Major Burns a hard time! That was the funniest cast ever assembled.
I would be interested in reading comments on the analogy below:
stray/sheboy:bean/ason::strap/shebop:beak/asok
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