.png)
SATURDAY May 2 2009 - P Collins (Walrus-skin boats / 1847 novel involving mutiny / Family in Upton Sinclairs Oil! / Manx relative)
Friday, May 1, 2009
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: TRIPLE CROWN (23A: It comprises the 10-Down, 34-Across and a third part found elsewhere in the grid) - 10D = BELMONT, 34A = PREAKNESS, and "elsewhere in the grid" (running diagonally from the NW to the SE corner) = KENTUCKY DERBY
Bonus theme answers at 48A: One that bets are on (The Favorite) and 39D: One with a stake in 48-Across, say (breeder)
Word of the Day: CANONRY - n., pl. -ries.
- The office or dignity of a canon.
- Canons considered as a group.
This one was so much easier than yesterday's puzzle that the only reason for the discrepancy must be the fact that this puzzle was timed to come out on Derby Day. The only parts of the puzzle that caused me any hesitation were the NE and SW corners. In the NE, couldn't remember the last letter of LPN (18A: I.C.U. figure) and CANONRY (12D: Church office) is a word I've never seen. In the SW, I had FAN FAVORITE instead of THE FAVORITE, with resulting chaos. Also had TOE where EAR belonged (63A: Tarsus : foot :: incus : _____). Couldn't place the Shakespeare quotation, and had something -IO and then OTHELLO in there before OPHELIA came to mind (38D: "O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!" speaker, in Shakespeare). Not familiar with REES (53A: Roger of stage and screen), though "ANNIE" was a piece of cake (29A: Musical with the song "It's the Hard-Knock Life").[The following rap video (Jay-Z's "Annie"-related breakout hit from 1998) features profanity, so if that kind of stuff bothers you, Don't Press Play]
Lots of literariness today - quotiness in particular. On top of the OPHELIA quote, we've got a Keats quote (21D: Withhold no atom's atom _____ die": Keats => "OR I"), and then a reference to the lyrics of a Springsteen song (4D: One of two cars besides a Cadellac named in Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac" => SUBARU) - had the terminal "U" i place when I read the clue to that last one, so even if I hadn't known the song (which I did), it was no problem. The other car? A HONDA.
The most obscure literature clue of the day was 44D: Family in Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" (Rosses) - wanted EWINGS, but that's another piece of "literature" entirely.
Things I didn't know included 57A: _____ the Stockbroker on "The Howard Stern Show" (Sal), 50D: Denver's _____ University (Regis), and 23D: The Little Flower of Jesus (Theresa). Oh, and of course the aforementioned CANONRY. RAINER I pulled out of my xword bag of tricks (28A: Best Actress winner for "The Great Ziegfeld," 1936) ... or my xword Chest of TOYS, whichever metaphor you prefer (62A: Chest contents).
Bullets:
- 1A: Grunt site (sty) - wrote it in immediately. Then wrote in YARN immediately (3D: Ball material). This is when I knew something was off with the puzzle. The whole NW went down in flames in about 15 seconds. Even OKRA came easily (13A: Vegetable sometimes grown as a flower).
14A: Walrus-skin boats (umiaks) - blew my mind when I first saw it, and now I think of it is ordinary (even though this is probably only the fourth or fifth time I've ever seen it in a grid).- 17A: Mafia runners (bag men) - great phrase! I imagine the BAG MEN making their getaway in UMIAKS.
- 37A: Bit of autumn decoration (cob) - I really don't like this word. All -OB words are iffy, but this one puts me off the most. No idea why. Maybe it's just the shape and look of a corn COB. I love sweet corn, but if I had to look at a COB as a "decoration," I think I'd vomit. Or redecorate. That's probably easier.
- 21A: 1847 novel involving a mutiny ("OMOO") - seriously, on Saturday?
- 24D: Manx relative (Erse) - ditto
- 7D: Actress Veronica of "Hill Street Blues" (Hamel) - forgot her name, but it came back.
