tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post1027859132921165567..comments2024-03-28T13:00:19.785-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: 1824 Vienna premiere / THU 6-17-10 / Tony-nominated choreographer White / Eponymous doctor with maneuver / Hit 2006 film banned every Arab countryRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51833224248809793292010-07-22T20:38:23.926-04:002010-07-22T20:38:23.926-04:00So I didn't get "Ignis", but what is...So I didn't get "Ignis", but what is 60D----------"Gre"???Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14186050836949981390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-78926286006307605422010-07-22T13:42:32.457-04:002010-07-22T13:42:32.457-04:00I'm ashamed to admit that this puzzle was very...I'm ashamed to admit that this puzzle was very difficult for me. Got the theme almost immediately but the small fill was torture.<br /><br />Still trying to figure out what "GRE" means. Does srs. refer to high schoolers or old people?<br /><br />Totally spaced on "I Love A Piano". Could not mentally seperate A and P. Kept wondering who Apiano was? Why hadn't I heard that name before? What did she do to capture the heart of Irving Berlin? The next question of course was, why am I such a dolt?<br /><br />Really disliked "creme". Technically it's correct, I looked it up, but come on! When you're referencing something as American as the Hostess Ding Dong, it's cream. Maybe it should have been clued as "Le Ding Dong filler".<br /><br />Overall I did like this puzzle. It put my brain into overdrive and as you can see from my comments, it needed the exercise.RexMDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13317159086152685711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51814222971722093652010-07-22T11:54:13.311-04:002010-07-22T11:54:13.311-04:00@chaos1 - Guess you shoulda read the comments firs...@chaos1 - Guess you shoulda read the comments first! Looks like you entered a Friday note on a Thursday puzzle... ;-p<br /><br />(Good thing _I_ never makes misteaks... mistooks... errors!)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11757170805697711598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20543827947413366702010-06-18T15:28:32.612-04:002010-06-18T15:28:32.612-04:00Wow! Any day that I can say I had less trouble wit...Wow! Any day that I can say I had less trouble with a puzzle than Rex Parker, is a good day for me. It will probably be ages before it happens again, if ever.<br /><br /> That being said, there are a lot of posts here. I haven't started to read them yet, but I will. Let me offer my two cents, by pasting the post I put up on Wordplay. Then I can take my time reading this blog, and perhaps responding to certain input.<br /><br /> <br /> Excellent Friday puzzle. Even though I finished around 15 minutes faster than usual. IMHO, the difficulty factor was about right. Rex Parker has it rated as "Challenging", and Rex usually tends to rate puzzles easier that they are. <br /><br /> This submission by Karen Tracy/Will Shortz proves that a puzzle can be difficult and challenging, without entering into the realm of the arcane. Ultimately, we do them for enjoyment, right? Save the "Tim Croce Debacle" type puzzles for Saturday. Give us the option to weigh the "Aggravation Verses Reward " factor, before we decide to exercise our innate "fight or flee" response.<br /><br /> I started by looking for a toehold, and found the first one in the NE. I was pretty sure 9A was BAOBAB, even though I've never seen The Lion King. ( I have no children, and I am not a big fan of animated movies or TV shows. Everything I know about them, comes from crosswords.) That being said, 9A bolstered 10 & 11D. I took a stab at ALOEVERA for 13D and obviously 14D had to be BEEFSTEW. Those entries didn't clean up the whole NE, but they got me started.<br /><br /> On Fridays, I don't solve for speed, because I'm not at that level yet. I generally bounce around, looking for a place to start. Had this been an early week puzzle, I would have gone through all of the across or theme clues first, and 34A would have gobsmacked me immediately. " I'll Do The Thinnin Around Here Baba Looey! " Once I had 34A, it was off to the races. That's not to say it was a cakewalk.