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Ancient Athenian magistrates —SAT 8-28-10— Angel player 1970s / Ruffian on Stair playwright / Literary character always good tempered not very clever
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Constructor: Xan Vongsathorn
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: ARCHONS (15D: Ancient Athenian magistrates) —
Archon (Gr. ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες) is a Greek word that means "ruler" or "lord", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ἀρχ-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchy. [...]In Athens a system of nine concurrent Archons evolved, led by three respective remits over the civic, military, and religious affairs of the state: the three office holders being known as the Eponymous archon (Ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων; the "name" ruler, who gave his name to the year in which he held office), the Polemarch ("war ruler"), and the Archon Basileus ("king ruler"). Originally these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years. During this period the eponymous Archon was the chief magistrate, the Polemarch was the head of the armed forces, and the Archon Basileus was responsible for the civic religious arrangements, including many of the law courts. After 683 BC the offices were held for only a single year, and the year was named after the Archōn Epōnymos. (Many ancient calendar systems did not number their years consecutively.) After 487 BC the archonships were assigned by lot to any citizen and the Polemarch's military duties were taken over by new class of generals known as stratēgoí. The ten stratēgoí (one per tribe) were elected, and the office of Polemarch was rotated among them on a daily basis. The Polemarch thereafter had only minor religious duties, and the titular headship over the strategoi. The Archon Eponymous remained the titular head of state under democracy, though of much reduced political importance. The Archons were assisted by "junior" archons, called Thesmothétai (Θεσμοθέται "Institutors"). After 457 BC ex-archons were automatically enrolled as life members of the Areopagus, though that assembly was no longer extremely important politically at that time. (See Archons of Athens.) (wikipedia)
• • •
This guy! This guy is always on my wavelength. Maybe it's because we attended the same college (btw constructor Joel Fagliano begins classes there next week (see article here)—good luck, buddy), I don't know. But I always like his stuff, and I always *get* his stuff. For what seems like the billionth week in a row, Saturday was easier than Friday for me. Did this one in under 10: highly respectable time for me. What was weird was: I started out superfast in the NW, and that changed my expectations for the puzzle as a whole (i.e. I started thinking "I'm going to set a new Saturday record"), which *then* made the rest of the puzzle seem tough! "What? Resistance? How dare you!?" So, no record, but a decent time, and, more importantly, an entertaining time.Started out waaaaay too easy. MISO = gimme (1A: ___ soup), which created a string of gimmes: MEGS (1D: Drive units, briefly) and IHOP (2D: Chain with many links —btw, please, constructors, kill this clue, OK? Just kill it) and EHUD (13A: Former Israeli P.M. Olmert) and ODOREATER (4D: Product associated with the annual Rotten Sneakers Contest) went into the grid in a matter of seconds. 10 seconds, tops. Made quick work of the NW as a whole, but got ... blocked at ARCHONS (didn't know it) and APERTURE (39A: Light limiter), and so had trouble moving as quickly through the rest of the grid. Problem seeing APERTURE arose from having CLAM instead of
COOP (27D: Shut (up)). So I squeaked out of the NW via the center, where I grokked the FAWCETT clue quickly (24D: Angel player of the 1970s) and knew ZAK from crosswords gone by (28D: Drummer Starkey). Made my way steadily through rest of puzzle, with biggest problems (by far) coming in the little NE and SW corners. Even with YAKOV as a gimme (9D: Comedian Smirnoff), I had trouble seeing what the four-letter words up there were. Doable, but only with some fumbling. Things were worse in the SW, where I was saved only by BOSN (61A: Rigging handler, briefly), of all words. Couldn't get anything west of TSAR until BOSN gave me the terminal "O" in RHINO (46D: Record label named after an animal — an animal with a HORN! (22D: Feature of Africa ... and some of its denizens)) and the terminal "B" in MCJOB (45D: Not the most stimulating work). Needed Every Single Cross to get CHIRRUP (50A: Twitter), which I think wants to be CHIRP. That, or CHERRY SYRUP.Other misfires:
ULM (?) for URI (37D: It's between Bern and Graubünden)- DUMMIES for DUMDUMS (36D: Yo-yos)
- LEANS for TILTS (47D: Has a list)
- ADVERTIZE for ADVERTISE (31D: Throw out pitches?), and thus
- ZENO (!?!?) for ST. LO (60A: Historic town on the Vire)
- BASE SIXES (!?) for BASE SIXTY (32D: Number system used by the Babylonians)
- and lastly SUN, and then SPA, for SEA (57D: Source of rays)
[42A: Bits (SMITHEREENS)]
Bullets:
- 14A: Beast on Botswana's coat of arms (ZEBRA) — GNU!? GNO.
