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Moon jumper in Hey Diddle Diddle / MON 8-19-13 / Two in craps / Obsolescent Kodak product / Some Dadaist pieces / Tiny bagel flavorers
Monday, August 19, 2013
Constructor: Jean O'Conor
Relative difficulty: Medium (*little* tougher maybe)
THEME: ON A / ROLL (62A: With 60-Across, doing great ... or where to find 18-, 24-, 35-, 51- and 57-Across?) — things that can be found in or on or are otherwise associated with rolls:
Theme answers:
- 18A: Tiny bagel flavorers (POPPY SEEDS)
- 24A: Two in craps (SNAKE EYES)
- 35A: Ones getting all A's (HONOR STUDENTS)
- 51A: Room decoration with a pattern (WALLPAPER)
- 57A: Obsolescent Kodak product (CAMERA FILM)
Word of the Day: EXIGENT (19D: Demanding immediate attention) —
adj.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/exigent#ixzz2cMWmQOA9
• • •
- Requiring immediate action or remedy. See synonyms at urgent.
- Requiring much effort or expense; demanding.
[Latin exigēns, exigent-, present participle of exigere, to demand. See exact.]
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/exigent#ixzz2cMWmQOA9
• • •
The fill here is fine. Average. NW stands out as the nicest area, although EXIGENT is easily my favorite single answer. Got slowed down some by [___ blind] (ROB), which is actually quite hard, and SLIMES, which is not a real word except in "Ghostbusters" (47D: Smears with gunk), and SIDESLIP, which is not a word I really know (though I can imagine what it is) (39D: Lose forward traction). Completely blanked on "Hey Diddle Diddle" lyrics and somehow ended up with THE COP jumping over the moon. Weird. Anyway, all those struggles/mistakes were enough to drive me over, but not considerably over, my normal Monday time.
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76 comments:
Nitpick: you don't get apps at the iTunes store. You get them at the App store.
Can we do one of those overthrow deals, maybe have Rexy put on the rack and place ACME on the throne?
Easy for me. Seemed about average for Mon. Had the same thoughts as Rex on how ROLL is used.
Mini E_O theme: ETO, ELO, EEO
I had no problem with the theme. I thought "on a roll" applied to all theme answers. Poppy seeds are on a roll, snake eyes can be obtained on a roll of the die, Honor students are on the honor roll, wall paper comes on a cardboard roll and I have purchased thousands of rolls of film. My only complaint was that it was too easy, even for a Monday. EXIGENT was the only word that I had to think about. Jon finished in under 10 minutes, a speed run for him. Bring it on Tricky Tuesday!
The theme worked for me, including SNAKE EYES. You get them ON A ROLL of the dice. Same with, say, boxcars (two sixes).
With five theme answers already in place, it's tough to find a spot for a sixth, here the seven-letter reveal, so we get the somewhat awkward ROLL first at 60A, followed by ONA at 62A. Given the theme density, however, I can't carp too much about that.
The grid's on the ambitious side, with 36 black squares and some nice double and triple stacked downs in the corners. So I'm not surprised to see s few POCs. The south was especially POC assisted, with AROMA/WT, BERET/SLIME, & LT/ARP all sharing a final helper-square S.
I'm so out of it, I thought it was just the first words and wondered what a SNAKE ROLL was, thinking it was some sort of sushi!
EXIGENT is so not Monday, and will raise a howl...
but it reminds me of "The LIttle Prince"...I think it's what he keeps telling the rose that she is "exigeant"...oui?
@anon 1:19am
Thanks for the thought, but no dethroning the king!
(I prefer the ROLL of court jester.)
OK @anoa bob
i finally see your point of the 3 POC/S's on the bottom row...
but still, really it doesn't matter except maybe with ARPS, which sounds a little like the sounds my BlackJack makes when he has a hairball.
My fave word was TRAPDOOR
Little mini menagerie with KANGAROO, THE COW, DOGEAR, SNAKEEYES, YAKS... practically a theme itself...
Not to mention MEDUSA with her snake hair.
Gotta agree with @Rex about awkwardness of CAMERAFILM...just bought some yesterday for my trip to Stockholm! Hej do from SFO.
Arps?
"obsolescent" vs "obsolete"
The theme reveal just sits on top of WTS and TOIT?
