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MON 10-6-14 / Bobby of 1950s-'60s pop / Cheri formerly of "S.N.L." / Citi Field player for short / Lime-flavored cocktail
Monday, October 6, 2014
Hello CrossWorld!!! I'm Annabel, a Maryland high school senior and total newbie to this whole crosswording thing. You might remember me from this July, when Rex's BFFs were unavailable (read: forgot) to blog and so I had to step in. I loved the whole experience and emailed Rex, letting him know I would be available to blog on any Monday that he needed me. To my surprise, he told me he would be willing to let me blog on a semi-regular basis, because as you may know by now, Rex hates Mondays. So, here I will be on the first Monday of every month! YAY!!!!
Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: MEDIUM for me, but like I said, I'm still a newbie.
THEME: MISSIN' G — The five theme clues all were -ING words without the G.
Word of the Day: OAS (13A: Western Hemisphere treaty grp.) —
The Organization of American States (Spanish: Organización de los Estados Americanos, Portuguese: Organização dos Estados Americanos, French: Organisation des États Américains), or the OAS or OEA, is an inter-continental organization founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS's members are the 35 independent states of the Americas.
Since 26 May 2005, the Secretary General of OAS has been José Miguel Insulza.
In the words of Article 1 of the Charter, the goal of the member nations in creating the OAS was "to achieve an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence".
(Wikipedia)
• • •
(kind of like me driving)
Theme answers:
This one took me 20 minutes, and yes, as you can see, I cheated on 14A/4D. (I had GETS and OGE, respectively. No, I don't have any idea what OGE means, but I reasoned, maybe it's a New York thing?) I thought pressing "Check" would just tell me whether I solved the puzzle or not, rather than tell me which squares were wrong, but alas...
Loved loved loved the theme! Anything that can make me hum "Puttin' on the Ritz," "Movin' Out" and then "Singin' in the Rain" is certainly a plus in my eyes...in fact, most of these turned out to be pretty good songs. (I say "most." Sorry Eagles.) To be honest, before I got the answers to the theme clues I assumed that "missing" meant these were actually missing works - IMA (63A: "___ changed man!") bit slow to the uptake, eh? At least once I did get the answers, I figured it out!
Hmmm, wonder how hard it would be to play all these songs on the OBOE (4A: Cousin of a clarinet)?
- 17A: 1975 Eagles hit about a woman having an affair (LYIN'EYES)
- 24A: Title hit of a 1952 Gene Kelly musical (SINGIN'INTHERAIN)
- 47A: 1930 Harry Richman hit whose title describes ostentatious living (PUTTIN'ONTHERITZ)
- 59A: 1978 Billy Joel hit that gave its name to a 2002 Broadway musical (MOVIN'OUT)
- 36A: Lost...or, in two words, an apt description of 17-, 24-, 47- and 59-Across (MISSIN'G)
Bullets:
- SRS (58D: Class older than jrs.) — YAY CLASS OF 2015!
- AROAR (10D: Loud, as in a crowd) — All I can say is, what a gorgeous word. I'm going to try to use it in a sentence every day this week. "The house was aroar when the Orioles SWEPT the Tigers last night - sorry, Rex."
- REBELS (57A: Antigovernment force) —There are a lot of places this is relevant right now, but this is a crossword blog, not a political blog, so I'm biting my tongue. On that note: LES MIS!
- CHEMISTRY (12D: Element-ary school subject?) — YAY PUNS! Wow, I have been saying "yay" a lot in this writeup. EXCITABLE (31D: Easily enthused) much?
Save And Share :
104 comments:
Yay. First comment. Well done, Annabel!
Easy for me. Filled it in as fast as I can type on an iPad. Fun, but not terribly challenging.
Fun puzzle. Fun review. Week is off to a good start.
@Annabel,
I see your Sponge Bob and raise you I hate the Eagles (warning F-bomb)
Welcome back Annabel, nice hat. Good, bouncy, write up. Found the puzzle fairly easy Monday style. Like MISSIN G, cool concept. Also liked MORPHS and RAMPART. NYRO is new to me, seems not mondayish, but crosses were easy enough.
@Rex hates Monday's? Reminds me of the Boomtown Rats.
Nice write up, Annabel, and a very quick solve for you as well. Super duper -- and -- Hunky Dory!