- 16A: Running gear component (AXLE) — yeesh. Really not apparent to me. An automotive term I didn't know. Answers.com says "running gear" is "The working parts of an automobile, locomotive, or other vehicle." Not sure what parts are *not* working, but OK.
- 45A: Literary character who's "always good-tempered" and "not very clever" (MR. TOAD) — had the -OAD, and thought "TOM JOAD!? Dang, doesn't fit."
56A: Kind of line symbolizing a cultural boundary (MASON-DIXON) — I guess it *is* used symbolically. Got it easily, but never thought of it that way.- 3D: Alternative to a cup (SUGAR CONE) — a truly fantastic clue. Did not see the ice cream angle until I had SUGAR C-N-
- 5D: Range near Wal-Mart's headquarters (OZARKS) — Got it from the "K." Made getting ZEBRA reeeeally easy.
- 43D: Features in many Fra Angelico paintings (HALOES) — Got it from the "H." Helped that clue had "Angel" in it.
- 48D: "The Ruffian on the Stair" playwright (ORTON) — Joe. One of many playwrights I know only from crosswords. ODETS. ALBEE. INGE. OK, I probably know those guys from being an English major, but I *remember* them because of crosswords.
- 51D: Three-time grid champs of the 2000s (PATS) — Yes, you (fellow) dorks, there is another, non-crossword meaning of "grid." Usually, it's followed by "iron," but whatever.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
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52 comments:
Do constructor's get a 'kick-back' from IHOP if they ADVERTISE to solver's as where to have breakfast?
Didn't even notice the WOD, ARCHONS due to getting it all from crosses.
Two faves today:
SMITHEREENS, just like the word.
And,of course, the rebuilt ST LO.
Being below the MASON-DIXON line, I loved that clue, in more ways than one.
FUN Saturday !!!
I'm beginning to worry about my inability to remember the names of beautiful women. I figured out the Charlie's Angels bit, I had _AWC_T_, I am of the appropriate age, sexual orientation, everything, and I still couldn't remember her name. The last time Ms Kurylenko was in the puzzle either you posted the picture or I looked her up, but still, OLGA was simply a sufficiently Slavic name to go with Kurylenko. This is very sad.
I should have been spared SPARERS, but wasn't. I would like to complain that the MASONDIXON line is not a kind of line, but an instance of one, but Martin may have wifi wherever he is vacationing and tell me that's just standard cluing.
About CHIRRUP - I've taken a real dislike to onomatopoetic words. I've tried to start a club, but everyone I've asked to join says PTUI!.
This was so much easier than yesterday -- as in, I was actually able to finish it. Following in the footsteps of our fearless leader, I found it slow going in the NE and SW, but ALTAR and BOSN got me into those corners.
And, BASE SIXTY! How cool is that. I know our 360º for angles, and our minutes and seconds come from this, but it's still pretty strange if you try to think it through.
I am with you Zeke, Sparers was ugly.... but the rest!!!! I know that the fact that this puzzle was in my range (mostly) is probably why I loved it, but I cant find much to complain about.Occams razor filled me with joy as did Mason Dixon, wanna bet ,smithereens and Mr Toad.
