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Doll's House heroine / WED 4-20-11 / Half 1980s TV duo / Bespectacled dwarf / President whose first name means one who is blessed
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Constructor: Michael Farabaugh
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: MIXED GREEN SALAD (39A: Dieter's fare ... or a hint to 17-, 24- and 49-Across and 10- and 26-Down) — anagrams of GREEN SALAD
Word of the Day: GIAN Carlo Menotti (40D: Composer ___ Carlo Menotti) —
Gian Carlo Menotti (July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste. He won the Pulitzer Prize for two of them: The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955). He founded the noted Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) in 1958 and its American counterpart, Spoleto Festival USA, in 1977. In 1986 he commenced a Melbourne Spoleto Festival in Australia, but he withdrew after three years. (wikipedia)
• • •
Lots of anagrams. So what? Seriously. SEE GARLAND? That's ... funny? What is that? I mean, maybe you could *do* something with SEAL DANGER or LANGE READS or EARS DANGLE, but these anagrams just lay there. They also represent the only thing at all challenging about this grid, which is Monday/Tuesday-easy in all other respects — I struggled a tiny bit in the SW corner with APRON (51D: Place for a chip shot) and NORA (61A: "A Doll's House" heroine), but otherwise, torched it. This puzzle has impressive theme density, but that's not enough to make it interesting.Also, a MIXED GREEN SALAD is not "dieter's fare." It's just a thing people eat. At restaurants. Every night of the week. You can see them. Eating the salad. And steak. And then dessert (thus, *not* dieting).
Theme answers:
- 17A: Lee at Appomattox, e.g.? (SAD GENERAL)
- 24A: Portly college figures? (LARGE DEANS)
- 49A: Salutation in an Anaheim baseball fan's letter? (DEAR ANGELS)
- 62A: Cowgirl Evans's hot temper? (DALE'S ANGER)
- 10D: Where to get discount flowers? (GARDEN SALE)
- 26D: Go out with the star of "The Wizard of Oz"? (SEE GARLAND)
to say. Seems like there were a number of '80s TV duos (Simon & Simon, Cagney & Lacey, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Siskel & Ebert, Sam & Diane, Jack & Diane, Jack & Jill, etc.), so ALLIE didn't come right away, but she came (44A: Half a 1980s TV duo). Kitchen gadgets in three letters = always OXO (31D: Maker of Good Grips kitchen tools) (I've told the story about OXO being the first band I ever saw live, right? They opened for Hall & Oates ... another '80s duo!). "Bespectacled" is a good word, so that's a nice clue on DOC (62D: Bespectacled dwarf). I had no idea JAMA was a *weekly* (45A: Org. with a peer-reviewed weekly journal). Oaxaca is one of my very favorite place names—looks and sounds fantastic (32A: Other, in Oaxaca). My favorite chocolate is made using traditional Oaxacan methods.Clearly I'VE run out of things to say. So good night.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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71 comments:
I had an overwhelming desire to put Bob in at 22D, just for giggles, but resisted.
Another easy one to add to this week, I am fearful that we will be pummeled for the remainder.
No write-overs, no hiccups, no nuttin. The South west was the last to fall
Rex, Agreed.
Or should be LANS, AGREED?
my neighbors hate me because my yard is a bit unkempt. Those damned anal edgers!
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The theme isn't exactly a masterpiece of wit, but at least it didn't have me going "huh?" like last week's bizarre Acura Integra puzzle. Mixed greens. That's a thing. A made up (former) car model? Not so much.
Had one writeover, cir for AVE. Dumb mistake as I lived 1/2 a block from Columbus Ave for 9 years.
I enjoyed this puzzle and really don't understand Rex's complaint. Sure some of the anagrams seem forced, but I have to admire seven 10 letter anagrams in a 15x15 as well as having two 9 letter fills that each cross 3 of the theme answers. I say BRAVO.
FOTD is Barak = "One who is blessed"
a mixed green salad ? Yum !
Rex, another wonderful writeup. I can't think of another thing to say about the puzzle.
OK. I can hear @Jesser EMOTE while he DINES in an APRON on my MIXED GREEN SALAD GARDEN SALE mushrooms. The narcotic kind !!
Out of the blue, like yesterday, I include a good friend.
@Jesser, you're my man go to guy.
This story has made me GASP at DALE"S ANGER . I hope NORA doesn't slam the door too loudly !!!
This was a fun Wednesday, Mr. Farabaugh./ Thank you for a nice mid-week puzzle.
@Rex, thoroughly enjoyed your writeup.
Thanks to all on this blog for making me feel at ease.
