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Flag carried on knight's lance / FRI 9-20-13 / Fox relative / Relatives of spoonbills / Blake's burning bright cat / Positive thinking pioneer / 1959 #5 hit with the B-side I've Cried Before / Watch brand once worn by 007 / 50s politico
Friday, September 20, 2013
Constructor: Mangesh Ghogre and Doug Peterson
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: OSKAR Werner (4D: Werner of "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold") —
Oskar Werner (13 November 1922 – 23 October 1984) was an Austrian actor.He is known for his film performances in Jules and Jim (1962), Ship of Fools (1965), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968). Werner received anAcademy Award nomination in 1966, two BAFTA award nominations in 1966 and 1967, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture in 1966. (wikipedia)
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Thought the grid was OK, but deeply and obviously reliant on -ER and -S and -ERS words (esp. there in the SE—HEAVER crossing LEERERS kind of hurt). The 15s are very nice up top and just OK down below. The rest of it is solid but not impressive. Doug's stuff usually amazes me more than this puzzle did.
Off to stare at the TV, or the wall, until stomach pain subsides and I can sleep. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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84 comments:
My spoonbill relatives were IrISES which made the long-haired cat hard to see. And I had no idea there ever was a VTEN. Fixing those two brought me home. Solid puzzle.
@4-Oh: Two words:
PEPSID COMPLETE.
M&A
I don't know what the average is for plurals on Friday, but this did seem like a lot. 16. Could've been 17 if OBS was clued differently. Almost 25%.
Hate the clue for SNIT. Seems Saturday-plus and not relevant. A cool clue belonged there. I get that lousy entries are sometimes required, but I don't what they were thinking with this clue.
Easy-medium again with the top half tougher than the bottom for me. Case for VEIN didn't help. Should have know case was to obvious for a Fri. Also, reelED for AMAZED (knowing BIZET from crosswords really helped) and dUSTS for BUSTS (went with the verb first).
WOE: PENNON
Age related clue confession: Yes, I watched Captain Video on TV.
Ugly corner: @Rex SE - POCs combined with ER endings are kinda cringy.
Random thought: The Blake poem always reminds me of Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination". One fine novel.
Liked the zippy 15s and the crunchy North, so nice Fri. guys!
I spent about 1/3 of my total time just trying to get the downs west of BIZET. I had the 15ers, but for some reason it took me forever to see the rest. Of course, it didn't help that I had TAzED instead of TASED.
I'd say this was the best puzzle all week, but mainly because the other puzzles were so weak (with the exception of Wednesday). I liked the 15s, and it's always good to see NINJAS. And I enjoyed learning PENNON.
Good puzzle overall.
Proud of my birding knowledge I confidently put snipes instead of IBISES and stayed with it but remembered my yearling/nestling episode so was open to change.
LEchERS came before LEERERS.
Apart from that I found this medium-challenging. Not a snap.
Not much fun. Only four cute clues led by "Works at a museum ..." for BUSTS, not DUSTS. Only learned one word, BALINESE. And I didn't correctly solve it. I was convinced that a voyeur was PEEKER and that SNAK was some obscure slang for insult.
Harder than a typical Friday for me. In large part, I'm sure, because nothing would come together for me in the bottom half. Like Rex, even with a few tendrils reaching down (VALOR, IKE, PEALE), I could make no headway on the two 15s.
Also hampered by a handful of things I didn't know in the sense that they were offered up, particularly Satyrs/LEERERS (I've never known that word outside the mythological context). I've never liked the often-enough appearing "in a pet" phrase in crosswords - I acknowledge it's a thing, and it's been out there in locales outside crosswords - but using just "pet" as a clue for SNIT was particularly evil.
Really liked the two long acrosses up top. HOSTILE TAKEOVER was also nice. TO DIE FOR was nice (and also a guilty pleasure movie from the late '90s). Not much else of note.
For once, I think the Newsday dailies dominated the NYT.
Newsday still beats the NYT of course, on most weeks..but this time, it's not even close.