What am I missing on "Feature of Africa ..."? I don't get it. (Which happens with unfortunate frequency:))
Opposite of @Clark, I thought this was much more difficult than Friday's. Had a big 'ol hole in the southeast and instead of waiting for a new look in the morning, I came here, rendering this a big DNF. Apparently patience is not one of my virtues.
Yes, easier than yesterday's! My solving experience was pretty much the same as Rex's even down the the Z in ADVERTISE (also CLAM, DUMMIES, SIXES, and ULM). But still, a pretty smooth/quick solve for me (although much slower than Rex's time). I liked this one, WANNABET and SMITEREENS were standouts and SUGARCONE was Sat. clued. It took a little staring to get that one.
@d blackwell The Horn of Africa? Cape Horn? And antelopes rhinos etc! Loved Chirrup;and Mr Toad but had most of rex's write overs Aren't Dum Dum lollipops?But my favorite thing by far is that he put in Occams Razor and the Zebra!
Two Zs, Two Xs, Three Ks, One J...Where is the Q? Otherwise fabulous! XAN so KOOL!
Loved SMITHEREENS, WANNABET, GOGODANCER, MCJOB, ODOREATER, the crazy spellings of YAKOV and ZAK
(Ringo's son was as close as this puzzle got to a Beatles clue, but I'll take it)
Thank god that CHIRRUP is so close to CHeeRUP so that I could accidentally get RHINO even tho I was wrong.
@Clark
I didn't understand about base 60 till your comments...how cool is that is right!!! How's the puppy?
Wow, @Rex, just happened again! While typing this up with "Cheers" in the background, they just said "Parker House rolls'!
Raced through this one until the SW where I got slowed down by DUMMIES. I was thinking CHIRRUP would be the word of the day as it meant nothing to me, but a quick google says I must be in the minority.
And since our host gave me the opening:
Flanders and Swann
I didn't find it as easy as Rex did, but I did like it a lot. Liked all the same words Tobias did.
To my embarrassment, I thought GO-GO DANCER was going to be "pole dancer," even though I wasn't sure the NYT would let that appear in a puzzle.
while not trying to be a smartass here, I still feel compelled to say something whenever geography is concerned (apart from Natick and Athol, that is). So here goes @ Cyndy - Horn of Africa (pirates, civil war etc.) - correct! Cape Horn (Jules Verne, Francis Drake, Bounty) - wrong continent.
Sorry, if that was a joke i didn't get.
Cool puzzle, didn't find it easy at all though.
Really struggled with this one but the clever cluing made it pay off in the end. Got APERTURE (39A) right off the bat as the husband is a photograper.
BASESIXTY? That means they have to have sixty different numerals. Their abaci must be really, really big.
DUMDUMS are (illegal) bullets
Hands up for the Claremont Colleges contingent. I visited the campus (plural actually) in the late 70s on a Grad school tour. It was 30 below in St. Paul, 75 in Claremont (The Village for you Prisoner fans). Needless to say I was enrolled that fall.
Mr. Toads Wild Ride was an original Disneyland attraction (circa 1955). TAMERS converted it to some Pooh ride in 1998.
Had Mixologist for GOGODANCER, did not know CHIRRUP and spelled YAKOV with a f. All came out in the crosses.
*** (3 Stars). Not so hard and fun.
@Clark, Thanks for the BASESIXTY info.
I ended up a couple letters short of solving this. I thought TRES was TREI, which left me with I_HOLAR. SCHOLAR never occurred to me, so I was left to ponder ITHOLAR vs. ICHOLAR.
If you only know Orton from crosswords, you should read "Loot" and "What the Butler Saw." Highly entertaining black-comic farces...
The Wind in the Willows Chapter 1
Kenneth Grahame
`Why, certainly,' said the good-natured Rat, jumping to his feet and dismissing poetry from his mind for the day. `Get the boat out, and we'll paddle up there at once. It's never the wrong time to call on Toad. Early or late he's always the same fellow. Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!'