- 47D: Public transportation to New York's Yankee Stadium (D Train) - Oh, New York's Yankee Stadium. Thanks for clarifying. I might have confused it with New Delhi's Yankee Stadium.
- 30D: Quote the raven? (caw) - awesome. Easy, but awesome.
- 31D: River to the Volga (Oka) - where they eat much OKRA. I assume.
- 15D: Spain's Victoria Eugenia, familiarly (Ena) - more common crosswordy stuff.
- 2D: Subject of Article III Section 3 of the Constitution (treason) - I wish I could say I knew this right off.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Save And Share :
59 comments:
Waited for hours for Rex's post...a leetle insomniac.
I too found it easy for a Saturday; never got the Kentucky Derby reference, but got triple crown really early. Guessed at OMOO with no crosses.
I was fooled into thinking this was going to be a swine-flu-themed puzzle, what with STY and MOOSHU. But no.
Wow, almost an identical solving experience for me, right down to my one write-over, OPHELIA on top of OTHELLO. My first entry was SUBARU, which gave me MOOSHU and the rest of the North fell awfully quickly.
Defintely one of my fastest Saturdays. My only hesitation was looking for RUN FOR THE ROSES somewhere in the grid before finding the diagonal. I'm glad Joon weighed in yesterday to say that he had constructed it for a Saturday. With the Derby Day theme, the flip-flop in difficulty made a lot more sense to me. Tomorrow's puzzle is a C-Mad creation and at first glance it looks like fun.
Easy Peasy today. Took too long to see the theme, considering Im in Louisville KY, a block from Churchill Downs!!!
What a breeze today!!! Got the theme right away and was finished before the blog was up.
Better go make the mint julips!! Mac, if you need any mint I have tons already up!!
Re: tomorrow's puzzle constructor:
For the record, Caleb Madison's official crossword street name is RECARVE, after the worst thing he ever put in a puzzle. Well, it's not "official," but I'm working on it.
C-Mad is good too, though.
Back to Saturday puzzle.
rp
I appreciated the horse racing theme on Kentucky Derby day, even if it resulted in an easier than normal Saturday puzzle. Even though horse racing in a dying industry in the US, I have followed racing since I was old enough to drive to Longacres race track and place my first bet. I think solving crossword puzzles and handicapping race horses are excellent mind games, and along with playing bridge are the three favorite mental activities that I enjoy. Good luck to I Want Revenge and Dunkirk in the Derby.
I Want Revenge was scratched.
Started with NERF for ball material. The "R" was right so I got PIER and off to the races.
SIGEP? or is that SIG EP? Really?
No complaints about this puzzle. And I even saw the diagonal.
Rex, your comments about decoration with COB made me laugh. My dad had come to stay with us for an extended visit and he had never been in the US except in summertime. It was fall and he woke one morning, stepped out to get the paper, and came back looking very puzzled: "I don't understand" he said. "You have weird-looking vegetables all over your front porch!" I had done my "fall decoration" and there were several pumpkins, and a few COBS... It put it in perspective : )
Easiest Saturday ever...didn't even fall into OTHELLO/OPHELIA trap. But I didn't know RAINER, so that made ERSE difficult.
Nowhere NEAR as challenging as Joon’s awesome Friday one. Easy does it. Did it in 18:30 – STILL haven’t broken 15 minutes for Fri or Sat. Nice theme – which I got quickly because the news programs Friday evening were abuzz with the Kentucky Derby running today. BELMONT (10D) and PREAKNESS (34A) were thus gimmes once I got 23A, and that helped enormously. I could have helped myself even more by finding KENTUCKY DERBY (the main diagonal) but I didn’t until I had the grid completely filled. It would be fascinating if there were a horse race in some country (obviously not Anglophone) called EIDSAEW KARCOLNC, corresponding to the minor diagonal.
Bonus (unused) horse race clue: 37A – It’s no racehorse (COB). That’s a short-legged, stocky quadruped. Frequently refers to a horse, but we use the same term for such dogs.