Best puzzle this week so far though for the NYT.
@Clark - Love the new kitty pic.
Had the opposite solving experience as @jae. Top half was filled in so quickly it made me head spin. Had to apply the brakes for the bottom half. I was around in 1959 (just barely) but didn't remember 45A I've Cried Before. I do remember A TEENAGER IN LOVE, but not related to the B-side. Had to get that from crosses.
Like @Steve J. - learned "in a pet" from crosswords, so SNIT wasn't a problem. I use "in a pet" occasionally, I think it's cute.
All in all, a fine Friday puzzle that I really enjoyed. Thanks Mr. Ghogre and Mr. Peterson.
Those 9 squares running diagonally made for a pretty grid.
Smooth smooth, yet a few Scrabbly tiles and lots of Ks abound... KILMER, OSKAR, BAKES, KNIFE, SEIKO, KARAT, IKE...that AMAZED me!
I would have thought @Rex would think
7Ks were TODIEFOR (tho not literally! Feel better!)
ALLKIDDINGASIDE, loved the visual of RAISEDANEYEBROW.
ATEENAGERINLOVE brought back LOTS of wonderful memories of Camp Tikvah, Northern Minnesota circa 1974 and the counselor Sha Na Na group. Larry Pumpian, where are you now?!
omg, just found him!!!!!! One try on Google!
Went to a benefit banquet tonight that served vegan food, left hungry, so opposite experience from @Rex. Sailed through puzzle very quickly for me. Is this a lesson? Eat little, crush x-word? Who knows.
I just couldn't get started so I filled in the ton of plurals hoping to get something other than the lone VTEN I had. Put the puzzle down for a couple of hours and then was AMAZED at how quickly I sailed through this puppy.
I Googled BALINESE and wasn't sure about PEALE but everything else just seemed to be DEADON.
I had two huhs...[Ready for an on-air interview]= MIKED???? and [Works at a museum, say]= BUSTS???? TO DIE FOR is fun to say. HEAVER sounds like something you would do over PTBOATS and should'nt PEEPER have Tom lurking about?
Good work for a debut and I certainly would like to see more of the same.
Went down pretty quickly for a friday (~35 min - I'm often over 40) but DNF due to PENtON /INtER which looked good to me.
Vs and Ks. Yay. I liked this a lot more than yesterday's.
This homeopathic veterinarian never travels without her Nux vomica 30C for over consumption of alcohol or restaurant food!
Tough and fun Friday for us. Zoomed through the North and staggered home in the South. PAN filled, but still don't get it - anybody?
On the SNIT/pet complaints - Dated a woman years ago who used "in a pet" constantly - she was English, maybe it's common usage over there.
Shocked that TEENAGERINLOVE only went to number 5. I was a teenager when it was released so in my mind it is slightly ahead of Clair de Lune as the greatest piece of music ever written.
I was grumpy solving this. I couldn't sleep. Got up at about midnight. Tried to print the puzzle. Our %$&% printer wouldn't print it, so I had to do it on line. Typing keys is just not the same as using my special Bic pencil (morning, @jae), positioning the puzzle over at least two finished puzzles – the paper cannot be the sole piece of paper – on the board I commissioned from @Tita's mom, and then slowly, neatly, filling in letters – all caps – and no part of the letter can touch any line. So I feel berfeft. (I STETted that typo because the way it looks pleases me. Yiddishish)
Always a pleasure to see Doug's name at the top. Mangesh – congrats on your NYT debut! I knew I was in for some great fill and clues. Highlights for me were the clues/answers for ALL KIDDING ASIDE ("joking" wouldn't fit) and DEAD ON (had to lose "spot").
I couldn't finish. Had to cheat to see ARAPAHO – huh? Is that an animal? Or is fox an Indian? That's all I needed to give me the article A for A TEENAGER IN LOVE. Sheesh. Why didn't I try that? I actually considered "Tweenager in Love" but decided that portmanteau wasn't around back then.