What's on toity toid and toid?
THE COW diddles?
Somehow I got terribly lost by this puzzle.
I enjoyed the puzzle, and thought it was fun. I didn't have a problem with "roll". However ...
12D Medusa didn't have venomous locks, she had snakes instead.
57A bends things too far to be accurate in saying that camera film is "obsolescent" -- it may be considered so in many cases, but it's necessary or preferred in some situations.
What @Rex said, basically. I really did not enjoy CAMERAFILM. Also, of course, if *I* were going to construct or edit this puzzle, my first step would be to make ONA/ROLL a 7-letter revealer, probably right across the middle. It's pretty ugly as it is now.
Still solvable, so good enough, probably.
@Craig:
Yeah, but those snakes are venomous.
Flew through this one. Just further proof that @Rex and I have widely disparate skill sets.
I was really slow, but it was me, not the puzzle. Medea was blocking MEDUSA, who knows why. I also kept looking at the 52D clue and wondering what else besides AGILE would fit at 53D. SNO-CONE and WALLPAPER also took me a long time to when they really would should have been automatic. So, not that hard but still at the top end for me.
LEAPER? The "One Who..." equivalent of a POC. AGE ONE is also close to a OneTen. But all is forgiven by the ECON clue. O'Connor must have been a Poli Sci major.
Jean O'Conor is on a roll with all the yummy food - Clams, bread, wafer,apple,bagels,heroes and of course ROLL
Fun easy puzzle!!!
Drat! Blogger just ate my comment, and I forgot to save a copy first. Too long to do again (long involved comparison between @Rex's not knowing Hey Diddle Diddle and the English prof in a David Lodge novel who had never read Hamlet) -- easy puzzle, I agree with almost everyone.
Tin type is obselescent, film is, perhaps dated. Quietly quibbled Tom.
** (2 Stars) clunky sums it up.
Is anyone else having trouble accessing the NYT's server with Magmic?
For me the SFO/OSOS crossing was a near natick though happily I guessed correctly avoiding an A for San Francisco Airport. An easy improvement (IMO) would be to change the SFO/FIR crossing to SAO/AIR.
And I agree with Rex's comments on the theme.
Gerry
Yes. It hasn't submitted my solve times for four days.
jlb
Happy AS A clam to be coming to you from the beautiful shores of Maine this week. I had no issues with the theme either...ON A ROLL can certainly work with all of the themers.
I so wish that I knew how to embed a picture or link because this one is apropos:
http://pinterest.com/pin/105905028710715711/
@Charlene - Jean ARP was a prominent Dadaist artist. I knew ARTS couldn't be right.
I agree that ONAROLL works with all the theme answers.
I also agree with those who think the reveal is oddly placed.
I second or third ARPS?!
A KANGAROO is a LEAPER.
My favorite word was SMIRK.
I can't even access today's puzzle. Been trying since 11:30pm.
@Miette I can e-mail the puzzle to you and you can print it out...will that help?
@mielte you can try deleting the app and reinstalling. That has worked for me in the past.
Channeling Forrest Gump, this one’s cluing made it seem like a box of assorted chocolates and every time I picked out what I hoped was a chocolate covered cherry, I got a dreaded dipped almond, (or worse).
LEAPER was an almond; TRACED was a cherry, and then there was SMIRK, a tasty, chewy caramel, but THECOW was like a piece that had been chewed and rejected by an AGEONE toddler, then sneaked back into the box, (only to be replaced with GEE, a candy that ended up as a sloppy mess deposited between the sofa cushions).
For all intents and purposes, this was a Monday themeless puzzle, with no obvious common thread for the apparent theme entries, until the reveal of ONA ROLL. By then it was of little concern and made no difference when solving the puzzle.
Among the few high points along the way I’d mention ADMONISH, MEDUSA, RECANT and EXIGENT, (I’d have included DOGEAR but, as a lover of books, the practice is too odious to be applauded).
BERETS is technically correct, Special Forces soldiers do wear them, but as of two years ago they also became the headgear of all U.S. Army troops. The official BERET for Army personnel is now black, with allowable variations of maroon for Airborne, tan for Rangers and Green for Special Forces. Time for color coded cluing, Will?
Another Monday, another reminder that, “You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Googler seems to have made my blue name black at 9:25AM.
