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Norwegian violinist Bull / SAT 7-24-10 / Literary character whose name is said to mean laughing water / Hidalgo co-star 2004 / Tennyson hero
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Constructor: David J. Kahn
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: AHA MOMENT (66A: What you may have while solving this puzzle?) — rebus puzzle with "AHA" crammed into five different squares
Word of the Day: SEALERY (65A: Place for barkers?) —
[SEAL FISHERY]=> 2. a place (as a rookery) where seals are hunted. (Webster's 3rd Int'l)
• • •
References to seal slaughter aside, I liked this puzzle, but it was way-ay-ay too easy for a Saturday [I see now, checking my time against the leaderboard at the NYT site, that I was faster than some of the fastest solvers in the country, which never happens, so now I'm having anxiety about my grid ... must double-check its accuracy ... nope, it's right alright. Weird. OK, back to the write-up].
In fact, it was essentially a Thursday, with a handful of Saturdayed clues. I knew something was slightly out-of-the-ordinary today when 1. I saw David J. Kahn's name (he does fancy puzzles, generally, not straight-up themelesses); and 2. I saw the grid (maximum word count, no really long answers, i.e. not at all a conventional Saturday grid. Got the trick when I had everything in the NW done *except* 13A: Literary character whose name is said to mean "laughing water" (MINNEHAHA). Ended up with MINNEHO, because I had (yuck) SORE at 6D: Hot spot (SAHARA). That first AHA ended up being my literal "AHA moment," so I did not (at all) need the theme-revealing "[AHA] MOMENT" at the end. Redundant by that point. AHA squares were easy to uncover. Know nothing about county seats in Florida, but knowing AHA was in play made TALLAHASSEE easy (20D: Seat of Leon County, Fla.). The only real struggle presented by this puzzle came in the SW, where I had MAHARISHIS, which didn't work, and then nothing ... guessed the RANEES part from Raja / Ranee of xword fame. Never heard of SEDALIA (61A: Missouri site of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival). Never heard of SEALERY. Lucky to have three intersecting Unknowns and still emerge unscathed, and in reasonably good time.Theme answers:
- 13A: Literary character whose name is said to mean "laughing water" (MINNEHAHA)
- 6D: Hot spot (SAHARA)
- 34A: Raptor 350 and others (YAMAHAS)
12D: Tennyson hero (SIR GALAHAD)- 20D: Seat of Leon County, Fla. (TALLAHASSEE)
- 38A: Founding member of the Washington Freedom (MIA HAMM)
- 41A: Singer Jackson (MAHALIA)
- 36D: Old royalty (MAHARANEES)
- 58D: Some Siouan speakers (OMAHAS)
- 66A: What you may have while solving this puzzle? (AHA MOMENT)
Thanks to all of you who have wished my daughter well and asked after her health following the accident. As I said initially, she is just fine. Aside from the abrasion on her neck and the three staples in her head (!), it's really as if nothing ever happened. Her main concern is whether she'll be able to swim during our early August vacation. Doctor assured her today that unless she was planning on banging her head into things, there'd be no problem.
Bullets:
- 7A: Sources of woods used for saunas (ASPENS) — our early August vacation will be in Colorado. Oh, and I wanted APPLES (!?) here at first.
- 14D: Nonabrasive leather (CHAMOIS) — is leather generally used to abrade things?
18A: Norwegian violinist ___ Bull (OLE) — Norwegian feminist last month, Norwegian violinist this month. Norway appears to be the late-week random-name-generator of choice. I love that his name is OLE Bull. Total coincidence, or bilingual parents with a sense of humor?- 21A: Figure depicted in une église (ANGE) — advantage, French-speakers. Got it off the "A" in "EMMA" (10D: Classic novel that ends with two weddings), but I probably could've guessed it with no crosses at all.
- 43A: English word that comes from Tswana (TSE-TSE) — weird to call this an "English" word, but literally accurate, so ... OK.