My voyeur was a "peerer," wondering what the heck "snars" were. So I thought about @Evan with LEERER, "peerer," and HEAVER. Then there's IMITATOR. Made me look at other entries:
INNER – one who runs a bed and breakfast
AMER – early pewit
VALOR – IMITATOR of VAL KILMER
KILMER – see above
TER – golf caddy
TYGER – one who drinks from a strange British mug with three or more handles. I swear.
Rex – I had lunch last week with a good friend, and he pushed his plate away, leaving a full, beautiful slice of fresh mozzarella on the plate. I said, "You can push that away and not eat that piece of cheese?" He said, "Yes. I've had enough." I was gobsmacked. There's no way in heck I would *ever* leave any significant protein on my plate. I regularly eat way beyond the point that I'm full. I start to feel uncomfortable but soldier on, knowing there are still pieces of chicken in that utterly forgettable salad. My sister says we should stop eating when it gets hard to chew. But we don't.
Doug, Mangesh – nice Friday romp. Thanks!
Hard for a Tuesday, only medium for a Friday. For me, the long acrosses fell quickly. On top, all I needed was RAIS. . . and ALLK. . . On the bottom, I got the song from . . .AGER . . . (but then I *was* a teenager in love in the 50s). The downs off that gave me HOSTILE TAKEOVER quite quickly. Those four fifteens gave me the rest of the puzzle quite easily. My only hesitation was that I thought ORESTES was by Aeschylus.
I enjoyed this a lot more than Rex, perhaps because I had salad with chicken for dinner. Acme beat me to it: I loved the look of the empty grid with its striking diagonal black and lots of open white space. I thought it was easy-medium but loved the 15s...they never fail to impress when stacked.
With its array of musical, lit, and movie classics from ORESTES to A TEENAGER IN LOVE, this one was right up my alley. Liked the Old and New Testament pair ARARAT next to SALOME and the ROMAN and Greek references - ORESTES, PAN, TITAN, along with the LEERERS clued as satyrs. Got a kick out of LEERERS crossing HEAVER (which you might become if you'd seen one too many crossword LEERERS).
@Rex - Hope you got some sleep.
Ridiculously difficult. Never even came close to legitimately starting. This happens a lot for me with Doug's puzzles. Just one of those "wavelength" things, I suppose.
@Mohair Sam, PAN played a pipe. Getting that one was one of my many aha moments during my solve. Those moments courtesy of clever cluing!
The craziest corner for me was the SE because at one point I had Vsix/ExertS. I eventually fixed it. That and rALINESE. Hi, @Clark! I had convinced myself that spoonbills are plants, knowing full well that they're birds.
Anyway, finally saw the "B" and finished.
Loved all the 15's.
Fun Friday, thanks Mangesh & Doug and congrats on your debut Mr. Ghogre!
Let me observe that pekINESE is 1)spelled wrong and 2)not a cat. I knew this but it was still sitting in my brain blocking that SW corner. Add in that BIZET is way down on my internal list of great composers beginning with B and that corner took almost as long as the entire rest of the puzzle. Hand up for reelED before AMAZED. I was going long, then going deep, before finally going AT IT.
The rest of the south also gave me some problems. I remember the PEALE Science Center being built and opened at Hope College (I think Nixon was scheduled to speak at the opening, but cancelled), but it took me forever to remember his name. KNEE jerk fixed cARAT for me. I think of SEIKO as cheap watches, so was a little surprised that it was a Bond watch.
PAN
I RAISED AN EYEBROW when I first saw the grid, with all that white space and all those long answers -- but SALOME was kind of a gimme (the only other Strauss opera I actually know is Rosenkavalier, which wouldn't fit), and I got that same EYEBROW off the A - it was just too right to be wrong; similary for ALL KIDDING ASIDE off the _LL. The bottom 15s were a little tougher, but not much -- once I figured out ARAPAHO (Yes, the Fox are Native Americans - part of something generally referred to as the "Sac and Fox," for some reason) they fell in. Same writeovers as many, with LEchERS and PEEkER. Also OScAR, but 17A fixed that quickly.