`He must be a very nice animal,' observed the Mole, as he got into the boat and took the sculls, while the Rat settled himself comfortably in the stern.
`He is indeed the best of animals,' replied Rat. `So simple, so good-natured, and so affectionate. Perhaps he's not very clever, -- we can't all be geniuses; and it may be that he is both boastful and conceited. But he has got some great qualities, has Toady.'
Zeke, you really know how to write what my English teachers called a "topic sentence".
Loved it...but I didn't get a real start until OCCAMSRAZOR fell. MISO/MISO/MISO - as Robert Shaw said to Paul Newman in "The Sting""
"You're gonna remember that fella, or find yourself another game."
Top half was a breeze, but then I slowed down, especially in the SW, so that in the end this was about 5 mins harder for me than yesterday's. One OCAT (or is O'CAT?) means nothing to me, so took a while to puzzle out CENSOR. And I had to rely on crosses for the far SE: don't understand how DOLE is relief, and don't know ENOS.
I'm apparently in a minority in thinking that CHIRRUP is both a cute and fairly familiar word.
This was more Challenging than Medium for me with many writeovers like soLE before AXLE, away/GONE, iNon/ONTO, DUMmieS/DUMDUMS and Clam/COOP.
Interesting to see DADA as the bleedover from yesterday.
I so wanted comb over for 19A: The wind unwinds it!
This grid was full of interesting, fresh words ... thank you Xan VongsatHORN for a very creative, fun Saturday puzzle.
(One small nit regarding TAMERS and the clue, "They're good at breaking things." I don't consider animals "things.")
Dole. Noun. a giving out of money or food to those in great need; relief; that which is thus given out; anything given out sparingly; a form of payment....
Easier and loads more fun than yesterday.
So many cool words.
Wickedly vague clues entertained me very nicely.
Great start to my weekend.
Thanks Xan.
Remembered OCAT from a prev puzzle but wrongly as ACAT. That kept me from getting on the OZARKS / ZEBRA path for awhile. Had the train stopping at the AISLE before ALTAR, RIPTIDE before LEETIDE. Plopped in SANTA for 'Has a list' which was waaay off.
As usual, had AMEND before EMEND but the lovely SMITHEREENS came to my rescue with an E. At 1D, I was thinking of autos instead of computers so drive units (?) went in as MPGS, giving Mr. Olmert the unfortunate first name of PHUD.
XAN, nice puzzle, great clues and thanks for giving us a satisfying workout.
I loved this one - had to work for it, but in a good way! Too many fun answers to list them all. And I think this is the first week I've finished both Friday and Saturday with no Googling nor errors.
Lots of write-overs. I was especially stubborn about putting down TzAR instead of TSAR, because I was convinced that the answer for "Bits" would have something to do with zeroes and ones. But even though I had computers on the brain, it took me a while to think of hard drives instead of cars for "Drive units."
@Andrea, fikink, et al -- The puppy (pictured here with Semi-Puzzle Partner picking her up from the breeder) is doing great, though it will take some time for her to learn to live in the company of cats. She is just starting to figure out that you do not initiate play with a cat by charging at it, limbs flying every which way. The cats are interested in and inclined to be friendly towards this crazy little creature. Obi (the Bengal, who will be the master) has decided that she is worthy of being taught the ways of play, and he has started teaching her (without baring a claw -- yet) the ways of the beta animal. So far so good.
Hard but doable, with lots of aha! moments. Hand up for dummies and Ulm. Loved smithereens!
I was a math major back in the day. I never knew the Babylonians (or anyone else) used base sixty, or that our angular measure (not radians, the other one) came from that source.
A car has lots of parts that aren't in the running gear - seats, radios, doors. Some of my cars have running gear parts that don't always run - part of the fun.
Yes, surprisingly manageable for a Saturday, though it was the N/NE part that got me in (thanks to junior-high Spanish for veintisiete), not the NW.