- 57A: 1992 Elton John hit ("THE ONE") — this made me smile; reminded me of a 1992 cross-country road trip I took with my roommate; we listened to and mockingly, stridently sang along to a lot of radio hits on that trip. See also "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" by Don Henley and Patty Smyth.
- 63A: Fellow with no monetary woes (MADE MAN) — hmmm. I did not know this was the primary significance of this term. It *is* a mafia term, right?
- 8D: "Hidalgo" co-star, 2004 (SHARIF) — Two thoughts: "What the hell is 'Hidalgo?" and "Omar SHARIF is still alive?" Answer to latter question: yes!
- 28D: Actor who played Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol," 1951 (SIM) — weird to see him today and LOM yesterday, as in my head they are essentially the same person, i.e. random three-letter bygone actor known now only for being occasionally useful in a tight crossword spot.
- 31D: Appeared in, as a TV show (CAME ON) — don't like this clue. "Julio Iglesias CAME ON 'Golden Girls' last night" ... nope, sounds wrong. He WAS ON. He GUEST-STARRED. The show itself CAME ON. [Ran, as a TV show] sits better with me. OK, now trying to come up with different clues for CAME ON has started me laughing out loud, so I'll move on.
- 49D: Capital midway between Rome and Istanbul (TIRANA) — Albania. Not sure if I learned this from crosswords exclusively, but puzzle work has certainly solidified its place in my brain. Still needed several crosses.
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57 comments:
I usually figure that if I can get a Saturday puzzle, Rex will rate it easy, and such is the case. I can't disagree with the rating, but I really enjoyed this one; laughed out loud at 66A.
Took me a bit of time to get the rebus - started with two HAs at the end of MINNEHAHA, instead of the one AHA.
Thanks, David - I had fun.
Before I even started I wanted 66A to be migraine, but it wouldn't fit.
Might have been easy for the big guy, but not so easy for the short one. Had my moments of acceleration but had to hit the brakes a few times. Had my AHA moment at TALLAHASSEE and MIA HAMM. Got it about 98% done but threw in the towel with SEALERY, spell check doesn't even like that word.
I played at this puzzle longer than RP, of course, but it did go pretty quickly for a Saturday. I wanted cameo'd for 31D. My aha moment was Mia Hamm!
Well, dang it. I had a mistake I didn't know about, since SENTRA and TIRANA turned out to be a mini-Natick for me. Had them both ending in a y.
weird to see him today and LOM yesterday, as in my head they are essentially the same person
This made me smile, because I did put "Lom" before correcting it to SIM.
Returning to the comments board after a long time away...
Fumbled around like a blind person for the first 10 minutes before hitting the SE...AHA MOMENT hit like a bolt from the blue and I was finally off to the races. Finished in a hair under 20 minutes, which is an OK Saturday for me. Still don't really like rebuses on themeless days though; I like my themeless puzzles to, well, have no theme.
Nope! ** (2 Stars)
Sauna source is cedar or Norway: ASPEN - too obscure.
Sealery - gimme a breakery
MADEMAN is one who has killed another not one without financial concern.
Some interesting fill, FACILE for one.
@Rex, more advice.
Water is not the issue with a cut. It is the risk of infection from (no duh) what is in the water... I mean just where do you think fish poop.
My advice, nightly wash cut with soap and water, use an antibacterial if you must (a waste IMHO) and apply some aloe vera cream/lotion/oil to the cut. The aloe vera keeps the skin supple, aids in healing and helps ensure there is no/minimal scaring. For some real fun get an aloe cacti, slice off some and just rub the cut with the aloe fluid. My son, at your daughter's age, loved learning medicine came from plants. And, he used the Aloe Cacti in a science project.
@dk thanks, though the swimming won't come 'til after the staples are removed (i.e. wound closed) and it will likely be pool (i.e. non fish-poop) swimming. I'm *pretty* sure she knows medicine comes from plants ... but I'll ask just to be sure. More impressive: while I was still asleep this morning, she managed to get a 50lb bag of dog food from the back of my car into the house and then transfer that food to the large plastic dog food container we keep in the kitchen closet. Unrelated, she broke a wine glass trying to get a cutting board to cut her apple. So there are up- and down-sides to 9-year-old independence.