Thought it was cute. Pondered what the reveal might be, but needed some letters filled in to see it - made me smile. Agree with others that they all fit with "ON."
Liked HONOR STUDENT crossing ROTE learning (still needed for foreign language verb conjugations, declensions, etc.)
@acme - We can add OSOS to the menagerie, and a MEDUSA is also a jellyfish, so does double duty.
@joho -I was hoping there'd be some sort of mountain goat to go with ALPINE LEAPER.
@jberg - Your post is all too tantilizing!
To those of you with app issues,
Check and make sure you don't need an update. Chances are you do.
Easy Monday, with my only write-over snocone for
slurpie. Spell check wants slur pie.
Theme worked fine for me, though I found the snake eyes also iffy. Trapdoor and admonish are pretty, leaper and age one not very.
I was wondering if it's smart to announce with special headwear what kind of military personnel they are.
Hey all! Notes from Jean, Will, and myself at:
http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/19/2013
Jeff
Catching up. Drank wine with the other big kids through last-night-in-OBX Saturday, drove 11 hours back to Jersey yesterday, unpacked, watched Breaking Bad, fell asleep. Still havent done Sunday's puzzle, which I'll get to this morning.
This one was OK. As noted, some icky 3-letters, and awkward placement of the reveal, but still an easy puzzle with no snags or hang-ups. EXIGENT is kind of a "lawyer's word," so that went right in. Always prefer 'em more challenging than less so, but this one didn't feel that way to me.
I have no problems with CAMERAFILM. In fact, as clued, it's exactly, 100% right. As something Kodak makes, camera film (as opposed to x-ray film, motion-picture film, and other types of specialty films, is indeed becoming obsolesete. (NB: Becoming obsolete, which is the definition of "obsolescent" and is exactly what's happening at Kodak.) They've discontinued most of their camera films (including the famous and onetime flagship Kodachrome), but they still produce a few specialized films for 35mm and medium-format cameras. For now. CAMERAFILM (incidentally, the exact product category Kodak use on their site to distinguish from the other types of film they still produce) is indeed obsolescent at Kodak.
Was fine with the concept of ONA ROLL, as all those things do come on a roll (as opposed to being placed on a roll). As others have pointed out, the reveal was less than optimally elegant.
Otherwise, mechanical Monday solve for me, with nothing that stood out in particular (other than the ungainlyness of the LTS/ARPS crossing). Didn't even notice EXIGENT, as I picked it up on all the crosses. As such, I think it's perfectly fine as a Monday word.
F.Y.I.
Obsolescent:
1. becoming obsolete; passing out of use, as a word: an obsolescent term.
2. becoming outdated or outmoded, as machinery or weapons.
Slime: noun, verb, slimed
noun
1. thin, glutinous mud.
2. any ropy or viscous liquid matter, especially of a foul kind.
3. a viscous secretion of animal or vegetable origin.
4. Also called slime·ball [Slang. a repulsive or despicable person.
verb (used with object)
5. to cover or smear with or as if with slime.
6. to remove slime from, as fish for canning.
Slideslip
1. to slip to one side.
2. (of an airplane when banked excessively) to slide sideways in a downward direction, toward the center of the curve described in turning.
I did that and am still receiving the message "unable to connect to server. Try again later".
Can somebody please, pretty please, oh pretty pretty please, explain the difference between "obsolete" and "obsolescent?" Three explanations just aren't enough.
Agree with Rex on pretty much everything, especially the placement of the reveal. After I finished I tied to figure out the theme from the long answers and couldn't. Went to Wordplay and she was pretty coy about it. Xword Info - ditto. FINALLY looked for the reveal and got it. I had done both 62A and 60A entirely by crosses, so I never saw it during solving. Not that it would have mattered, since the theme answers were quite straightforwardly clued.
EXIGENT was also my favorite answer. No interesting misdirecting clues in this one. I like to see one or two even on a Monday.
Thsnks, Ms. O'Conor.
ps - For those of you who advised me to view previous seasons of Breaking Bad first, rather than wading in at the start of Season 5, give yourselves a pat on the back. You were right. My choice is to give up on it or the invest some bucks in DVDs and (more worrisome) a BUNCH of TV time catching up. Not sure which way it will go...
yep.