Nice puzzle, very nice reveal!
You hear some politicians drop their G's especially when speaking to minority audiences. Hillary Clinton likes to do that. It's probably a "solidarity with the audience" thing, but it sounds phony to my ears. (She probably wouldn't drop her G's at a Wellesley class reunion.)
Hi Annabel and welcome back, especially to the permanent gig. I'm a NYT reader from Brazil. I look forward to seeing your comments and hope you will enjoy the task. I know it can be tough.
Now that Rex has a partner, I expect a change in the blog banner. Too soon for Annabel and Rex do the NYT crossword, but perhaps one of the others has an idea!
Go Gigantes!
welcome annabel. well done.
I HAVE THAT SAME HAT! Nice review, too.
Delightful write up from Annabel and a delightful easy-medium Mon. for me. Very cute theme and easy on the dreck.
Not sure if my grandkids would know about the Peter Boyle dancin' clip...nicely done Annabel.
Liked it a lot. Nice one Robyn!
Welcome Annabel, a fresh young voice, what a delight.
Loved some of the long downs HERCULEAN, EXCITABLE, APPLAUDED and CHEMISTRY were not Monday easy, but gettable. I, also, found myself singing along to the tunes.
Fun start to the week. Thank you Robyn
My first thought when I saw the grid was that the NE & SW have a gob of white space and that's gonna be tuff to fill. When I saw all the good stuff in those two areas (HERCULEAN is early week gold), I APPLAUDED the result.
My second thought was that, with themers goin' from the 30's to the 70's, this would not play well with more youthful solvers, today's blogger notwithstandin'.
Oh yeah, there's also Bobby DARIN'.
Welcome Annabel. Good writeup, great hat. I like SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ better than Eagles songs, but my daughter, who was barely one year old when the band was founded, is a big Eagles fan. Lucky for me, my granddaughter (not much older than you) is dating a hard-core Dr. Who fan, so I have someone I can talk to.
I liked the puzzle, and I'm really looking forward to First Mondays now!
Annabel – good job on the write-up. You go, girl!
Loved the theme, the reveal, just the whole conceit. Agree with @chefwen and @Anoa Bob – very pretty long downs.
Those of you who are bored by linguistic topics, look away. . . this notion of "G dropping" has always interested me. We certainly drop the G when we're writing the word, but when we're articulating the word, we're not dropping a G – we're just moving the point of articulation of a nasal consonant. There is no final G sound in LYING, PUTTING, SINGING, or MOVING. (Doubters will stop here, say the words quietly, and disagree.) Back up and say the words "king" and "ring." No G sound.
I don't know a lot about dialects, but in the dialects where this practice occurs regularly, there are still two words whose final G no one will "drop." Ever. See my avatar.
(Jury's still out on human "being" and baseball "inning." A regular "G dropper and proud of it," I don't think I would do it for either of those words.)
Off to the trenches. Coincidentally, I'm teaching WWI in a history class. Gonna show a clip I downloaded on the Christmas Truce.
Robyn – right up my alley. Nice job!
Way to go Annabel. It's great to read a fresh voice and perspective on the puzzles. I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
The puzzle didn't really need a reveal, but this reveal was so good, it enhanced the whole puzzle. And most of these songs are good ear worms. Excellent one, Robyn!
Oh, there's a little ministory... A person is going to sleep -- NOWI (37D backward) lay me down to sleep. Then has a dream (REVE, 62A backward, French for dream). Then gets rudely woken up by the ALARM (54A).
Ms. Annabel, it will be fun to watch your evolution over weeks, months, and years!
Factoid: According to The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ was the first song in film to be sung by an interracial ensemble.
Quotoid: "Anyone who says he can see through women is MISSING a lot." -- Groucho Marx
Yay, Annabel. I'll look forward to you every month! Nice write up of a fun (even though easy) Monday. @LMS: The final G on present participles is not silent. If it were, no one would notice when a phony politician tried to sound folksy. SING is not a homonym of SIN. It's true that a final G is prounced differently from a G (two ways) in other positions, but it isn't silent. I don't know what the "point of articulation" is, but the G doesn't just change the sound of the N; it adds a separate articulation.
Week off to a good start with a very good Monday puzzle. Clever little theme. And agree with many above that the long downs were terrific, especially for an early week puzzle.