Shanti -
Bob/PurpleGuy
captcha: pancek - no, my pan is still usable.
For me, this is manifestly the worst NYT crossword puzzle ever. I despise the theme so much that it would be prudent to say no more.
My WOTD: “felicity”, which is mostly what it takes for this sort of a puzzle. Keep coming up with commonish 15-letter phrases long enough and, mirabile dictu, eventually the software cranks out enough same-length strings that can be parsed into enough marginally cluable phrases to assemble a grid.
@treedweller, LOL. Just what I was talking about.
In fairness, as Rex pointed out, the fill was mostly Tuesday-smooth, though I did hit that same speed bump in SW at 51D APRON. Google tells me that it’s a golf-course term. Do golfers actually use that word? Seriously—inquiring minds want to know.
@Rube, me too on the CIR/AVE rightover.
And I always thought Menotti’s opera was called Amyl and the Nitrite Visitors. Hmmm. Chromium damage affecting memory, perhaps.
This vegan Jew is going to be eating a lot of mixed green salads this week, but I still really loved this one. The theme answers were numerous and generally pretty good, though none can hold a candle to @treedwellers - priceless!
Since I was unable to comment yesterday, Rex, please add me to the list of those who totally enjoy this blog, but are members of the ACME (and foodie) fan club!
Gee, I was really impressed with six anagrams for SALAD GREENS, but between @Rex, @Foodie, and @treedweller, here are five more.
I guess there is a reason I sometimes struggle with the Jumble in the daily paper . . .
Wouldn't a LARGE DEAN be a BMOC?
@coffeeLvr- for sure ! At least in my book !!! ;)
Hope all my Jewish friends had a wonderful seder dinner.
Today at the recording studio, I was tempted with chocolate covered matzohs. Yum !!!
Shanti all -
Bob/PurpleGuy
what? no IMPLY vs INFER exegesis?!
OXO,
andrea
I think dk put a jinx on the crossword.
I've been doing crosswords for many years but this is the first one I ever quit in the middle with anger in my heart.
Am I looking at the same puzzle as everyone else or did someone drop LSD in my green tea?
12D: SLAIN: "Massacred"
37D LAI: My ___, Vietnam
I looked again and it's still there. I'm leaning toward LSD in my tea at this point.
As I said last week and might very well say again next week, please, let us have a long break from anagram puzzles.
Worst anagrams I have ever seen!LARGEDEANS wth finding out it was an angram for green salad didn't help-The thing was just generally sad!and black piano keys are BLACK really did not know that!smooth? if you call a whole lot of three letter junk smooth! sheesh
@Anoa Bob - may I join you?
And how does SEND make rhapsodic? never mind.
@lit.Doc The apron is a legitimate golf term however most of my playing partners and most, not all, tv announcers say the fringe.
This url arrangement is a piece of crap. that last comment was from Golfballman but it ate or changed my ID
DALE'S ANGER? Really? LARGE DEANS? Oh, come now. Best I can say about this puzzle is that I remembered SAL this time (after missing him last week).
Ready to move onward to Thursday.
This did not bring a glad sneer to my face, but it didn't SEND me, either.
I applaud the theme density and smooth fill but it's hard to jump up and down about the theme itself.
@lit.doc: yes, we say "apron" (and/or "fringe") all the time!
The more I did on this, the faster and faster it went.
Spent some time pondering what a SAD GENERAL and LARGE DEANS might have in common. All I could see was a GE with a D nerarby in both, which gave me nothng, Got the theme with 39A and felt, okay, cool construction, I guess, but this gives very little solving help. Still, that did not detract from what was overall a pleasant (and yes, smooth) solving experience.
Someday, I would like to try some GARDENS ALE, which I hear is GRAND AS EEL. But I've never seen an ANGLE AS RED as the one made by those ALGAE NERDS when the DEALER SANG "ALAS, GENDER!!!" (over by the sign that said DANGER! SEAL!).
alogramb -- just seems fitting, somehow
Not so happy with this one. It should have been yesterday's puzzle so my Tuesday puzzle mood-o-meter would have remained solidly in the pits.
The anagram theme is cute but does not float my boat.
That said the mini Oz theme is fun.
** (2 Stars) Still no paper.
Same holdup as everyone else: APRON/NORA.
Didn't use the theme at all to help me solve; didn't need it.
Oh, 7D left me scratching my head - FARER?
@ JenCT - wayFARER/seaFARER - a person who travels by foot/sea. In any dictionary I suspect.