What everyone else said. I'm easily convinced.
Moon-Cow clues! Great. God bless U, MonPuz.
Only possible, conceivable upgrade for the ONAROLL revealer: Have those letters arranged in a kinda spiral, like a roll of tp, and use them circles to make 'em pop.
Lastlylyly...
The Kodak folks are still crankin out the motion picture camera film, I think. That dealy will eventually go all digital, probably. But not quite yet. Sorta obso-letswaitandsee-ent, huh, 4-Oh?
M&A
RC - Don't give up on it entirely. Buy the DVDs if all prior seasons aren't available on On Demand, or Hulu, or the like. You'll be happy you did. You will largely abandon all other daily waking activities for the three days it will take you to marathon through it, and then be bummed when you have to wait a week until your next fix. With The Wire, best show ever.
Obsolete:
1 no longer produced or used; out of date: the disposal of old and obsolete machinery | the phrase was obsolete after 1625.
2 Biology (of a part or characteristic of an organism) less developed than formerly or in a related species; rudimentary; vestigial.
Obsolescent:
adjective
becoming obsolete: the custom is now obsolescent.
My entry was for @Z
@DBGeezer - touché
I think Rex’s comments today are unfair on several counts. First, I do not agree with his general assertion that “on a roll” does not work for some theme answers. He’s the English professor but the clue says “where to find.” And you can find these “on a roll” even if you can also find a couple “in a roll” or snake eyes can also be considered the roll. After all, we are dealing with wordplay, not an essay.
Second, Rex complains that “the last two are the same *kind* of "roll" …, where all the other theme answers use "roll" differently. True, but so what!? Aside from the fact this is a cute and clever Monday puzzle, compare these Rex’s critiques where he had no problem with theme answers with different meanings: http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2013/08/hoops-great-baylor-thu-8-15-13-typhon.html
And
http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2012/06/benedictine-monk-who-founded.html
Sometimes, I think Rex’s comments are as much affected by who the constructor is as what the construction is. He will cut slack for some that he won’t for others.
Third, Kodak no longer makes camera film, so that brand is obsolete, even if other film manufacturers still make the stuff for professional or skilled photographers.
Lastly, the placement of the revealer is anything but random. It is in the bottom of the puzzle, where it seems far more appropriate than either the start or middle.
Lastly x2, I think Rex’s real problem was summed up in his statement, “Anyway, all those struggles/mistakes were enough to drive me over, but not considerably over, my normal Monday time.”
JFC
@ Sir Hillary- if you stop by today,
Happy Birthday
Cycle after "wash" is "spin" then rinse. Puzzle made me smile without rolling my eyes.
Felt this was another easy Monday, no sweat, no nits.
p.s.
Cool sequel themes for constructors to consider:
* in the bag things
* down the pike things
* on the can things
* up the wazoo things
* by the way things
* across the street things
* over the hill things
M&A
It seemed easy for a Monday - quick for me.
With the theme -- which I liked in general. But two nits:
1. I don't like that the POPPY SEEDS are clued on a flour product (bagel) -- too close to ON A ROLL.
2. Each theme answer uses a different sense of "roll" except the last two, which are both wound around a cylinder. I would have liked another sense of roll, like maybe in gymnastics.
The puzzle felt sparkly overall and was fun to solve. I'll be away for a week on vacation. Happy solving, all.
p.p.s.s.
@BEQ: Really superb puz today. har-larious fillins and clues. We had SLOP for breakfast, btw.
M&A
Smooth, if not a bit on the challenging side for a Mon. Disagree with Rex...SNAKEEYES can be found on a roll of the dice. I do agree with him that it's a bit uneven since CAMERA FILM (ugly phrase) and WALL PAPER are the same type of roll. But that's a minor nit to me (deduct 1 elegant point and move on with life). Good med length fill.
I did notice all of the double POCs on the bottom, though (okay, take off another elegant point). Overall, a very nice puzzle.
ARPS: Relief, Clock; Torso of a Giant.
Whether or not the snakes are venomous is a moot point. Creatures turned to stone are impervious to venom. And to caring.
ure tree is there. can u see it
crunchy NE - otherwise good Mon Puz.
@M&A - Thanks for the reminder about the BEQ Monday. Good one!
@Mike Rees - Loved your post.