I found it just about impossible. I could not finish. I could barely start in the north.
Maybe I was a little drunk.
I knew it would be rated as easy because I almost finished it. Got tripped up on the spelling of Hamm (two m's) and Tennessee--knew that tsetse was involved. And the alternative spelling of maharajah made the SW corner go off--i fooled around with shelter for 66A; wanted Boxer Rebellion. A fun puzzle.
A MADE MAN with money woes is known as a Brokester.
Not bad this morning; got lower left first because I was sure it must be MAHALIA which did not fit, so.... I generally like rebus puzzles. Was stuck on CEDAR for a long time and gave it up reluctantly.Do not care for the ugly word SEERESS for Cassandra but you can't have everything and at least this puzzle had some women in it. Still tripped up on HAMM because SMEE was my SPEE and so came up with MIA HAPE, which I put down to another to me obscure sports figure. The thing is that I do know Mia Hamm. After my almost total failures on Thu and Fri this was a relief!
Maybe I'm just tired, but this was one of my worst Saturday times all year. About two to three times longer than it usually takes. Plus a lot of it felt bland -- SEAPORTS? SEDALIA? NOONTIME? Maybe I'm just crabby about being tricked into solving a Thursday puzzle on Saturday...
You NYTimes Xword puzzle solvers are so human centric it's disgusting, and you should communally be ashamed. I get hungry, my family gets hungry, my pod gets hungry, so I lead them to a SEALERY. It's natural, it's as God intended, it's what we do.
First word in was OLE followed by MINNEHAHA. My Minnesota upbringing really got me off to a fast start in the NW. I had a very similar solving experience as @Rex ending in the SW. Last letter in was the "Y" in SEALERY which I then looked up and did not find in my old dictionary.
Like @AliceinSF I wanted Boxer. And with @VaBeach puzzler wanted CAMEoed. And I totally agree with @dk and Jo that saunas are made of cedar. APSPENS quiver in the wind.
This was definitely an easy Saturday for me but since I love rebuses I really enjoyed it even if not the challenge I was expecting and looking for.
Thank you, David Kahn!
That would be ASPENS!
I thought this was pretty easy until I discovered I had a multi-Natick pileup in the SW. NET instead of LEG, giving me STATES instead of STAGES, then MAHARANIES (plural of MAHARANI?) instead of MAHARANEES, giving me the unknown Mo. town of SIDANIA, which doesn't look great but doesn't seem much less reasonable than SEDALIA. Three wrong crosses, but they all seem defensible to me -- a record, I think!
i used to believe that doing the NYT puzzle was medicine for keeping alzheimers away. then i heard on NPR (so it must be right) that doing crosswords actually DOESN'T offer the kind of benefit needed to stave off the dread disease. what helps with alzheimer's prevention is constant challenge to the brain...like going back to school, learning about something you never knew, or forcing yourself to think in ways you never thought before.
this puzzle is an example of why, while challenging, the NYT is more about pre-learned patterns/conventions of the puzzles themselves and once you figure it out, the puzzle writes itself.
to wit: ANGE. any four-letter french word in the NYT is usually ANGE. (you just have to figure out that the clue is in french).
also, once you figure out the rebus, it is pretty much all down hill from there. all you had to do for today, which was kinda tricky, was to realize that this was like a Thursday puzzle…which usually uses rebuses. like @rex said, this was like a Thursday puzzle only with the occasional Saturday clue. if you’ve been doing the NYT for a while, you know exactly what he means.
there may be the occasional word you have to look up...and that, i guess, could be beneficial, but ultimately, the NYT has conventions that, once you learn them, makes it relatively easy to solve. i have trouble with other puzzles because i am not familiar with their patterns. i do the NYT because i like the patterns (and it impresses my friends that i can do the saturday puzzles...heh). just because there is a "pattern" or there are conventions doesn't disparage the power it takes to figure out these things, it's just to say, if you've done these for a long time, you kinda know the bag of tricks.
at any rate and back on topic, once i got the rebus (which took awhile), i was home free. and is “MADEMAN” more like a self-MADE MAN?
my .02
Is something wrong with me that when I saw 62D, one with a supporting role, and I had the final G, I put NAG?