Liked the puzzle. Like mixed green salads
@purple guy I made matzo brittle. Boy is that good..with chocolate caramel and nuts. Yummmm
@retired_chemist: Thanks - it just looked wrong to me. Brain fog, I guess...
I thought this was a perfectly fine puzzle for a Wednesday, if a little on the easy side. But then I thought the anagrams were kind of cute. Puns, on the other hand -- now that's what I can't stand in a puzzle. Irrational, I know.
@chefwen - Thanks for the heads-up! Truth is, I went through the puzz so fast I didn't even see the clue for 22D!
Count me among those amused and satisfied by this outing (small group, it seems.) If you are going to have anagram puzzles (and you know you will), how much better to have ten letters than than six or seven!
Wonder about a coal SILO, but too lazy to look it up.
No complaints here, but an anecdote relating to DALES ANGER.
As a little kid I watched all the Saturday morning westerns riding the couch arm as my horse. Roy, Dale and that other sidekick guy came to the Iowa State Fair and about a zillion kids and parents went to the airport to greet them. Kids lined up on each side of the door from the tarmac all the way to the front door. We cheered when they came through, but they didn't wave or smile, they just looked annoyed and irritated. It was such a let down being snubbed by one's heros. I told my parents I didn't want to see them at the fair. From then on it was the Cisco Kid and the Lone Ranger for me. No more happy trails.
Nit for Rex: the constructor lay the anagrams down, now they lie there. Just one of my pet peeves, like antique store. How old is it?
Well, you can't win 'em all.
My circled clues were
22A Hey @ BobKerfuffle! Did you like that one?
Like @ Greene, I was glad Sal was here last week and that I remembered (for once.)
Speaking of remembering, why can I never keep that Nora chick in my file?
Missiles and grain in a silo, yes.
Coal? Not so sure.
@Gil.I.Pollas
>clears throat gets ready to sing
"Darling yoo oo oo oo , send me
honest you do
honest you do"
Anagrams shmanagrams I don't mind because I am more interested in good fill, but they almost never "send me".
SADGENERAL just seems so cartoonish, I can just see Lee with his lower lip thrust out muttering "stupid Appomattox". Turn that frown upside-down general!
Nothing special, but I thought it was fine. Definitely felt more like a Tuesday, though. I have an eye for anagrams, so once I had two of the theme answers, I filled in the rest with few crosses.
The theme was saved for me by its density and by the fact that a GREEN SALAD is something that naturally gets MIXED. It's nothing brilliant, but it's servicable, and I appreciated the clean grid. I enjoy unscrambling letters well enough, so this was fine.
Found it easy. Sigh, just wrote comment and accidently deleted it. That's a Freudian slip right there. Thought it was going for outdoor theme with GARLAND and GARDEN but as I moved along saw the letter repeats. That eased fill in on the rest.
Like @chefwen I thought of @Bob. Hi Bob. Thanks for the chocolate tip @Rex. My favotite is Jacques Torres who has a shop in the Village.
Easy week so far. Will the Monty Python foot drop soon?
I'm surprised the COAL SILOS seem to be new to so many. I don't live in a coal area, but would be surprised if there weren't still some around.
Like most silage I expect that they require consistent caution. Silage dusts, even grains, are highly explosive if not handled properly.
Coal dust is explosive even in a bin situation.
Farm family background from my mother's side. Everything was dangerous. The biggest risk for barn fires was hay that hadn't been properly dried before baling. If the moisture content is too high it can lead to spontaneous combustion.
GREEN SALAD is very much dieter's fare, Rex must not know any vertically-challenged people trying to change their weight/height ratio ...
Gripe:
Has it come to the point that any NYT puzzle with"President" in the clue yields BARAK, OBAMA, BARAKOBAMA, BHO or similar? Will he be clued as *Current Messiah* one of these days?
please, no more
yes, easy for a Weds.
@lit.doc
Did your search also yield that APRON = FRINGE.
verite!
Agree with @dk and @lit.doc that this was a Tuesday puzzle. I smiled at the shout out to our own @BobK.
I'm a Menotti fan, so liked seeing him in the puzzle. His Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, SC, has been going since 1977 (with a break of a few years to resolve a dispute with him that shut it down for a while). It's coming up May 27-June 12 and will feature not only opera (including a new one about a woman scientist!), but dance, theater and all sorts of music, including the uncategorizable Bela Fleck, bluegrass artist Dale McCoury, and the heavenly jazz singer Dianne Reeves.
I'm tired of anagrams. It feels like we have not had a rebus in months. Can we have one of those, please?