Concentrated early on the upper Midwest for no good reason. Slowed myself by thinking the fraternity of 6D (?I?E? at the time) was PIKES (cf. πKA) instead of Sig Ep. Good (albeit wrong) choice. LOTS of famous Pikes - Tim McGraw, Ted Koppel, Harland Sanders (of KFC fame), Everett Dirksen, John Nance Garner (who said his job, US VP, wasn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit), Charlie Crist, AND –
TADA! - one Will Shortz.
Strom Thurmond and Karl Rove too; win some, lose some.
Sig Ep claims Dr. Seuss, James Naismith (inventor of basketball, apt at NBA playoff time), Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, John Goodman, Carroll O’Connor, and Andy Richter.
One nice learning experience – CANONRY (12D). RAINER (28A), REES (53A), well, OK. I won’t remember them. Nice to know OKRA is a flower. One big ??? – the Little Flower of Jesus, a/c to Wikipedia, is Thérèse of Lisieux, not THERESA, but I’m d**ned if I will make 48A THE FEVORITE just to make Wikipedia happy. Actually Wikipedia kinda lumps the variants of the name, so I guess THERESA is an acceptable Anglicization.
Overall a fun solve, but not a lot of pizzazz to most of the fill. Some head-scratchers, no serious posers - although AMATI (5D)/UMIAKS (14A) would be a bit Naticky to those who aren’t fluent in crosswordese.
Friday's? - all day
Saturday's? - 20 minutes
Must be Benjamin Button Week
Oh, and I was in "Sig Ep" {Sigma Phi Epsilon}, before they kicked me out...
Sig Ep. Sigma Phi Epsilon. I was so excited to see my fraternity get a little crossword puzzle play. For the record, Sig Ep is the largest national fraternity.
@ foodie - Once, a Japanese post-doc working with me and his wife came for dinner in late October. The kids were small and we had traditional Halloween decorations up, including a skeleton on the door. I didn't know why they seemed so ill at ease, until this totally polite man (who had never head of Halloween) said, about an hour after they came and with an anxious look on his face, "Sorry to ask, but why do you have a skeleton on your door?"
Easy, easy, but fun puzzle. Got the theme right away, even St. Therese. The only challenge was the actress--wanted Gainer, but that didn't make sense with EGSE. I liked looking for the Kentucky Derby, and like HH tried to find Run for the Roses, instead.
I don't know if it was intentional, but the Friday/Saturday swap makes sense now.
Malleus, incus, and stapes (hammer, anvil, stirrup) are the three bones of the middle ear. Although anvils are slightly connected to horses through horseshoes, the stapes would have fit better with the theme (and probably not made the clue any harder).
Looking back at just the theme answers and the kentucky derby words, the only one that seems forced is D TRAIN--not much you can do with a DT* start. And bravo to CATSEYE, for crossing four of the theme entries!
@Rex: Of all the letters not to remember in LPN, N shouldn't be the one to trip you up. Both RNs and LPNs are nurses: Licensed Practical Nurse and Registered Nurse.
This puzzle was way easier than yesterday. There was so much straightforward, -- I almost want to say lazy -- cluing that it really didn't feel like a Saturday NYT to me at all.
- Pete M
Thank Heavens for a mis-spent youth and time studying form sheets. The theme is very clever, the puzzle was fun to do, but easier by half than yesterday's test. A Saturday with no googles or errors in 35 minutes will be a one-off, I'll wager. Thanks for a well crafted puzzle PC.
Turner Classic Movies shows the ROSSES' movie quite frequently -- with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.
It's kind of nice to have a theme related to an event -- but, I agree, kind of easy Saturday.
@foodie and @retired_chemist: I think pumpkins are puzzling to people in the alternative hemisphere. We made a pumpkin pie to bring to a dinner party in France and the hosts ate it politely but were clearly bemused, asking at what point in the meal it should be served. When buying it, we were advised to cook it with garlic.
The fastest Saturday of all time for me after yesterday's debacle. Should have put IDIOTOCRACY!