This is why, dear Shamu, I didn't see SEALERY.
Of course Shamu is a whale.
I agree - easy for a Saturday. Did have to google a bit.
Loved the noontime clue. Knew sealery would be WOD
Misread Janis Joplin for Scott and put in St. Louis. Saw her concert many moons ago.
The NW was hopelessly screwed up for me until I gave up on ___EST for Guinness records, otherwise an unusual Saturday (almost) solve. Had the same SENTRY/TIRANY mistake as @Leslie, though mine was a typo, as I thought SENTRA but my fingers when on auto-type to SENTRY. I can belive TIRANY is the capital of Albania though, that they just have some spelling/transliteration issues with Y/I.
I think of Mahalia Jackson approximately once per year, as she has the definitive version of some Christmas Carol I can only remember the name of between Dec 20th & 25th, yet Singer Jackson immediately brought her to mind, with no crosses, well before my AHAMOMENT.
Was Farenheight 451 really SATIRE? It's pointing out specific follies of mankind, but SATIRE?
Still don't know what day this was.
I liked the concept, but doesn't this puzzle lose points because 3 across answers start with SEA (SEALERY, SEATER AND SEAPORTS)?
Minority report, evidently -- For some reason, I found this puzzle Insanely Difficult.
For one thing, though a self-proclaimed lover of rebuses, I just didn't see the rebus for the longest time.
And when I did see 66 A, and knew it had to be a rebus, I was totally hung up on the idea that it was a "Senior Moment", and started looking for ways to insert SR into some answers.
I finally had my AHA MOMENT, went through the grid correcting those answers that hadn't seemed quite right before (for example, I had changed 66 A to "O MOMENT" and 58 D to OMOS, those little-known cousins of our familiar OTOS, both of which seemed just barely possible).
But I failed in my correction round to note the crossing of YAMAHAS and SIRGALAHAD (I thought "Raptor 350 and others" might have been GAMES and the "Con's call" NAG), so I finished with two wrong letters/rebus squares.
Where is the "leaderboard" for solution times Re refers to?
Found this puzzle interesting and fun, though not as easy as some of the commentators here. Took me a while to get the AHA, as I too was looking for the HA. Other misteps included sets off for sets out, tack on for toss in, and lodger for roomer. They straightened themselves out pretty quick.
@No BS - If you subscribe to the online puzzle, you can see times here. There may be other places, this is what I know.
Captch: Lextrim - Now the captchas are product placement ads for the pharmaceutical industry?
Anyone who thinks that "any four-letter french word in the NYT is usually ANGE. (you just have to figure out that the clue is in french)" simply hasn't been doing puzzles very long or is not paying attention At All. I can think of several four-letter Fr. words Right off the top of my head that are Far Far Far more common than ANGE (a word I see maybe once or twice a year).
Acc. to cruciverb.com database, *in the As alone* there's:
AMIE 170
ABBÉ 88
ALPE 23
ANGE 16
then:
B is for BANC 26
C is for C'EST 48
D is for DIEU 41
E is for ETAT 266!
Eventually you get to the first 4-ltr Fr. word I thought of, T is for TETE 189
Please, if you affect an authoritative voice, make sure what you say is somewhere in the realm of reality. Thank you.
rp
TSE TSE is an English word? C'mon.
Where I come from a MADE MAN means something completely different from the clue. Fugeddaboutit!
Really liked the rebus, which set up some very nice AHA crosses.
Another frequently used 4-letter French word is ETRE.
I am so glad that today's puzzle was fun. This week has sucked until today.
I knew Rex would say it was easy because I finished in decent time. It took forever to get going (resorted to filling in plurals) but once I did it fell fast.