Happy Pesach (Passover) everyone. That matzah brittle that @PurpleGuy mentioned is really addictive.
took me until now to understand job for a snake...was just about to ask! sometimes i am sooooo literal. imo puzzle was monday easy. i started from the bottom and since dales anger made no sense i realized it had to be anagrams. like others i remembered sal and also remembered nora, never heard of apron and didn't know that coal was stored in a silo. but it certainly wasn't a slog.
Though it was easy, it was a very smart puzzle IMO. To see all those anagrams! I didn't see it until I was almost done.
Do not get APRON. Must be sports? Unless it's just dropping potato chips on the driveway, or aiming for Mama's pockets.
Mini-theme: make smooth.
NY and New Orleans ports put me in mind of the Erie Canal of yesterday. The canal had the effect of stealing business from New Orleans for a large part of the year, the non icy part.
@Rube - I also thought "circle."
@Redanman - his name is just so crosswordy. Maybe our next Pres will be Baruch Adonoi Elohenu. We need some more ethnicity.
@LitDoc - so there's some software to write crosswords? Where can I get it? Cute Menotti quip. Goofiest 2nd line in an opera, "Coming. Mother."
Has anybody seen my favorite matzo - grape flavored? I guess it just didn't catch on. Like my china pattern, silver pattern, favorite licorice, etc.
I could not for the life of me figure out what MIXED GREEN SALAD had to do with a German guy named Dieter. Thanks for clearing that up, Rex.
Glad to hear that there really are coal silos, I was wondering about that one. Otherwise, easy; I agree the anagrams could have been wittier, though I did like SAD GENERAL. NORA was OK, I remembered her. And yes, the clue for 25D is lame.
No writeovers at all, unusual for me.
Boring clues and amateurish fills. it's no fun. Why can't The Times hire professional constructors? The steady stream of mediocre puzzles by beginners has gotten stale....
I'm late to the party today owing to the indignity of a wildly early-morning 'stress test' to make sure my heart is ok. It appears to be fine, but my dignity is wounded and my wallet is lighter. Really? A co-pay of $765?
Anyway, the puzzle: Liked it ok. Only writeover was at the intersection of 3D and 17A where I had the correct D but changed it to an r when SA-GE appeared and I thought Lee might be a SArGE hater or something. I'm not sure a SAD GENERAL is tons better, but ok. It makes the anagram work.
Long ago, in a gardening mood, I went to Sutherland's Hardware to buy a red WAGON. The Red Flyers were $79. Next to them, for $69, were rugged yellow wagons that were bigger, had inflatable tires and could haul up to 800 pounds. I went with the yellow one. Just Monday, I (and two other guys) used it to move a hot tub from my yard to a waiting truck. It only took me three years to fully understand the idiocy of owning a hot tub in sunny southern New Mexico. Thank you, yellow WAGON!
Note to Purple Guy: The hospital robe was bad enough. I won't be eating dinner on anyone's lawn wearing only an APRON. Just saying.
Mulpfu! (When you insist on talking after you've shoved a whole salad in your yap, you're gonna say a real mulpfu) -- jesser
where's my mousse?!
Pharcyde is just not the same without fatlip :(
I have a red wagon dating from circa 1960. My dad completely refurbished it in 1988 as a birthday present for my son. He disassembled it, removed the rust, and repainted. Rebuilt the wheel bearings and found new tires. What a labor of love. A nice memory when I was solving.
The WAGON is one more item I couldn't part with when I made my downsizing move. That's why I have a two car garage that can only hold one car.
@AnoaBob, I have noticed the use of My LAI in the puzzle several times. I agree, it is a reminder of atrocity. It seems the passage of time permits the use of some dreadful events, but this is one in the memory of many. Whenever it is in the puzzle, my mind's eye sees the iconic photograph. I won't describe it; readers, you know it or you don't.
Google reveals that LAI is also "a lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets," but that must be too obscure for Wednesday. The other uses and abbreviations are too obscure for any day.
This MIXEDGREENSALAD must have been put together with bok choy, daikon, bean sprouts and snow peas because the minute I finished I was still hungry for a decent puzzle.
Anagram puzzles should be banned by the crossword gods.
@Sfingi, you can get Crossword Compiler online and subscribe to the Cruciverb.com puzzle database. Both very helpful, but it's still freaking hard. I'm in Kindergarten on this.
"equeek" Just gotta be a use for such a word.
@quilter 1
Me too!
I was in love with Roy Rogers and used to pretend I was married to him.
When I was growing up in Cuba we had horses (hi nanpilla!) and I named my sweet sorrel Trigger - although my parents called him George...!
It wasn't until much later when I found out that he stuffed Trigger that I decided he really wasn't so handsome after all.