Annabel also off to a good start, wtg.
Looks like I may stand alone in actually liking the Eagles song. However the only Eagles of whom (which?) I'm an actual fan were lucky to win yesterday.
Missed Rex's early week nit-picking just a little, but @lms took care of that. Geez.
Annabel - Congratulations on your elevation to regular blogger. You're off to a great start!
Downs only report: way too tough for me. Crosses definitely needed to finish.
Write-overs:
gelato > SORBET (I make gelato, so I guess I had it on the brain)
madenoise > APPLAUDED
mojito > GIMLET
Lots of fun words in this puzzle along with a fun theme. Thanks RW / WS!
PS. I'm a G-dropper of long standing. Not proud of it. Make a New Year's resolution (at least once per quarter) to fully enunciate my words. Still workin' on it...
Alternate title: "Unused G-Spot".
Evil
@lms - I'm pretty sure the Sex Pistols dropped the g when they sang, "God save the queen, for she ain't no human being." What a lovely song that was?!?
First Annabel of the month and first Robyn of the Fall -- a stellar combo!
I was thinkin' of the butterfly effect yesterday and got it in the puzzle today; can't get much more 'butterfly' than an apostrophe-hiatus! A little twist of the kaleidoscope and it's a whole new picture. Nice fillip, Ms Weintraub!
Raising two hands that applauded Herculean. In the interests of gender equality (I'm lookin' at you, BSA, and waiting for GSA*), I'm hoping soon to see APHRODITEAN. Would be a great word to play with.
*(Girl Guides, in Canada)
@Loren, yup, I'm sittin' here doin' it, and tryin' to figure out: what happens when you're 'flinging'something?
Tonight, shall have to search some clips from "Bringin' Up Baby".
Yoicks, who took away our BALMY? Having the shivers this morning, first time in months!
Lots of good fill to play with, but gotta be MOVIN OUT to work; as EVER, IMA TALKER.
Have a great Monday, all, and remember to Eat MORPH Chikin!
Hey All !
Great job Annabel! Nice write up. Ah, I remember being in high school (barely! )
Anyway, nice puz, quick and easy Monday! Nice theme, only one piece of dreck, NYRO. Not bad for an unusual grid. Liked the NE/SW double stacks and open corners. Good one Robyn!
OBOE, I APPLAUDED the non-HERCULEAN task of this HERE puz. It's on APAR with a BALMY, STRAIT puz, no USE for ALARM. IMA AROAR with the TROVE of SLYNESS, and no ROT. it MORPHS BEYOND my LYINEYES! Only the ONE ITEM of nit! I'll toot my own HORN at DARIN! Time to TALKER myself into a GIMLET, not too much, I'll get the DTS!
I don't want to be SHOVED INOIL, so I SAYHI to those who BOLTS when they read my rigamarole!
RooMonster
DarrinV
Great start to the week with a woman's deft touch, both from Robyn(Robin'?)and Annabel (LOVE your hat!) Both offer a fresh take on a familiar subject: well done!
There is nothin' MISSING from this Monday's puzzle/write up!
Thank you Robin for the great theme and construction. Thank Annabel for for a delightful write and thank you Rex for the wonderful idea of letting guest reviewers take over once in awhile.
Great start for the week.
Wonderful write up Annabel. Very impressive for a high school senior to know those two oldies - especially the Ritz.
Annabel - Congratulations welcome and great job.
Phenomenal puzzle for a Monday. Very clever revealer which added a great deal to the theme and there were lots of long fill, all of which were recognizable or gettable. Good shorter fill as well like TROVE, GIMLET and EDDY. Terrific way to start the week.
It is a rarity to see such nice wide open spaces in a Monday grid. The 9-stacks in the NE and SW corners were fun to fill and enjoy afterwards. And not one entry in these corners were multi-word phrases. That must have been a HERCULEAN undertaking by Robyn Weintraub. I am sure it helped that she's not too EXCITABLE and has an ability to establish a CHEMISTRY with her audience, for which I could do nothing else but stood back and APPLAUDED.
Loved the droppin' theme too, but where did all the G's go? BEYOND the blue horizon. However I always wondered why it was not SIN'IN' IN THE RAIN? MOVIN' OUT reminded the we had "Movin' ON UP" recently in a Liz Gorski's puzzle, didn't we?