<br /><br /> 34D got me started on the SW, and that corner fell relatively well. 56 & 61A broke open the SE. I thought this was the easiest quadrant of the puzzle, even with the general obscurity of 48D and 42A. Struggled with 37D for a bit. Fell in love with WINSOVER for too long, but a win is not necessarily a rout. When I sussed that out, I got 47D, probably the most famous Chicago columnist ever? The Y in ROYKO gave me the Y in 8D, and I nailed it with four of the bottom five letters.<br /><br /> The NW was the toughest quadrant for me. The only Gimme was 27A, but I was pretty sure about 4 & 5D. I took a wild stab at ZAFTIG for 1D, and thanks to paulymath @ 5 for confirming that the word is indeed Yiddish. I had always thought it was. The light went on at 15A, and I was done. Last fill was 3D and favorite fill was 8D.<br /><br /> Nits: Hated 60A. Has anyone ever said, " I need some guidance here, let me consult some ADEPTS? " This puzzle was great, so I'll give Tracy that one stretch.<br /><br /> Didn't Know: 33A - 39A - 40A, ( Only as Madame ) -42A - 54A - 3D - 6D,<br /> ( Wanted Riata ) - 32D - 48D<br /><br /> Favorites beside 8D: 1D - 12D - 21D <br /><br /> Best Misdirection: Tie - 7D and 30 D - Honorable mention: 35DUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09850261376542582358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61663764883161228822010-06-17T23:41:14.270-04:002010-06-17T23:41:14.270-04:00Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street, a gentle Iris...Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street, a gentle Irishman mighty odd<br />He had a brogue both rich and sweet, an' to rise in the world he carried a HOD!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16789372393766270822010-06-17T22:36:12.719-04:002010-06-17T22:36:12.719-04:00I even wrote in TOUGH above the grid after I'd...I even wrote in TOUGH above the grid after I'd finished it, so I see I'm in a distinct minority in assessing the difficulty. Either I just missed the obvious Clues, been doing manual labor and/or reading Joyce. You might think that the wordplay therein would correlate well with xwords, but maybe not?fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18480516232267927862010-06-17T22:03:06.597-04:002010-06-17T22:03:06.597-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...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.<br /><br />All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 7:09, 6:55, 1.03, 69%, Medium-Challenging<br />Tue 8:22, 8:49, 0.95, 44%, Medium<br />Wed 12:55, 11:50, 1.10, 78%, Medium-Challenging<br />Thu 17:10, 19:06, 0.90, 40%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:40, 3:41, 0.99, 50%, Medium<br />Tue 4:33, 4:31, 1.01, 60%, Medium<br />Wed 6:37, 5:48, 1.14, 84%, Challenging<br />Thu 8:22, 9:09, 0.91, 43%, Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32698284615778199502010-06-17T21:48:51.370-04:002010-06-17T21:48:51.370-04:00um, thanks @Van55 but I suspect there will be a fe...um, thanks @Van55 but I suspect there will be a few who might (rightfully) dispute that! but glad you got a chuckle.acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-24541451337655577182010-06-17T21:39:53.384-04:002010-06-17T21:39:53.384-04:00Andrea poo! Funniest post on this blog ever!Andrea poo! Funniest post on this blog ever!Van55https://www.blogger.com/profile/15904942044695917615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67989863233638618012010-06-17T20:47:13.703-04:002010-06-17T20:47:13.703-04:00I don't know if this counts as a bleedover, bu...I don't know if this counts as a bleedover, but ESKIMO was in Pancho Harrison's LA Times puzzle yesterday, so he must have kayaked over here to this one...<br />but I hear that ESKIMO is now being considered non-PC.<br />Maybe they'll change the name of the icecream treat to ESKIMO POOandrea-poo michaelsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67658066283870299622010-06-17T18:23:31.765-04:002010-06-17T18:23:31.765-04:00About 2/3 through the puzzle, I was thinking, &quo...About 2/3 through the puzzle, I was thinking, "what, no JOY LUCK CLUB?" That was about when I read the clue for 53A, noticed that answer fit and that [JOY] completed -NER to give an athlete whose name I recognized. As it is, it's Al's ex-wife and sister who were probably the one's I actually remembered.