Finally able to access the puzzle and finished in an easy 7:44.
Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation of my method and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak to my method):
All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Mon 6:24, 6:12, 1.03, 69%, Medium-Challenging
Top 100 solvers
Mon 4:14, 3:49, 1.11, 87%, Challenging
@ August West -we did just what you said with "24" and the results were exactly as you predicted. Not sure I want to go through that again....
@Carola,
Good catch about my leaving out those poor Spanish bears!
It's funny that @ChefBea sees food food food and I see animals animals animals
@retired chemist.
I am also a piled higher and deeper anal chemist, from the 60s. I would exhort you to watch BB from the beginning. Protagonist is a failed chemist teaching high school. You need to know this.
Some of the chemical silliness is absurd but somehow appropriate. If you don't get with the protagonist right off the bat then scotch it. I found it totaling compelling after being cajoled into watching. I bought a few seasons even.
But now I'm up-to-date. Can't wait for subsequent episode. As a chemist YOU HAVE to watch it!!
@JFC: As previously mentioned, Kodak absolutely still makes CAMERAFILM. Therefore (for @Z's benefit :) ), it is indeed obsolescent at Kodak, but still not obsolete.
I just came here to read all your comments. Thank The Lord, I go to another blog for my education and learning. Your comments are full of dissonance.... Is this how you normally talk, at home ?
@r_c - The difference between "24" and "Breaking Bad" is the difference between Ludlum and le Carré.
@L A Crossword blogger - uhhhh, I normally talk when I'm at home, instead of typing. And I usually don't drop in for a visit and criticize the other guests.
Thanks for all the "help" on obsolescence everyone. Maybe, just maybe, I get it now.
This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. 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 6:23, 6:12, 1.03, 68%, Medium-Challenging
Top 100 solvers
Mon 4:02, 3:49, 1.06, 79%, Medium-Challenging
I'd love to comment on the puzzle, but I'm too busy watching "The Man with the 132lb scrotum" on TLC.
A man's gotta have his priorities, right?
@carola -- OK, I'll try again. In one of his novels, I think maybe Trading Places, David Lodge describes a party where a bunch of English professors play a game called "Humiliation." You take turns writing down the name of a literary work you have NOT read, and the others have to guess it (obviously, it is cheating to pick something obscure). So you stump them if you pick something no one would believe you hadn't read - hence the humiliation. The guy who wins picks Hamlet. No one can believe it even when he reveals the answer - but finally he prevails. Then, two years later, he doesn't get tenure, because the department just can't bring itself to support someone who hadn't read Hamlet.
My conclusion was that @Rex must have tenure already, or he would never have dared to admit his ignorance of one of the foundational works of English literature, "Hey Diddle Diddle."
My CAMERAFILM SIDESLIPped, making me miss a shot of THECOW. Yikes, this puzzle needs another kind of -PAPER that comes ONAROLL. Plus, "Hidden exit" is not how I'd clue TRAPDOOR. True enough, it's hidden--and even an exit from the room you're in--but sadly, seldom from the building. I think of an exit as a way out. Side.
Agree that "___ blind" is pretty brutal--for a Monday.
Doing this puzle made me think of a favorite lyric:
Playin' solitaire till dawn
With a deck of 51
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain
KANGAROO
Now don't tell me
I've nothin' to do.
GEE whillikers and LEAPER lizards, Sandy! Some folks is all riled up by this perky effort of a puzzle. I don't know, but to me all the theme things are ONA ROLL and all the clues work. THE COW! Ha ha!
Thanks for the Thao, love her (and her music). I had BED for BAG (55a. Sack) until I got the downs.
SIDESLIP is an aerobatic maneuver used when a pilot is on final approach and needs to quickly lose altitude. It's a technique most often used when landing at a very short strip, or one that has obstacles near the approach end. If done incorrectly it may cause an aircraft to ROLL.
Clever, theme-dense and fun Monday. A bit tougher than average. I have no problem with the different rolls, in fact I like the variety.
The Hawks looked awesome yesterday. GO HAWKS!
The APP purchased from the ITunes Store crosses the IPODS that have earbuds - do you think they pay royalties for that kind of product placement in the puzzle?
That snark aside, I liked it. SlushiE/SNOCONE was easily fixed.
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