I wrote in IBISES and immediately thought, "Wait! That could be storkS." Fortunately, it wasn't.
So, in the end, really fast for a Friday, at least it felt that way (I don't time.)
@Mohair, the Greek god PAN plays the pipes, and is often portrayed holding them in his hand. I didn't think of that either, until you asked!
What I learned: apparently ARARAT is not just one mountain.
PAN was a satyr. Satyrs never worried about malfunctioning G's, so never needed matching bath tubs (Hi @Steve J).
Curious puzzle. Had almost nothing except STET and ORESTES on my first run through the across clues; then tried the downs and seemed to hit gold every time. I probably spent six minutes flailing and five sailing. I guess I liked it in the end.
Googled a bit but still couldn't finish so came here. Can someone explain snit at 43 down...pet??
@joho and @jberg. Thanks much. Picture open palm slapping own forehead.
I was hoping that someone would complain about the army boots clue for SNAPS. Maybe I'm just being a sore loser, but doesn't snaps refer to the way an insult is delivered, not the insult itself?
@chefbea American Heritage 4th ed. give "A fit of bad temper or pique" as a second definition for pet. Makes you wonder what if any relationship that meaning has to the usage "pet peeve"
I had the same experience as most others. Lots of white space for a while, then the 15s quickly dropping. I found the top and bottom roughly equal in difficulty. Ultimately a medium Friday and a good challenge for the likes of me.
Before finding this website, I never would've appreciated or even looked at:
the EYE-catching design of the grid
the constructors' names
the SNAPpy quality of the cluing
the AMAZing 15s
the SWEET shorter answers
the uncruddy fill
This one was DEAD ON- on all counts!
Feel better, Rex. Hope you were not a 37D...
Too many plurals, too many -ER / -ED words, also HostiletakeOVER and askOVER. This was shoddily done.
This was a toughie for me. My grid is a total mess, what with numerous writeovers (the silliest being 50A goatmen for LECHERS - not even ONE correct letter!).
Really got hung up in the Nevada area where I confidently dropped in Cilea at 27D, confusing his opera "L'Arlesiana" with BIZET's incidental music to "L'Arlesienne." That kept me from seeing the otherwise obvious BAKES, AMAZED and AT IT for the longest time.
Got it all in the end, but it was a struggle. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I thought it was a gem. Kudos. However I don't see how "Your mother..." is a SNAP. Huh? Anybody?
Loved this one, although I had to start at the bottom and work my way up. I also filled in lots of esses first.
At 23D I wanted "snark" which worked with peered, but the malls fixed that.
I first went for an even older arm, mallet before musket!
I, too, started at the bottom. I, too, watched Captain Video. Had reeled before AMAZED, but no other write-overs. Good puzzle.
Talk about up my alley. Ten minutes, which is a record for me for a Friday. Even the rock and roll song was one of the few I actually know! Enjoyed recalling that Blake spelled "tyger" with a "y" , (in the forests of the night...) Like the great Berry puzzles, every answer was an "Aha", rather than a "wha?" Thanks, guys.
I flew through the top, and had some of the same issues as others in the heartland thru the Deep South.
spotON > DEADON
IrISES > IBISES
aes > IKE (Adlai Stevenson lost to Ike 2x, so he loses again here)
omega > SEIKO
dUSTS > BUSTS
Kind of on the fence on the puzzle overall - sometimes late in the week, it takes all the plurals and/or past tense answers just to gain a foothold.
OTOH, I like it when a clue that cries out for ending in 'S' or 'ED' turns out to be a Friday-level misdirect - e.g. Clue: Counting objects; Answer: Sheep.
RT
Loved it.
LEERERS, PEEPER, HEAVER...even the -ese has zip.