I liked the geography today: the River NIGER, the STRAIT of Gibraltar, Cape HORN, ESSEN (to eat, Ger.) which is right next door to Duisburg. When I first learned about German geography in high school, the two cities, ESSEN and Duisburg in the industrial Ruhr Valley were always mentioned in tandem. Yet I do not remember the latter in a NYT puzzle recently -- maybe ever.
The rest of the fill was scrumptious too. I especially liked the symmetrical ROT GOT, and I didn't even mind the cluster of Laura NYRO, ASHTON Kutcher, Richard GERE and Bobby DARRIN in the middle.
I must be MOVIN' OUT -- but first let us hear a bit of 15-16th Century polyphony by Netherlandish composer Heinrich ISAAC (c.1450-1517).
Annabel, love your hat, and your write-up was like great. Why can't REX be like as cheerful sometimes?
@loren muse smith — It’s interestng (I think) that Paul McCartney tends to prounounce a “G” sound in an “ing” ending when he’s speaking but not when he’s singin’.
Good puzzle and good write-up! Thanks to both ladies, and welcome Annabel.
I did not think this puzzle was easy (for a Monday). Loved the beautiful long words. Good start of the week!
Welcome Annabelle! Rex needed a rest!
Nice write-up, Annabel, thanks! I'm glad to hear your appearance was prearranged for first Mondays -- otherwise I would have thought OFL took one look at the grid, saw REX MISSING ... ERS across the middle, and ran away in panic.
Aside from that, it's all been said.
Daleks are a Dr. Who thing, I guess? Somehow, although it's clearly the kind of thing I would like, I've never watched any of it. Next time I have a TV, I'll have to give it a try, of only for the hats.
I should probably clarify what I said above at 8:36 (since there seem to be two ways to “drop a G” — as Loren Muse Smith points out): When the great Paul McCartney says the word “singing” (for example) he hits the end G hard and it can almost sound like “singink” — a few people do this. I guess it’s a dialect thing. Terry Gross, who is always a pleasure to listen to, occasionally does this, though she’s not from Liverpool.
Great write-up. Good puzzle.
@lms - still tryin' to say the complete words lol
@ED, re the 'unused G-spot: WHIZ BAN
Lookin' at T.REKS/ T.REX, T.ROVE/ T.ROWE (Price?), T.EDS, T.EDDY, T.ALKER (Stalker), T.ROT, T.ORES, T.HERE... My cuppa T's runneth over, gonna THAI one on.
Usain BOLTS and so must I.
In Gaelic, Annabel means "joy"; in Latin, it's "lovable" and in RexWorld, Annabel stands for "breath of fresh air".
Wonderful review of a charming puzzle.
Browser crash ate my comment. I hate when that happens.
Gotta love a women who says, "moving the point of articulation of a nasal consonant." Now if she will just what that means we can all sleep tonight.
Gotta love a party where ASHTON, GERE, DARIN, and TRUMP are hangin' with the ZETAS. Call TMZ.
The Eagles were part of my high school sound track. I like them fine.
@Whirred Whacks - It's called "code switching," if you don't do it you come across as snobbish or uneducated. The problem for candidates is that it is now caught on tape for the opposition to rail against.
Only 2 Gs outside the reveal; they must stand for THOU GRAND.
Yes, thou art, Monday puzzle!
Nice Eagles burn, kid. You're hired.
RP
Thanks for the write up. Very well done.
A technical note about video embedding: reading on the iPad, none of the videos showed up. I've seen this a lot with Rex substitutes, but never Rex. There may be something that he's doing differently to ensure that videos show on the iPad.
Or again, maybe it's just me.
Welcome Annabel...great write up. and a fun puzzle. After I got the first two theme answers...I knew Puttin on the Ritz would be the next one. Didn't even need the clue.
I second everyone's welcome to Annabel and praise for her write-up. I liked the puzzle, too.
@Z … I believe the first paragraph of one of Nabokov’s novels begins with a consideration of “points of articulation”: “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.” That’s not quite “nasal”, but it’s partly in the sense that Loren Muse Smith meant.
"Ah don' feel no ways tahr'd...."
HRC
Annebel's write-up was far more entertaining than the puzzle. I thought the theme was pretty weak, even for a Monday. I did like the long downs, however -- HERCULEAN in particular.