Funny that my first discovery of the rebus was Aha Moment.
The symmetry of the rebus answers really helped.
Sealery was a head-scratcher.
Shamu you just have at 'em. Whales gotta eat too.
Like @ Zeke I was wondering about the satire.
Thanks D. Kahn.
@rolin mains: Interesting point about crosswords and alzheimers. Have you tried the Crickler puzzles at the WaPo site? Because they don't have to conform to grids, there is far less pattern recognition, and the news quizzes are a fun way of learning.
I don't generally like rebuses (every square becomes a potential AHA), but agree this one was easy.
Like @Bob Kerfuffle, I found this one hard. Finished, but it wasn't FACILE.
Just got back last night from a week at a fantasy camp for bluegrass musicians. Nothing but tent camping and music for seven days... :)
@Rex: sorry to hear about your daughter's accident. Hope she gets well soon.
@archeoprof - Nothing but tent camping and bluegrass music for seven days? Sounds like one of my "fantasies".
After reading your update about your daughter, I'm surprised you didn't link to this video.
As far as rebuses go, this has the feature demanded by some here a while ago: The rebus squares are placed symmetrically, which makes it even easier, provided you see this early enough, which I didn't...oh well
On the other hand, I could do this on my own in one sitting, which makes me hopeful that my skills at solving are slowly picking up again...not that they have very far to go in the first place. Anyway, this is a very successful rebus in my book, if perhaps misplaced on a saturday
@Rex: Thanks for making me feel better for putting DIEU at 21A first!
@Rex -- Your daughter has much better upper-arm strength than I do!!! I can barely handle the 35 pounders.
When I saw Kahn's name at the top, I immediately suspected a terrible theme puzzle and started scanning my brain for recent famous deaths or birthdays since those gimmicky and boring puzzles are all I remember him ever doing. Instead I got another unwelcome multiple-letters-per-box puzzle on a Saturday. I hate those puzzles and theme puzzles in general. I avoid theme puzzles from Sunday through Thursday and don't want to see them on Friday or Saturday. They are infinitely less interesting and fun than their themeless counterparts. I also particularly dislike DJK's theme puzzles because the non-theme fill almost always bores me to death. Stop putting crappy theme puzzles on weekends, Shortz. This is like two times in the past month and a half, and both puzzles were sucky. Maybe if they were particularly awesome, sure, but otherwise, what gives with the themed Friday/Saturday puzzles? There's no reason for them at all.
With that off my chest, some complaints about this puzzle specifically: there's IMPs crossing IMPress, multiple answers starting with SEA, a really crappy triad in the SW of Enes, Sedalia, and Sealery, some weirdish phrases in Played at (haven't heard that one before) and Came on (in context it's just wrong), and a whole bunch of other crap. Overall just a crappy, F- puzzle.
@Ulrich: I think your assessment of this puzzle is "ganz recht."
@FKafka: just google "Rocky Grass Academy."
Stared at blank spaces for a long time. 66A showed me the way. Was hung up the longest in the NE because I was stuck on cedars at 7A and redined at 17A. When I finally let my brain quake, the ASPENS came into view, which have me ACHED at 7D (Duh!), which triggered the much more palatable HAD MORE, and that sector fell into place.
I agree this was Thursdayesque, but I still got some grins from it. Loved the videos, Rex, and happy to hear the precocious little one is on the mend!
Reake! (What happened when I finally parsed 7D) -- jesser
I was overjoyed to finish after being stuck yesterday. Had a fragment of a hint at 13A but ignored it. Fially got it with AHAMOMENT. Admit I said "Ah Ha!" SAHARA filled in, then after that others found. Had DIEU before ANGE but EMMA forced the D out. Enjoy your Saturdays. It's hot here in the Baked Apple.
Also wanted:cedars,boxer'cameo? When I first read the clue for 61 across I'm all "why would't they have it in Joplin for pete' sake!!Hated sealery but will bow to shamu(if he'll leave the trainers alone)Had renter for roomer which slowed down the SE finally "ideil"coalesced into "in oil" well duh!