How is 56A:MASONDIXON a "kind of" line? I thought there was just one of them.
@Zeke: 32D:BASESIXTY is in effect an alternation of base 10 and 6: a "digit" of 43 would be written as four 10's followed by three 1's. So abaci need not be unmanageable. Indeed our decimal abacus uses the same trick, writing (say) 7 as 5+1+1 rather than 1+1+1+1+1+1+1. Cf. Roman numerals and counting on fingers (VII may represent a hand and two fingers).
Note several longish entries like 6D:CENSOR, 30A:WANNABET, and even 3D:SUGARCONE that are only one letter away from another legitimate entry (tensor/censer, wannabes, sugarcane); this flexibility must be useful for constructing such puzzles without computer aid. As it happens this grid would also work with the T in 34 replaced by S (wannabes/SAT's).
NDE
@Clark ... thanks for the pic, what a cute baby! And she looks like she'll getting plenty of babying, too!
Didn't try this until the morning, and I really enjoyed it, albeit slowly. Ended up absolutely stuck in the SW, so googled ORTON and MRTOAD. It has been so long since I read "Wind in the Willows," and I did not read it to or with my son. I didn't really like it, either.
My favorite was OCCAMSRAZOR. One quibble, the product for smelly feet is "Odor Eaters". But looking at the grid now, this one was packed with clever cluing, solid fill, and very little that annoyed me.
@Eva, a sincere congratulations; I have yet to accomplish that, but I am still improving, so someday . . .?
I agree that the cluing in this puzzle was elegant and thoroughly enjoyable. Didn't finish, though. Finally caved in and googled the playwright. I need to etch that Orton guy into my memory, and I'm irritated with myself that I didn't remember bosn, which I'm certain would have saved me down there in that corner. Next time, Xan, I'll be ready for you!
Okay, I never, ever heard the term OCCAMS RAZOR. Learn something new every day.
Lots of wicked cluing = DNF for me.
ARCHONS? MCJOB?
Had SUPPORTER at first for alternative to CUP (!)
Liked 11d Stopping point for a train? (ALTAR)
Didn't like the image of a GOGODANCER behind bars...
Very cool puzzle, and we were quite proud of finishing. Somehow Mcjob just came to me (BEQ has used it, I think), unlocking the southwest.
I *knew* Rex would post a Smithereens clip, which was also my favorite answer.
Just looked up base sixty, and if you want a fascinating read, google it. Why do we have 60 seconds/hours? Why 360 degrees in a circle? In French why are numbers 60-89 = 60+1 etc.
Totally agree Friday has been harder than Saturday. Maybe a bit of an editing tactic to keep everyone engaged?
@Doug said...
Just looked up base sixty, and if you want a fascinating read, google it. Why do we have 60 seconds/hours? Why 360 degrees in a circle? In French why are numbers 60-89 = 60+1 etc.
---
You mean 60-79. (This is correct in the Wiki, so you just mistyped.) In French, 80-99 are based on "four-twenties" (as in "Four-score and seven years ago...")
Numbers are such fun!
can anyone explaine "HOVERS" please
Another really enjoyable solving experience. Slammed down OCAT, ABC, OZARKS, ZEBRA, CENSORS and started to feel like a Tuesday puzzle. Spent the next ten miutes looking for another answer and was pleased that I was in for a challenge. Finished without any errors and only a few write-overs (rAmS for PATS, OChAM for OCCAM and Tory for TSAR (Duh)). I second @joho on the TAMERS clue, but recognize that using the word "animals" would have made it way too easy. Same issue with ODOREATER(S) as @CoffeeLvr, but let it pass. Was tempted to try POLEDANCERS, but held off until I got the the second O (?O?ODANCERS). Loved the clue for EDEN and especially like the SCHOLAR clue.
Like many others, was on the same wavelength as Xan and really had fun with this one.