Great job Annabel! And a really good Monday puzzle!
Nice write-up, Annabel!
Like @Rex, I am nursing broom wounds this morning, as my Angels were definitively swept by the wondrous Royals.
Cute puzzle -- the reveal makes it pop. We have a hidden theme entry, with Bobby DARIN to show up at 48D. I had forgotten that this Irving Berlin fellow wrote "Puttin' on the Ritz" and am now curious at the inconsistency of his name. Shouldn't it be either Irving Berling or Irvin Berlin?
Agree with your Medium assessment. Love your hat. Am impressed by your precocious grasp of the Eagles' dreadfulness. Enjoyed your write-up way more than the puzzle... Thanks for making Mondays less lame!
Welcome, Annabel!
Nice puzzle, though super easy. I particularly liked the self-referentiallity of the reveal.
Welcome Annabel! What a delightful and refreshing commentary. Thank you and I look forward to hearing more from you.
I too second all the welcoming words for Annabel and a good Monday puzzle.
Sorry I don't know how to insert a link but recommend looking at the video on You Tube of the Moscow flash mob "Puttin On The Ritz." Great fun.
Hi Annabell! Great first write up! You are well on your way to having that principality!
Nice Spongebob reference. I am a little too old to have watched Spongebob on TV, so I have to slowly become acquainted with it from little hilarious clips like these.
I knew 4D from watching Stick Stickly on Nickelodeon. "New York City, New York state, 10108!" But maybe that was before your time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfDw619p2Tw
Looking forward to your next post!
Dear Annabelle - thou art a breath of fresh air. I too Loved this Monday puzzle. Welcome back - hope your small country sticks around for a while. It's the principality of the thing.
Daleks forever! Never met one I didn't like. Not even the little one who felt he had to exterminate the others, but I digress. Hi Annabel! Great write-up for what I thought was a great Monday because I hit 6 minutes. My fingers don't move any faster on these teeny keys. BTW I also couldn't see the photo links on my iphone except for that cute selfie of our new fearless leader.
Loved it all, from WHIT to HERCULEAN. Very clever theme, great reveal.
Some grid felicities: ASIAN x THAI, BALMY over RAIN, Duane EDDY x Bobby DARIN, DTS over ERS, STRAIT of Magellan next to Cape HORN.
Annabel, I really enjoyed your write-up.
Welcome Annabel! Anyone who wears a Daleks hat and can embed my favorite version of "Puttin' On The Ritz" (Gene Wilder & Peter Boyle) is off to a roarin' (aroarin'?) good start.
Te puzzle was a doddle for me. Great fun & not too taxing for someone who was up late watchin' football on a Sunday night.
I see everyone is smilin' this morning - and why not - nice write-up, fun puzzle. The perfect way to start the week.
LOVIN' IT!
:-)
Wow. Poor old Eagles. Never been a big fan (except for LYINEYES) but missed the part where they fell out of favor. Several here takin' shots at them, and Rex took time on his one non-blog day per month to double Annabel's Eagle burn and hired her on the spot for that!
Hell, I'da hired Annabel for the quality of her work, but that's just me.
Welcome Annabel! Challenging *for a Monday* here. I'm happy to work a little bit early in the week.
Reflecting on all the Eagles hating pointed out a nice little parallel. We've got the "I wanna be rich" PUTTING ON THE RITZ paired with "If this is movin up I'm MOVIN OUT," an ode to middle class ennui. On top we have that ode to the first blush of fallin in love, SINGIN IN THE RAIN, paired with a SoCal tribute to infidelity, LYING EYES. I totally missed this until I started to wonder why so many are dissing the Eagles. I wonder if the dual oppositional apposition was intentional, giving this Monday puzzle added depth.
Hey, I like the Eagles...
To the poster who declared the puzzle "...not terribly challenging." It's Monday.
Videos should be playing fine now.
RP
Welcome back, Annabelle. How'd you like them Os?!
@RooMonster, I beg to differ w/ your dismissal of Laura NYRO as "dreck". She was well-clued here and equally well-known for writing and/or singing numerous top ten hits during her all-too-brief lifetime. Check Wikipedia for her impressive legacy.
Very nice Mon. puzz. for all the reasons others have stated. Thanks, RW and WS for a wonderful diversion at my doctor's office this morning.