<br /><br />About the only crap clue is "DO A favor". Surely the abbreviation D.O.A. can be clued in a way that passes the breakfest test. Say, by the movie?<br /><br />There is nothing wrong with NAE being the opposite of "aye". After all, <a href="http://www.dsl.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow">aye</a> is also Scot.william e embahttp://nobody@nowhere.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88855314637914180242010-06-17T18:13:14.561-04:002010-06-17T18:13:14.561-04:00@ Savoring Solver - I think lit.doc and foodie hav...@ Savoring Solver - I think lit.doc and foodie have it right, I am not a speed solver but I enjoy improving any skill that I have. That I can now do the occasional Saturday in under 15 minutes, where a year ago 25-30 minutes with a couple of errors was tops for me, is a good feeling.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21772465888853647132010-06-17T18:02:41.142-04:002010-06-17T18:02:41.142-04:00How did I miss the dark chocolate Almond JOY? We n...How did I miss the dark chocolate Almond JOY? We need to start a campaign!<br /><br />@Mac, I had to really get used to the idea that, in Manhattan, grocery stores will deliver.<br /><br />@Savoring Solver- I too enjoy savoring a good puzzle, but I love the speed solvers. I am most certainly not one of them, but not by choice. If I could do it, I would, and would enjoy it as a whole different dimension of mental activity. It's a specialized skill that is a testimony to the power and beauty of a fine brain in action. <br /><br />I think a good analogy would be the contrasting the fun of ice skating by your random skater on a Sunday afternoon, versus watching a professional figure skater. A great deal of talent, training, precision and grace goes into the latter, and it pushes the limits of what we thought humans can do-- a beautiful thing to behold.foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81075143661963142692010-06-17T17:46:34.348-04:002010-06-17T17:46:34.348-04:00"Cutesy-poo" "Monkey balls" Go..."Cutesy-poo" "Monkey balls" Googled together gets one hit - this blog. Proves nothing of course. Monkey Balls appears to be a video game. Who knew>\?retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69843039574495746452010-06-17T16:48:13.871-04:002010-06-17T16:48:13.871-04:00This was a very enjoyable medium for me. I got the...This was a very enjoyable medium for me. I got the rebus at joy riding, then worked my way up. I love the Joy Luck Club, and also the Kitchen God's Wife.<br /><br />I too put in algae for low-life, and tried to get both eau AND eaux into the puzzle! What's that, a malapop squared?<br /><br />For a moment I wondered who this Apianio was she loved..... Nice to have both he and she in the puzzle. Once heard and saw a 3-year old boy sing Ricky Martin's hit, it was a riot!<br /><br />I've also been looking for the dark chocolate almond joy! Used to have them every time at intermission at the Westport Playhouse. <br /><br />@Greene: great info as usual, and @Rex: great write-up.<br /><br />We made the move back to CT - life is a little easier again. It's just that I have to get into the car to get groceries.....machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-35137431004733308592010-06-17T16:28:29.507-04:002010-06-17T16:28:29.507-04:00"Monkey balls" (in quot. marks) gets 112..."Monkey balls" (in quot. marks) gets 112,000 Google hits. For the record.Rex Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42016005932107517242010-06-17T16:24:41.458-04:002010-06-17T16:24:41.458-04:00fun rebus Thursday. Started it this morning, then ...fun rebus Thursday. Started it this morning, then had much to do so just finished it. For joy and bundle of joy gave me the theme.chefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-4896606894862969462010-06-17T16:22:39.626-04:002010-06-17T16:22:39.626-04:00I love the dudgeon @Rex expresses at words new to ...I love the dudgeon @Rex expresses at words new to him. Don't crossworders look eagerly upon learning new words? Well, I think it's cutesy poo (of which, in quotes, there are 34,200 results in Google).<br /><br />I also love rebus puzzles. Today's was just delightful and very well crafted. Kudos to Corey Rubin. I love how the denouement 15-letter entry across the middle does not involve the rebus! That's rare and a beautiful thing.Doughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17138119220722179517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-73477299887665618152010-06-17T16:08:55.918-04:002010-06-17T16:08:55.918-04:00@SavoringSolver:
I agree that the main point of a...@SavoringSolver:<br /><br />I agree that the main point of a pastime is enjoyment. I doubt that very many among us except the Competitive Solvers track times for any reason other than as a metric for improved proficiency.<br /><br />That I can now solve a puzzle in, say, half the time it would have taken me a year ago isn't because I'm striving for speed. I'm simply getting the hang of puzzling a little, which greatly increases my pleasure in solving.<br /><br />Struggling for an hour and a half isn't something to savor.lit.dochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06729199575329286046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11024048370772376912010-06-17T15:47:38.389-04:002010-06-17T15:47:38.389-04:00Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/...Midday report of relative difficulty (see my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35115061&postID=3588389571383499624&isPopup=true" rel="nofollow">7/30/2009 post</a> for an explanation of my method):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Thu 17:12, 19:06, 0.90, 40%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Thu 9:09, 9:10, 1.00, 57%, Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83022108985831711292010-06-17T14:50:44.628-04:002010-06-17T14:50:44.628-04:00Puzzle was easy as POO for me, despite some writeo...Puzzle was easy as POO for me, despite some writeovers (same as separated at birth Joho's: LAne, etc)<br /><br />Had coBB salad, what's with lettuce and double BB endings?<br /><br />Loved this puzzle and the tie in straight across the middle...<br />there was total JOY in Mudville today, the might Corey has struck (it) out of the park!!!!!!!<br /><br />And symmetry to boot!andreabb michaelsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5677725794875092982010-06-17T14:44:58.873-04:002010-06-17T14:44:58.873-04:00Poo! Took me entirely too long to get the rebus-t...Poo! Took me entirely too long to get the rebus-the puzzle then fell in about 2 minutes.edmcanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18432176765106022049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34530797159819307372010-06-17T14:43:56.298-04:002010-06-17T14:43:56.298-04:00@SavoringSolver - I'm with you, mostly - somet...@SavoringSolver - I'm with you, mostly - sometimes I "speed solve" just to see how fast I CAN solve, and other times I just take my time & savor the puzzle (especially on Sundays!).JenCThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18290169184354765840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41416186324814113302010-06-17T14:04:46.908-04:002010-06-17T14:04:46.908-04:00That should be Dubliners.
(This is to get the fol...That should be <i>Dubliners</i>.<br /><br />(This is to get the follow-ups.)Rubehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773241241484881566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-12702279638909699462010-06-17T14:00:53.332-04:002010-06-17T14:00:53.332-04:00Was wondering about El PASOAN so Googled it and fo...Was wondering about El PASOAN so Googled it and found out it refers to someone from El Paso, Boo, that's terrible. I would have thought it would be El Pasan like it's San Franciscan, but then I've never even been to El Paso. That makes Rex a Confluencean. Then again, there is Idahoan, I guess, so never mind.<br /><br />Cutesy-POO was a gimme for this west coaster. Agree with @Lit.Doc about NAy/NAE. Got the theme at JOYSTICK but was awfully suspicious about <i>Dibliners</i>. Thought the clue for NOJOY was great. SONOMA was another gimme for a Northern Californian, (Dang, that's another "n" rightly attached to a place name. But it already has an "a" at the end so... Aw, forget it.)<br /><br />Learned how to spell BIBB lettuce today. Am I the only one who thinks that 19A is inappropriate for the NYT? Otherwise, really enjoyed this puzz.<br /><br />RubeRubehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773241241484881566noreply@blogger.com