"To hover" is "to hang suspended in the air."
Elsewhere, a sure sign of a misspent youth watching baseball, for "Angel player of the 1970s," I wrote in FREGOSI as soon as I had the F. Jim Fregosi played for the California Angels in early 70s. Guess I had the wrong poster in my bedroom.
I had CAGEDANCERS before I had GOGODANCERS.
Wes - of course, but why is it clued "Cutting edge of science?"
It's not.
In the "things that swing"-puzzle about a month ago, nobody complained about baseball batters and undecided voters being called 'things'. So how is calling animals 'things' worse?
I have "MWJOB" (make-work job) for 45 down, And "WHIPPUP" for 50 across.
Xan and I were not soulmates in a previous life, but I feel like we just had a really good first date. This puzzle was much harder for me than yesterday's, but was such fun to solve. So much to love about it - the cluing was particularly exceptional. And MRTOAD, CHIRRUP, GOGODANCER, OCCAMSRAZOR. Well, I could go on and on.
NW was the last area to fall for me. Couldn't decide between MISO and DUCK for soup - and couldn't get anything else in that area for a long long time. I persevered, however, unlike when I read Mason & Dixon - I got through a lot of it, but could not seem to push my way to the finish. The book still sits in my nightstand as a constant rebuke.
Thank goodness today's puzzle was easier than yesterday's! I got back to Albany NY late last night from MIchigan and made the mistake of trying Friday's before crawling into bed... getting just nowhere. I still found it a slog today, but enjoyed the comments re ATHOL, etc.
Xan's turned out to be a breeze by comparison, even if I liked Shuns for DUCKS a tad too long. Fun to see REEK OF crossing ODOREATER, not too icky. And I chuckled at the SMITHEREENS, one of the venerable singing groups at Smith College, along with the Smiffenpoofs!
∑;)
tough puzzle. did about half. DNF busy day and now time to make dinner. See you all tomorrow
Beach + Puzzle = No idea how difficult.
One write-over: Had LOWTIDE before LEETIDE.
And thank you, WES. Even after I had FAWCETT, I was still reading the clue as "AngelS player . . . " and thought it was some football or baseball name!
This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation. 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.
All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Mon 6:50, 6:58, 0.98, 48%, Medium
Tue 10:16, 8:54, 1.15, 87%, Challenging
Wed 11:27, 11:44, 0.98, 48%, Medium
Thu 13:43, 19:11, 0.71, 8%, Easy
Fri 27:43, 26:40, 1.04, 59%, Medium
Sat 28:28, 30:54, 0.92, 29%, Easy-Medium
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:37, 3:43, 0.98, 43%, Medium
Tue 5:01, 4:35, 1.10, 81%, Challenging
Wed 5:38, 5:46, 0.98, 52%, Medium
Thu 7:09, 9:12, 0.78, 22%, Easy-Medium
Fri 12:41, 12:59, 0.98, 52%, Medium
Sat 15:57, 17:41, 0.90, 29%, Easy-Medium
I waste a lot of time doing these puzzles but then I found Rex and waste even more.
coming in late, and see that my annoyance with the product name incorrectly being singularized has already been addressed! (Odoreater(s))
On a similar note, was having drinks with friends where we commented how often people incorrectly pluralize names like Barnes and Noble(s) and Nordstrom(s).
Just a pet peeve!
Also, I am one of those people who find the answer of "McJob" very, very obnoxious, rude, and offensive.
Wasn't there a huge to-do the first time that made it into the NY Times years ago?
Anyway... Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend! :-)
Greg
I don't come here until after I complete the puzzle so that's why this post is so late.
Rex, you didn't let me down! I knew there'd be a Smithereens clip. One of my all-time fave bands.
Way harder than yesterday for me. Ran through yesterday with little delay, while the entire SE of this puzzle was a Natick. It was the Greater Natick Region. LEETIDE, DOLE, ENOS? MASONDIXON as a 'kind' of line?
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