Ouch! Sorry bout that, I will look her up later when I get home!
Peace
RooMonster
Outstandin blog write-up. Bullets:
* DALEK. This word might be too advanced for a MonPuz blog, but always good to learn about new things, in my book. Daleks (Dr. Who ETs) evidently wear cool hats: complete with lingerin price tag, ala Minnie Pearl. Annabel is lookin good modelin it, and probably has no Day-lek-um idea who Minnie Pearl is.
* EAGLES. I gotta go with @JenCT on that call.
* YAY. What M&A felt like, when Annabel broke out the blog bullets. Essential.
* SNARK. Gee, it's like @63 has a twin. Not.
* GAPS. What my blog write-up version has a lot of, when viewed on a turn of the century IPad. Suspect I'm missin out on some noteworthy pics or vids or somesuch that Annabel spent hours researchin and pickin out. Or, were they perhaps just pictures of G's, which done got dropped?
* MISSIN G. U wait long enough, and the NYTPuz starts to talk normal. (Like a hick on crack, as one "polite" sports fan once snarked.) Fun MonPuz. 20 minutes is good time, for a high school gal sussin out song titles from way before she was born.
Breath of fresh air, Annabel. Thanx.
Are y'all partial to the letter U? That'd seal the deal. I would even send U the special "M and A Hat"...
M&A
This was a terrible puzzle and I think Annabel must know the constructor to have given it such a
laudatory review. Oh wait! Rex did not do the review and I am not anonymous. Never mind. It was a fun little Monday puzzle and Annabel is off to a good start.
OOO (3 mOOOns) for the puzzle
OOOO (4 mOOOOns) for the write up although I am walking around exclaiming: Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! See Annabel's hat and Dalek references for more information.
Hmmm I was class of 1968 when we listened to LPS by Laura NYRO.
The puzzle -- loved the big words
Thank you Annabel for that smile @Arlene pointed out....
Hey @jackj....I saw you peeking out of your hidey hole. Why don't you come out and join us? I miss your comments!
I too, loved this puzzle. All the wonderful things about it have been lovingly explained so I shant THAI a THING.
My husband is from Liverpool and he too pronounces his G's like ink. Yes, definitely a regional tink.
I use to love the Eagles (hi @JenCT) until our oldies radio station played "Desperado" in perpetuity, giving me the sober DTS.
Looking forward to some fun Monday's....!
Nice job. And you're cute!
p.s.
Only 74 words. Over a quarter of em are weeject-candidate-sized. faves: REX. IMA. SRA SRS.
Too bad the grid had three G's, given the theme. Revealer did kinda need a G, tho.
Someday some future enterprisin constructioness (or runtjockey) will make a "Dropped G" puz, where each G is sittin right below its IN elision.
M&A
You're gonna be a star, Annabel! Plus I can't believe you're a high school senior and you sort of hate the Eagles like Jeff "The Dude" Bridges. (I'm sure you've seen The Big Lewbowski.) Rex needs a little Monday humility for those of us novices who can do the puzzle in pen M-W and by the time they get to the end of the week they're humbled into submission. Go for it! I used to just skip reading Monday's blog, now I'm gonna read 'em again.
And yeah, the other three songs are terrific.
p.p.s.s.
Take it to the limit, take it to the limit, dalek to the limit...
one more time...
M&A
Good job, Anabel! I'm looking forward to your write-ups!
This took me a little longer than usual, but I am going to chalk this up to "operator inefficiency." I'm at home a little under the weather and did the puzzle for the first time on the NYT website.
I think it was just about right for a Monday!
@Rex - Thanks. and Thanks.
Thanks Anabel! What a lovely, spunky solve! Not to dis Rex but can she have more Mondays? A little bounce in the step, lively, positive vibe on Mondays is, well an improvement.
D.
@annabel, nice write-up! I like to leave flaws in my solves in the same way the Navajo rug weavers introduce flaws into theirs: to let the evil spirits out. To be candid (honesty is assumed) I finished with a technical DNF today, myself. I left an errant keystroke somewhere, probably because I spazzed out, which was common vernacular back at WJHS in Montgomery County back in '81 when I was one of the SRS. Are we homies? OK, homies didn't exist in '81 and may well have stopped existing in recent years. #whaddoiknow
Twas FunPuz. Truly Mondayesque, with just enough distraction to induce a chortle or two.