HOSTILE TAKEOVER, A TEENAGER IN LOVE, NINJAS, RAISED AN EYEBROW, ALL KIDDING ASIDE, TO DIE FOR, DEAD ON, KNIFE, AMAZED, etc., etc...I tell ya it's beautiful...
Was snared for long minutes by both PEERER and PEEKER...jeepers creepers, Mr. Peepers.
My better half picked up some critical errors ( e.g. TIGER for TYGER) which kept me stymied. Put it aside while out for PT and finished it off later. Old enough to fondly remember "teenager in love."
Thought the 15' s were terrific. Great puzzle.
Hey there, Rexerites. As a syndicated solver, I'm one of the guys at the bottom of the page that you completely forgot about four weeks and six days ago. I'm here among the real-timers today not to discuss the puzzle, but because, as you can see by my handle, I'm living in a disaster zone. If all you know about the flooding in Colorado is what you've seen on national TV news, let me assure you that the scope of this mess is mind-boggling. Over 17,000 souls are turned out of their homes. (My wife and I are fine and dry.) Many people have asked how they can help. Elevations Credit Union in Boulder has set up a $100,000 matching fund strictly to help these displaced people. I have an account there and they are for real. Don't know how to embed a link, but you can donate at ELEVATIONSCU.COM
Thanks for any help you can give. If you want to contact me off-blog, my email is cary [at] bluesaccess [dot] com
And no, I'm not a Spellcaster.
Cary Wolfson
@Notsofast-
Acc to The Free Dictionary online- SNAP can mean 'to speak abruptly or sharply.'
Nothing close in the Urban Dictionary except OH, SNAP!
Anyone?
Positively loved the clues for PAN and BUSTS. While Rex like the upper 15s more than the lower, I liked them equally. I was held up because I had HurlERS.
I do not like the word HEAVER, one of those words no one says, IMO.
But I loved solving this. I had dead moments when I thought I was stuck, and I had click! click! click! moments too. Doug is one of the special ones.
ETS and TER were the grid gruel for me, hardly any in a 68 worder. It sounds like Doug made the across clues and Mangesh did the down clues, so my two favorites were by Doug.
Speaking of Doug, where's Mr. Evil?
Like @RT 12:40 says, sometimes a plural can get you going. In my case I was struggling up top. PTBOATS didn’t occur to me right away but I threw down the S, which gave me SWEETEN. Then after a few minutes of nothing much that W was all it took to see RAISED AN EYEBROW. Rapid filling ensued.
Count me among those who think “oh, SNAP!” is recognition of being slammed, not the slam itself.
Thanks to those who helped me see the light with PAN and his pipe.
This was lots of fun. Thanks, gentlemen, and congrats, Mr. Ghogre.
@Lewis - @Evil declared a self-imposed hiatus from posting a couple of months ago.
This played tougher than normal for me, but that's because I did this late last night after being exhausted from a long day of school and having a few drinks to wash it down. Had CASE before VEIN, RET. before OBS., TOI before SIE, MERIT before VALOR (and thus TEN -M before KARAT).
@loren:
Ha, I like those redefinitions. INNER is my favorite.
In fact, if you change the M in 21-Across to a P and get the time-worn APER, you get the word SALOPE. Which probably doesn't mean anything to a lot of people who don't speak French, since salope means "slut." Yeah. I don't think that will appear in the Times puzzle any time soon.
Feel better, MS. I hope you're ok by now!
I wanted so badly for 50A ("Satyrs, say") to be GOATMEN. Alas.
Put RAISED AN EYEBROW as my first entry in the grid without even getting any supporting evidence from the crosses (and didn't get much for quite some time). Got A TEENAGER IN LOVE from AGE and V. Love it when that happens, which for me is pretty much never.
Also got stuck at the bottom but felt great finishing.
Monday called; he wants his puzzle back.
Okay, there were a couple of tricky spots in the south: ARAPAHO (once clued as "A knock and a cry of surprise") as a Fox relative, Fox being one of your lesser-known tribes; SNIT as "Pet," already cited by OFL as a xword-only definition; and aha!ing 33d as "Oh, THAT kind of arm!" And am I the only one who ENTERed LEchERS for "Satyrs, say?" My only w/o.