What a confidence booster this morning! Good timing, since I was beaten up yesterday.
I had some of the same hold-ups: toe, couldn't get Ewings out of my head, Garner, and that area was even harder because our current house guest is a manx (cat) so I was looking for a breed of feline, and "stint on" for 1 down. Thank you, thank you, Rex for pointing out the diagonal "Kentucky Derby"....
@chef bea: when I started the puzzle a bunch of mint was steeping in the hot simple syrup!
We're having a little party this evening.
Like Rex, I built the entire NW in a hot New York minute and asked myself rhetorically "Where is my Saturday puzzle?". As I swept across the North, the downs produced TRIPLECROWN and I accepted what must have happened and cut thru this Thursdayish puzzle like a knife through warm butter, to coin a phrase.
No real problems and I found the hidden answer when I finished the puzzle by "K hunting" and running the diagonals.
My only stumble was that it took longer than it should have to find the KENTUCKYDERBY. I was looking just for derby in the acrosses and downs and thought I saw the DER in BREEDER. Thought the BY might be nearby...
Missed the diagonal, but otherwise my solving experience was similar to others. I understand now why yesterday's puzzle was so Saturday-ish, but couldn't Will have postponed it until next Saturday?
I also started off with YARN and STY right away. When I got TRIPLE CROWN, I know I was off the races and finished filling in 10D, 34A, and the main diagonal. It's always the main diagonal! That's where you always have to look for a long thing hidden in the grid. As a mathematician, I always like these clever themed Saturdays, and it was my second-fastest Saturday time ever!
This must have been a somewhat difficult puzzle to construct, so kudos to P.Collins for that. Not so difficult to solve, though. I pretty much breezed through it, but don't think I would ever have see KENTUCKY DERBY in the diagonal had I not come here.
This was too easy for a Saturday. I understand that it's the Kentucky Derby today, but only Kentucky(ans? ites?) and degenerate gamblers care about that. Horse racing is cruel, boring, and has an overblown reputation and shouldn't be commemorated with a Thursday-level Saturday puzzle about horsies running in a circle.
My fastest Saturday ever, too.
For people who have trouble remembering Luise Rainer--she's best known for winning two Oscars back-to-back and then disappearing from public view, more or less. At least that's the factoid by which I remember her, not by her birthplace, Düsseldorf (which I learned only 5 minutes ago).
There is an interesting interview with the constructor at (let's just say) one of the other blogs.
Great puzzle Mr. Collins.
Just what I wanted. Horses, South Seas,and BAG MEN (pursued by a TMAN.) Mint Juleps to follow.
From OMOO:
"Murder and mutiny, by the salt sea!"
Avast!
@hereinfranklin
Solidarity on the RAINER/ERSE crossing!
I care about horse racing even less than baseball (Solidarity, Chris! tho I wasn't really feeling militant about it myself), so when I saw TRIP my mind went to triple play or something. I confidently wrote in "basetag" for BELMONT, then figured it must somehow be "basehit". Then a vague memory of race hype made the theme click and it was off to the races! I never saw KENTUCKYDERBY because I thought BREEDER was shorthand for The Breeder's Cup (there's one of those, right?) and might as well have been part of the TRIPLECROWN.
Fun puzzle. My favorite clue/answer: Ball of fire/DYNAMO
Having a theme made this Saturday puzzle easier than usual- but this was clever and fun to do.
I was going thrrough this an I realized there was a theme when I got The Favorite and Breeder. Then when Belmont & Preakness were filled in I knew Kentucky had to be somewhere.
When I was a in my late teens I worked at Belmont as a groom and hot walker and I was very into racing history. Several months ago there was a triple crown theme in the diagramless puzzle and I breezed through that one.
I also agree that CANONRY is the word of the day.
Yesterday I saw the movie Return to Sleepaway Camp, which is the Sequel to Sleepaway Camp. I mention this because Vincent Pastore of the Sopranos was the Camp Director and mafia runners were in todays puzzle.