The MISSING reminded me of a "A Void", a novel by Georges Perec famous for its MISSINE. Probably lotsa Us, M&A, but no Es. Here's the best part: it was translated into English (and several other languages). Hah! Put THAT in your XW e-smoker and vape on it.
Here's a nit: [Antigovernment force] REBELS -- evidently a Plural of Convenience trumps a Clue of Singularity.
Annabel, I look forward to your future posts. Call 'em as you see 'em. STEEE-RIKE UHNNNNN
@Doug Garr - Oh, "The Dude" damned the Eagles! Thanks. That explains their move from cool to totally uncool - nobody wants to be seen on the opposite side of any issue from The Dude.
Kudos to Annabelle. Seriously, how can you not love someone who inserts a clip from, IMO, the best comedy EVER!! And then inserts a clip from one of the best musicals ever.
See you next month.
@Casco Kid - To be a "force" you need more than one rebel.
I see that I was one of several people to mis-spell your name!! Sorry about that Annabel!!
Way to go Annabel!
@JackJ -- Is that really you, the JackJ of yore who wonderfully expounded on the puzzle of the day? Welcome back!
I read this blog to hear what a crossword expert thinks about these puzzles. I really don't care what this person thinks and I seriously doubt other people do either (despite their kind words).
I thought this one was unusually good for a Monday puzzle -- mostly easy, but with some items that required a bit of thought.
Loren Muse Smith: You're probably right that no one ever drops the final G in ANYTHING, but that hasn't stopped some movie or TV directors from having female characters with a hokey "southern" accent say ANYTHIN' -- I can't cite "chapter and verse" for this, but I distinctly remember having heard it said that way fairly frequently. (I never heard a male "southerner" say it in a movie or TV show, oddly. It was always some ditzy female character.) It's better now than it used to be, but there are very few "southern" characters who really speak southern.
@anon 2:09 pm est: But, then it's also informative, on a rare occasion such as First Mondays, to get the point of view and blog style of a young solver. And she gets more experienced, every puz...
I notice she's always said (2 for 2, anyway) that she is a "tired" high school student. I have noodled up a top list of what "tired" or "tired high" might mean, but I have already taken it over the "limit" (har!), and ergo shalt not digress upon this occasion heretoby...
M&A
Let the record reflect, 2:09 pm. The first anti-Annnbel post. And by an anon, to boot. Imagine my surprise....
Well, guess what, you'd be wrong. Annabel provides a fresh perspective, and a break from Rex. Have you read ANY of the comments???????
@JenCT, Mohair Sam, Z and other Eagles fans...me too, Dude or no Dude. I'll take the guitar work on Hotel California any day over say... Stairway To Heaven.
And, LYIN EYES isn't just about an affair. It's also about bad choices, ennui, and being trapped. The affair is just a symptom .
DON'T. FEED. THE. TROLLS.
Nice job, Miss Thompson. Good writeup. And congratulations on receiving your first inappropriately snarky comment from an anonymouse. Until you get a few of those you haven't been properly baptized as a crossword blogger.
Thought it was way easy, even for Monday. Flew through it and then realized I had made an error on the fly: unthinkingly put ETA for 27A. Chased it for a full minute so my time was bad. Bah.
Fun theme. The grid more or less forces some mediocre 3 letter fill. But I enjoyed the solve regardless.
Re "code switching:" I believe I am not alone in speaking differently to my West Virginia and Kentucky relatives, with whom I grew up. Agree it can be an affectation but mot necessarily.
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 5:53, 6:03, 0.97, 36%, Easy-Medium
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:57, 3:57, 1.00, 44%, Medium
I have one comment directed to Anonymous 2:09 PM, well, three, actually: exterminate! ExTERminate!! EXTERMINATE!!! I've been watching Doctor Who on Netflix lately and am enjoying it immensely. I believe @jberg would too if he has a Netflix account. If not, maybe he should get one.
I liked this puzzle even though I finished it in under ten minutes. Of course, SINGIN IN THE RAIN usually recalls Little Alex at "HOME" in A Clockwork Orange. Sorry but that's the strongest impression that song ever made on me. Laura NYRO was a gimmie, I don't know why but that's not a name easy to forget. PUTTIN ON THE RITZ has been covered so many times in the not too distant past, not surprising a high school student is familiar with it. I loved the reference to graffiti on freeway entrances and exits, RAMP ART. And the less than stellar glue didn't bother me one WHIT. Thanks Robyn.