So, maybe Tuesday. Friday? I just don't see it. Top half, I was writing as if copying. Easy-medium at best. I didn't notice the plethora of -ers so much. While not TODIEFOR (my favorite entry), this one was pretty well done, IMO.
Just not a Friday.
And now, will somebody PLEASE close the spellcaster floodgates?
I HEREBY DECLARE AND IMPOSE A HEX/CURSE ON ALL THE INFILTRATORS.
MAY YOUR TYPING FINGERS TURN INTO BIG TOES.
Ron D.
I'm beginning to dislike the word "scrabbly." Just sayin.
Threw in "omega" for Bond's watch. SEIKO? Really?
This must have been an easy Friday because I got 48A from the clue alone, and 16A & 17A from three crosses. Must be on the same wavelength with Doug & Mangesh. Thanks for a clean, quick Fripuz.
What! Who! Help, Syndyies, I'm being kidnapped by Dr. Usman Kerum and his spellcasters...
HE
...l
....p...
...
First time through I ended up with an"s" here and there and a big sigh. But somehow I persevered and eventually ended only with the PEErERS error, assuming, as some others apparently did, that SNArS must be a word. Was surprised to discover Bond did not sport a Rolex, and thanks to those who explained PAN.
Thanks @Ginger for the comments on LaCoste, I had thought he came from the Bobby Riggs era.
I hope the outliers/infiltratrators don't kill this blog. I can't imagine what they get out of it. What I get is annoyed and tired of rapid scrolling. Curious that they only seem to appear in Syndiland.
One wonders what @SiS's comments will be like when he returns after being brain-washed by Dr. Usman Kerum and his spellcasters - I suspect they want him for his capcha-deciphering expertise.
So, I solved the 15s at the bottom of the grid with only a few crosses and built on those to climb back to the top in a kind of a "xwords meets Tetris" solving strategy. And for the second day in a row I can not find my OWS.
@DMG and other Syndi-posters - the SpellCasters appear in a steady stream between real time and SyndiTime. Since I get the email follow-ups I typically have three to five a day to delete, but they aren't for all the same day. I've not seen one appear, yet, on the day of the puzzle.
I filled this in almost on sight (thanks to a powerful spellcaster - hear my testimony!) until the SW. I think now when I see Fox or Crow I will finally think Indian instead of animal. When I got PAN off crosses I went back to check if the crosses were right and didn't figure it out until I got here. And Pet for SNIT? Outrage. There are so many good ways to clue that why would you pick Pet?
Talk about Heaving Gruel ... the spammers are having a field day.
Normally I struggle with Friday puzzles, but this one played at least Wed. easy. Wheelhouse and Wavelength at work. At first glance I was thinking 'archedANEYEBROW' but thought, too easy, yet most of it ended up right. Got it off the Y in TYGER. Write-overs cranes before IBISES, reeled before AMAZED. Love the 15s.
@DMG if you're still around with all the C*** on the blog. Turns out, neither of us is old enuf to remember Lacoste as a player. Have a good week-end.
Thanks Doug and Mangesh
My experience was the same as Rex's. Wow! aim am so proud!
I zipped through the top and got to the bottom and had the same problems in the NW. I left the puzzle and came back to it after dinner and a couple of glasses of vine and voila finished it. In vino veritas.
Back again in syndi-time, although a day late and buried under spellcasters. Now I think that they were the ones responsible for the flooding we had last month.
Anyway, my experience was quite similar to @Rex's. Top fell easily, had to put it aside for a day to see the bottom. Hated both SNAPS and SNIT. Still don't really get the former. And where did that stupid "Oh, snap" thing come from? From TV or a movie, the sources of most things ridiculous, I guess.
I remember a parody of the Dion song that had the lyric:
Each night I ask the stars without fail
Why must I be a teenager in jail?
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