Staying with the movie theme, yesterday Turner Classic was showing horse racing movies all day. The first being Sporting Life, with a nonmoustasched Gable, and the last being Glory with Walter Brennan. Brennan played an old guy from the time he was in his thirties. "Ever get stung by a dead bee??"
Suddenly, Preakness just jumped right out at me, and it was off to the races. B+ for construction, E for easy.
One person who definitely did not do this puzzle is Sal the Stockbroker. Any Stern fan understands the financial crisis better, due to Sal's previous occupation.
@hereinfranklin & treedweller: I think that cross is best left in Natick.
This goes in the category of "Saturdays that aren't really Saturdays," but I'm going to count it as a completed Saturday anyway, because that's how I roll.
'Twas fun. The theme showed up early for me. And my theater/movie knowledge really helped with OPHELIA, ANNIE, RANIER, REES, HAMEL. Threw in REGIS off just the E and the I. Total guess. Also threw in _TRAIN early and just waited for the first letter to reveal itself. Agree with treedweller: DYNAMO had a great clue.
My only quibble would be the THE in THEFAVORITE. I generally don't like THEs attached to my fill.
Rex is right: this was a Friday puzzle, and yesterday was a Saturday. What a pleasure!
Way too much drabness in this one, though the Kentucky Derby is something to get stoked about.
Little mistakes were TRAINER for BREEDER and DEAD-EYE as another Shooter.
I questioned SUBARU since I didn't think they were in the US at the time of "Pink Cadillac." I'm wrong, of course.
If you want a real puzzler, try playing the Trifecta today!
Fun, easy puzzle, and I greatly admire the technical skill of a diagonal answer. I caught on to the diagonal early enough to help me fill in 47 D, _TRAIN.
One clue that really made me laugh was 10 A, Pen name - BIC! On a Saturday I looked at that clue and ran through all the possibilities of literary pseudonyms, penitentiary nicknames, swine-related synonyms, whatever, just to get . . . the name of a pen!
I very much enjoyed this puzzle which was a welcomed relief after yesterdays beating. Following my husband to many tracks here and in Europe made this a fun little ride down memory lane. I don't know how difficult it would be, but it would have been very cool if Kentucky Derby ran in kind of an oval.
Only write over was LETS ON instead of owns up.
@Chefwen
Love the oval idea! Missed the diagonal myself till I came here...
but it is so funny that no matter what feat of construction someone pulls off, someone wants something even harder!
Seemed more Wed in solve, but Sunday in construction, whatever that means!
It wouldn't make sense to have a Saturday cluing difficulty level if you have a theme...
I think Will should have put it even earlier in the week so that Sun-Th theme-only solvers could have had a chance to do Peter A. Collins' clever puzzle...but it's nice when it's on the day.
I originally put in 42D XBOX360 wondering how he was going to pull off the number crossings! That would be a cool idea for a puzzle.
Anyone?
Oh, and what is SXS admin? Is that a computer term?
No discussion that 64A Admits could be LETSON or LETSIN?
I also had RAINES/CANONSY! Isn't there an actress named RAINES? Maybe that nurse Ratched. Or maybe I'm thinking Casablanca's Claude Raines. Or is that Rains?
Hey REINS! That could be another clue to the theme.
@chris
glad you brought that up...my feelings exactly...
tho in the animal abuse arena, horseracing seems a lot less awful than greyhound racing, bull fighting, dog/cockfights... even circuses...we really are a cruel race in general.
@Rex
LOL re: Cob redecoration choice.
(Tho technically it might be easier to throw up!)
(And I mean that in a non-bulimic sort of way!)
Lest I confused anyone:
Ziegfeld actress: Louise RAINER
One Flew... : Louise Fletcher
Casablanca guy: Claude RAINS
Meathead: Rob REINER
@Fergus
You now have your days-ago requested LA write-up posted below
@ ACME - it's SYS (short for SYSTEM) because 42D is GAMEBOY,not GAMEBOX.