@Archeoprof - I'm just saying it's a fine line between waking up in bed with a bug, and waking up in bed as a bug. If you're ok with that, it's ok by me.
I liked this one a lot, worked it out myself except for son-in-law tossing in Alastair SIM before I guessed it. His comment on Elton John's hit: "he didn't do much in '92" -- so I got that on my own!
The TSETSE clue tickled me the most...
∑;)
A rebus puzzle on a Saturday? Some terribly off cluing and the SEALERY non-word made this just a slog for me.
Impossible followed by easy. If this had been Thurs. I would have finished it pretty quickly, unfortunately I didn't even consider a rebus for a very very long time. Guess I've got to be more open minded on Fri. and Sat. In the end, I thought this one was OK, not great.
I wonder why this puzzle didn't appear on a Thursday. Maybe more difficult than an average Thursday, but not by much.
@FKafka: oh, you're THAT FKafka...
"twangster said... I liked the concept, but doesn't this puzzle lose points because 3 across answers start with SEA (SEALERY, SEATER AND SEAPORTS)?"
No.
-MAS
Hi Rex - really enjoyed your blog today and the musical links were awesome, thanks for that , how did I go thru the 80s without understanding the significance of PattySmyth, awesome!
Completed the puzzle correctly, but NOT EASILY. My mind was competely closed to the possibility of a rebus on Saturday.
Eventually plowed through everything except for 38A, which I was trying to resolve into "Riahanna" without success. After much gnashing of teeth realized that my crosswordese wires were crossed, and that "snee" should be "smee" at which point Mia Hamm came into focus.
And now I learn via Google that Rihanna has no aha in her name after all.
Aaaargh.
I respectfully disagree; I found it pretty challenging.
Glad your daughter is OK.
I had to dance around a while before finding the "aha moment" and the fact that there was a rebus going on, but I thought this puzzle was a lot of fun. Easy, but fun. I too wanted dieu before ange, boxer befor Shay's and Janet for Mahalia).
Last night Andrea was telling us all about Minne- meaning water, and then it shows up this morning!
@Seth: poor you....
@Fredo, I like brokester almost as much as bankster!
@Fredo:
I thought this puzzle was beautiful, except for "sealery" which I don't think is a real word. I'm sure it's in some dictionary, otherwise it wouldn't have made it to the puzzle, but still.
I only solved about half of it and then came here, but enjoyed filling in the second half with hints from RP.
i liked it, found it playful to make an aha moment out of aha moment.
Never got MIA HAMM as I didn't parse _ IAHAMM and thought SId (Cesar?) played Scrooge but why would they clue by first name?
AND I thought the Freedom whatever had something to do with the Declaration of Independence so it was a signer I'd not heard of...
So my usual one-letter-wrong :(
Also, originally had tAME for "handle", instead of NAME...how ironic.
As for SEALERY, I think I'll just start calling things doggery, cattery, mousery,...
where they keep RNs?: Nursery where they keep prisoners?: celery
Rex (and anyone else). Of course you remember SEDALIA! In fact, I also remembered Rex's Rant, right down to his refusal to fill in the last square. Somehow it all made it easier to guess the missing letters as I was finishing the SW.
My AHA MOMENT was AHA MOMENT itself! It felt kind of rebussy, but I couldn't pin down anything until the SE.
SEALERY?? Spell-checker is trying to deal with it even now!
Had fun with the puzzle, but "easy"? Give us a break, Rex!!
easy my ass
It's August 28, 2010 and we have the July 24th puzzle here in the Seattle paper! Why?
@Anon 12:44AM Other than on Sunday, the syndicated version of the NYT crossword appears 5 weeks later than it does in the New York Times itself. (On Sunday, it's delayed by only one week.) Rex kindly provides a link at the top of his blog to the syndicated version of the puzzle.)
And in my local paper, The Gazette, the author of the 0724 puzzle is said to be one David J. Jakn. Not quite sure what happened to Kahn during the 5 week wait - no AHA moment as yet...
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