@Tobias Duncan
Wow, what an incredible uvula you have.
Have taken up some speed solving the past week or so. Picked a good time to do it. Easy grids lately.
Don't know how fast 31 did today's puz. I noticed one name I recognized on the online fastest times list. Byron Waldon. 3:20. I'm not exactly sayin' what my time was, but lets put it like this...
After I finished, and checked the other times, I brought up a fresh AL screen and reworked this same WedPuz puppy. Took me 4:20 or so to reenter it, with a Mr. HP verification at the finish line. I need to improve, if I want that 31 mm trophy.
I'm starting to get why a speed solver might prefer some kinds of themes over others. This puz was pretty hard to get, without stopping to smell the theme song. I think it's a debut puz; so, welcome aboard, Mr. Farabaugh.
After watching the T-Rex chew on your efforts, followed by some jackels pickin' at the carcass, you must be ready for the retirement home. Don't. I thought it was fine, for openers. Keep yer U-count up, tho. Really liked the "job for a snake" clue. One of yours? How about CERT? Interesting fill choice, of the many available there.
Peace and love -- M&A
This felt easy and ended up being a medium. If it's a debut puzzle, then congratulations. Found it to be rather forced. Meh.
byron_waldEn. My humble apologies. That's what I get for trying to speed-write a comment.
Actually, only the pros usually chip from the apron. Most people putt if the grass is smooth enough. Remember; the worst putt is usually better than the worst chip.
@Sfingi: Baruch Adonoi Elohenu for president! Amen.
I've really enjoyed the comments today. Gosh you are a witty bunch.
@LitDoc - thanx; maybe someday I'll have time to try. Want to.
I have a little yellow wagon under a bed that I keep books in. Just reach down and pull the handle and pick a book. Easier than a plastic box.
Have 2 coal bins in the basement from back in the day(s). They serve to divide the area, now.
Baruch Adonai Elohenu - please translate for this gentile.... I think I get it but I am not sure.
Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation of my method):
All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Wed 9:59, 11:45, 0.85, 20%, Easy-Medium
Top 100 solvers
Wed 5:21, 5:47, 0.93, 34%, Easy-Medium
@retired_chemist:
Baruch atah Adonai eloheinu melech haolam, asher kidishanu bimitzvotav vitzivanu lahadlik neir shel Shabbat. Praised are You, the Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with commandments and commands us to kindle the lights of Shabbat.
Barack (first name of President) does NOT mean "one who is blessed". OBAMA does (his last name!)
Heads will roll for that one.
Sorry to be so late. My darn sea leg was acting up.
OT, but what's with the hoo-ha on the LAT puzzle app? Mr. Pencil is one thing, but ....puulleezzee!
Silly.
Barack is Arabic for Baruch (Hebrew). Both Semitic languages.
I just looked up Obama - means in some Kenyan language "he is bent." Probably a great, great, ever-so-great G-Father.
Oh, and I'm a Gentile who hangs out with Jews.
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 6:14, 6:53, 0.91, 17%, Easy
Tue 6:53, 8:55, 0.77, 2%, Easy (2nd lowest median solve time of 96 Tuesdays)
Wed 10:04, 11:45, 0.86, 21%, Easy-Medium
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:21, 3:40, 0.91, 16%, Easy
Tue 3:53, 4:35, 0.85, 6%, Easy (6th lowest median solve time of 96 Tuesdays)
Wed 5:11, 5:47, 0.90, 28%, Easy-Medium
I'm not a big anagram fan, but I had great fun with these. Answers like SAD GENERAL and LARGE DEANS struck me as goofy and amusing in their own right. I realize that not everyone might react the same way (there's a fine line between clever and stupid). But for me this was a very satisfactory debut: serious theme coherence, some witty clues (8D, 42A), and minimal crap.
Good one, Michael!
I guess I have repressed this all day - I WAS a LARGE DEAN before I retired.
captcha kitedemo - as in go fly a......
Obama is speaking a block away and like everyone knew but me :(
If I hadn't run out of bread and run out to the store, and seen the cops blocking off my street, I'd never have known.
(Note to self, less time on this blog, more time actually reading the local paper!)
Hey, who's coming to LA puzzle thing next weekend? (Click on rex's link to read all about it)
Someone on Wordplay pointed out that CIVIL WAR is an oxymoron! That's a new one (to me!)
Rex, Maybe you're getting jaded. I thought this one was exceedingly clever. My mistake, I stared with "See Dorothy." Why not?
@Stan -- If you see this, LOL! Loved that movie.
@tim: Thanks!! Yes, Spinal Tap is great.
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