@acm
Unless it was a rhetorical question, it's gameboY crossing sYs [admin], system administrator, for computer systems.
.../Glitch
Upton Sinclair's "Oil" was recently pulled from obscurity with the appearance of the film "There Will Be Blood", which was loosely based on the novel. However, in the film the family name was changed from Ross to Plainview.
dang, not fast enough ;)
.../Glitch
Sometimes I think Rex is inside my head. I suppose that's why I love this blog so much.
@Andrea Carla Michaels ... As I was racing through this "Saturday" puzzle I was thinking what a perfect Wednesday this is!
@Allan ... PREAKNESS was my first clue, too, which got me off to the races.
I did not see the diagonal KENTUCKYDERBY until coming here.
@Rex, I can't help calling C-Mad something with "Prince" in it due to your "Kingness." I'm thinking he's the Mad Prince.
Peter A. Collins thanks for a really fun & EASY Saturday. Such a pleasant surprise.
I get a real kick out of seeing stream of consciousness comments. It reminds me of when I was in 5th grrade and had to read Kim by Rudyard Kipling, or scarier still, when I was in college and had to read James Joyce. OMG - ULYSSES!!!
My experience was pretty much Rex's. I needed some help from our house guest on the RAINER/CANONRY cross but other than that and easy solve.
As far as cob goes, I was thinking it was a "bit" of "cob-web", you know, for that autumn holiday Halloween? Anyway, thought that might erase the corn on the cob image you had in your head.
And just to be contrary (not canonry), the folks at work today had a bit of a tough time with this one, even though we've eaten through tougher ones with ease. We didn't solve the keystone until the end and that may have had something to do with it.
Also: odist??? Sheesh.
@alanrichard--speaking of stream of consciousness and the events of one day...I'm just reading Virginial Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway".
Mine That Bird wins...not in the puzzle
Wow! For me, toughest Friday, easiest Saturday, back-to-back. Finished both unscathed; likely a first on consecutive Fri/Sat's. Hat's off to the both constructors. Especially liked the K.D. diagonal!
Tigger
Liked this puzzle a lot and redeemed myself after the Friday disaster (the first puzzle for ages that I could not finish, even with googling).
Very well done constructionwise, good clues and answers.
Kathy D.
This blog is becoming less fun to read, mostly because of the negativity of the host. A little snarkiness can be fun, but yesterday and today...downright grumpy and mean. It seems curmudgeonly and often smacks of sour grapes. And come on, this puzzle was NOT all THAT easy. What gives? Only people in syndication will likely read this, but what do you few think? The complaining really should be toned down IMHO.
Just a few examples: Pangrams don't impress. Puns are foul. Hidden diagonal answers boring. Puzzles too "easy"--I solve many Saturdays with no errors, but because I'm not into horseracing, BELMONT and PREAKNESS were foreign to me. I could complain about the ugliness of PREAKNESS, for example. But no, anything ending in -OB is ugly? Lighten up!
The positive comments by so many readers about yesterday's and today's puzzle indicate to me Someone is out of touch.
Another common complaint about Science Terms also strikes me as out of line. Ever heard of C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures" lecture? Snow notes that literary types are often almost proud of their ignorance of basic science while expressing shock at the thought of a scientist not being versed in Shakespeare. I thought crossword puzzle enthusiasts were supposed to be "Renaissance men", honoring knowledge of a wide range of subjects.
Anyway, the venting made me feel good, tho only one or two people will likely encounter these lines.
@cody.riggs: I agree with you. It's about time someone pointed out that the emperor has no clothes. But it is his blog, his opinions and he would say if you don't like them, don't read the blog. BTW, I think there are many of us here in syndication-land reading the blog and comments.
It may just be serendipitous but for once the puzzle theme also works for we of the syndicate (bagmen?) since they run The Belmont 5 weeks to the day after the Kentucky Derby. Thanks, I guess.
Post a Comment