And as for you, young lady:
I think your write-up is wonderful. A refreshing change of point of view and tantalizing glimpse into a mind destined for a wonderful future. I'd like to see you on Mondays more often than once a month and hope @t REX takes note of this and a few other comments to that effect above. And congratulations on your "baptism by flame". Some people always have to find something to dislike. Rest assured, there are many here who simply adore you.
Wonderful write-up! Keep her!!!
Hey, thanks, Annabel. I too felt as you do about 'a roar' when I first saw it in a puzzle. Looking forward to your Mondays.
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 5:51, 6:03, 0.97, 35%, Easy-Medium
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:53, 3:57, 0.98, 36%, Easy-Medium
I too undertook as goal the use of AROAR in a sentence today. As the clock clicks inexorably towards midnight, I sit alone, having both:
A) Not used AROAR in conversation, and
B) Having my ass AROAR after ordering an Indian dinner extra, extra spicy.
Such was my day.
Oh, huzzah! What a great write-up, full of enthusiasm! As someone who only does Mon-Weds reliably, and tinkers on Thursdays, I feel like I miss the meat of this site most times, as I'm not an advanced solver. It is delightful to know you're aboard, and I'm already hoping for a complete Monday takeover! Welcome, welcome!
Great post, Annabel. Big day-late props for putting a smile on my face, even with all those REBELS and whatnot going on out there.
We need more views in the crossworld coming from young people and from women. Bring on all of the Annabels!
Firstly, welcome Annabel, though dissing the Eagles is no way to make friends with this reporter. I knew I'd like this one when one of their best songs appeared early on.
Not to slight any of the others; this is a virtual can of earworms for me. I also APPLAUDED CHEMISTRY and GOT EXCITABLE over the HERCULEAN task of coupling those fine nines. Even the rows of threes weren't sloppy. The weakest link is INOIL/IMA. Only one "who dat?"--Ms. NYRO.
All-around thumbs-up: a Monday A. I'd love to know what ol' 35a thinks of it.
109: ACKACKACK!
Checkin in from home today as they are predictin 16"of snow for my locale. Probably not happenin for Ron Diego.
Nice writin by Annabel. Nothin hard about the puzzle; nice Monday funday. Always had a thin for Cheri OTERI; I'm thinkin that she also appeared on Friday PMs when they were tryin the extra evenin way back when??
G, I'm wonderin where it went?
2414 - don't give a whit
What a nice way to start the week, neat puzzle, neat review! Only pause was wondering about CHEMISTRY til I looked back and saw the clue's ?
139 Looks like Lady Luck has left the room!
Yes, a good Medium Monday puzzle. Loved the Wilder-Boyle video.
My name is Marisa Mary Johnson, Ecuador. I have never believed in magic
love spells until I came across this sorcerer called Kabaka when
I went to Africa in January this year for a Business Summit. He was
really powerful and conjured spells for all kinds of situations, from
reconciliation, new love, money, work, or anything similar. I am now
happy and a living testimony of the man with whom I was going to marry
left me two weeks before our wedding, and my life was legs up because
our relationship had worked for 2 years... really loved him, but her
mother was against the marriage because he did not have a steady job. So
when I met this caster of spells, I told him what happened and told him
the situation of things... At first, I was hesitant, skeptical, but
gave him a chance. 7 days in which I returned to Texas, my boyfriend
(now husband) called me by the same and came to me asking for apologies
and saying that everything had been settled with his mother and his
family. Now he has a new job for what we should get married. I couldn't
believe it because the wizard simply asked me my name, my boyfriend, and
he wanted to do... was really very simple! If someone is in the same
situation, only to have, hope that helps. Never doubt the power of this
type of spells, because you can take a pleasant surprise.
If there is anyone who has similar problem and still looking for a way
out, his email still remains kabakaspellhome@yahoo.com or Whatsapp him
0n +2348166212714
DOCTOR CAN AS WELL CURE THE FOLLOWING DISEASE:-
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2. HERPES
3. CANCER
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6. SPELL FOR JOB PROMOTION
ETC
Thanks for reading my testimony.
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